UK pay-TV heavyweight Sky Sports has announced a bumper multi-year deal expansion with India’s iconic Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket competition, as well as its equivalent Women's Premier League.
Sky will broadcast every single match from the two high-profile competitions through to the end of the 2027 campaign, beginning with the opening fixture of the 2024 IPL season on March 22.
74 matches from across the 2024 IPL season will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, including on its dedicated cricket channel, off the back of the finale of the 2024 WPL season concluding on March 17.
Now TV, Sky’s affiliate OTT streaming service, will also broadcast the games to those with a Now Sports membership.
Both competitions are title sponsored by Indian conglomerate Tata Group in a lucrative title sponsorship deal that was extended in January.
The deal marks a continuation of Sky’s stewardship of the IPL’s rights in the UK, having held the broadcast rights to the competition concurrently since the start of the 2020 season.
Speaking on the deal, Sky Sports managing director Jonathan Licht stated: "The IPL and WPL are two fantastic competitions that see the world’s best players compete in front of a fanatical local audience - resulting in some of the most explosive and entertaining cricket in the calendar as we saw with the conclusion of the WPL on Sunday.”
With only two days to go until the 2024 IPL season begins, Sky’s eleventh-hour tie-up echoes previous years’ agreements.
In March 2023 Sky secured the rights to the 2023 IPL season on a one-year deal less than a week before the competition started.
Sky boasts a strong lineup of cricket rights on its platform, with the IPL the latest addition.
In January 2023, Sky secured the rights to South Africa’s own Twenty20 competition, SA20, in a five-year deal ahead of what was its inaugural season.
Sky also holds the rights to all mid-year cricketing tests from the English men's team courtesy of a tie-u with the England and Wales Cricket Board. England will play West Indies and Sri Linka at home through the middle part of 2024.
The addition of IPL rights will help it to compete with rival TNT, which has expanded cricket coverage in the last year after securing the rights to the India vs England five-game test series in January.
Licht added: “We're excited to bring these great live events to life on Sky Sports, adding to the already unrivaled cricket lineup this year and giving fans access to more of the sport and players that they love.”
The IPL’s deal with Sky follows its agreement of a 70-country streaming coverage deal with the YuppTV OTT streaming platform.
This includes the markets of continental Europe, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and the prominent cricket market of New Zealand.
The domestic rights to broadcast the IPL in India are split across media conglomerate Viacom18, which holds the streaming rights for the 2023-27 cycle, and Disney-owned Star, which holds linear TV rights across the same period.
