Monday 27 February 2023 6:03 pm | Updated: Monday 27 February 2023 6:06 pm

Free-to-air victory for cricket as some IPL games set for ITV, reports

Deputy Sports Editor - Morning Wire

Free-to-air broadcaster ITV will show 16 regular season matches of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) after the broadcaster struck a deal with DAZN for the rights to the cricket franchise competition.

The two broadcasters have purchased the rights for the famous competition with 16 matches to be exclusively shown on ITV while DAZN will broadcast the other 58 – including the play-offs and the final, according to the Mail.

IPL on ITV

This will be DAZN’s first entrance into the cricketing world in the United Kingdom but will sub-licence some of the matches to ITV throughout the 2023 competition in a deal which is understood to be for the next five seasons.

The streaming platform has history with the IPL and holds the competition rights in both Australia and South Africa.

The IPL is the leading franchise cricket model in the world at the moment with a number of the franchises having stakes in overseas teams – the recent SA20 competition involves six teams all of whom are owned by IPL franchises.

The Gujarat Titans – owned by private equity firm CVC –won the 2022 competition in a final in Ahmedabad. It was the Titans’ first season involved in the competition.