India’s biggest telecom company, Reliance Jio, has informed that it will be done with providing free streaming of Indian Premier League (IPL) matches and would be asking people to pay for it. From this year’s IPL, you will have to buy a new plan from 299 rupees ($3.44) to watch matches on the JioHotstar platform that has been merged recently by Reliance and Hotstar.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has scheduled the IPL to start from March 22 and end on May 25. It is a departure from the last two years when IPL matches were broadcast for free on JioCinema. It was already being reported that the new Reliance-Disney partnership would use a hybrid model where some content would be available for free up to a certain number of hours and then a subscription would be required.
Besides the IPL, the new plan also offers a 50-day free trial of Reliance Jio’s broadband services in a bid to increase its share in the Indian home internet market through the promotion of high-speed sports streaming.
Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire, has been very cautious in pricing the digital content, especially cricket events. The new combined Reliance and Disney entity has spent almost $10 billion on buying broadcast rights of cricketing events and is now the biggest player in India’s $28 billion media and entertainment industry. The joint venture also owns more than 100 television channels and streaming services, thus ensuring that Reliance is in a strong position in the Indian digital content market.
