India: Major League Cricket signs Viacom18 deal
July 7, 2023
Major League Cricket (MLC) has announced a media rights partnership that will see the first-ever edition of the competition air exclusively in India on Viacom18’s sports network. The multi-platform coverage will include live streaming on JioCinema and broadcast television coverage on Sports18 starting on July 13th when the Texas Super Kings take on the Los Angeles Knight Riders at Grand Prairie Stadium near Dallas, TX.
MLC will feature top-class international talent playing alongside America’s best players for the Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom. The inaugural season will be played in a round-robin format with the four best performing teams competing in a multi-game playoff and final round to decide a champion, to be crowned on July 30th.
“JioCinema continues to change the landscape of sports consumption, and with Major League Cricket, fans will watch their favourite T20 cricketers and cheer for teams affiliated to their favourite franchisees,” said Viacom18 Sports Head of Strategy, Partnerships & Acquisitions Hursh Shrivastava. “Indian viewers love T20 cricket, and we expect them to enjoy the action from the inaugural edition of the league across JioCinema and Sports18.”
“We are delighted to partner with Viacom18 and ensure that the world class T20 action Major League Cricket will feature is widely available in India, streamed on JioCinema and broadcast on Sports18,” added Vijay Srinivasan, co-Founder, Major League Cricket. “Our six teams feature T20 superstars fans in India love to watch, and there’s no better partner to showcase world class sports broadcasts in the world’s largest cricket market than Viacom18’s channels.”
Four of the six teams in the league feature investors from owners of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises including MI New York (five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians), the LA Knight Riders (two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders), the Texas Super Kings (five-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings) and the Seattle Orcas (Delhi Capitals). Fans will witness a slew of their favourite IPL stars featuring in MLC.
Full schedule
|
M# |
Date (India) |
Day |
Start Time (Indian Standard Time) |
Fixture |
Stage |
|
1 |
14-Jul |
Fri |
6:00 AM |
Texas Super Kings vs LA Knight Riders |
League |
|
2 |
15-Jul |
Sat |
2:00 AM |
MI New York vs San Francisco Unicorns |
League |
|
3 |
15-Jul |
Sat |
6:00 AM |
Seattle Orcas vs Washington Freedom |
League |
|
4 |
16-Jul |
Sun |
6:00 AM |
San Francisco Unicorns vs Seattle Orcas |
League |
|
5 |
17-Jul |
Mon |
2:00 AM |
Texas Super Kings vs Washington Freedom |
League |
|
6 |
17-Jul |
Mon |
6:00 AM |
LA Knight Riders vs MI New York |
League |
|
7 |
18-Jul |
Tue |
6:00 AM |
Texas Super Kings vs MI New York |
League |
|
8 |
19-Jul |
Wed |
6:00 AM |
LA Knight Riders vs San Francisco Unicorns |
League |
|
9 |
21-Jul |
Fri |
3:00 AM |
Washington Freedom vs LA Knight Riders |
League |
|
10 |
22-Jul |
Sat |
3:00 AM |
Seattle Orcas vs Texas Super Kings |
League |
|
11 |
23-Jul |
Sun |
3:00 AM |
Washington Freedom vs San Francisco Super Kings |
League |
|
12 |
23-Jul |
Sun |
11:00 PM |
LA Knight Riders vs Seattle Orcas |
League |
|
13 |
24-Jul |
Mon |
3:00 AM |
MI New York vs Washington Freedom |
League |
|
14 |
25-Jul |
Tue |
3:00 AM |
San Francisco Unicorns vs Texas Super Kings |
League |
|
15 |
26-Jul |
Wed |
3:00 AM |
MI New York vs Seattle Orcas |
League |
|
16 |
28-Jul |
Fri |
2:00 AM |
Team 3 vs Team 4 |
Eliminator |
|
17 |
28-Jul |
Fri |
6:00 AM |
Team 1 vs Team 2 |
Qualifier |
|
18 |
29-Jul |
Sat |
6:00 AM |
Loser match 16 vs Winner Match 17 |
Challenger |
|
19 |
31-Jul |
Mon |
6:00 AM |
Winner match 16 vs Winner Match 18 |
Final |