PORT-OF-SPAIN: The broadcasters for the Hero Caribbean Premier League, starting from 18 August running through to 10 September, have been confirmed for the 2020 tournament with deals with key partners in place in India, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, America, Canada, South Africa, SE Asia, Bangladesh the UAE and across the Caribbean.
In addition, the tournament will be live streamed over Twitter, Facebook or YouTube into 81 countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
For the record, in India it is Star Sports that has picked up the television rights while streaming rights have been secured by FanCode.
It is worth noting that in all precious editions of the the CPL, the rights for the Indian territory were with Sony Pictures Network India. While it has to be admitted that SportzPower was initially surprised that Star had picked up the rights, this website’s reading of the strategic intent behind the mobve is that the tournament will work as a kind of re-introduction of live cricket broadcast ahead of the big bang arrival of Indian Premier League 2020 on 19th September.
Hero CPL T20 will be broadcast on Star Sports 1 and 1HD, Star Sports 2 and 2HD, Star Sports Hindi 1 and Hindi 1HD and will also be live streamed on FanCode. Matches will be held at 7.30 PM and 3.00 AM (following day) on weekdays and 7.30 PM and 11.45 PM on weekends (IST) respectively.
With the league being the first franchise T20 tournament to return since the lockdowns as a fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers assert that viewership for this year’s tournament “is expected to be bigger than ever”. Each game will be shown live, with highlights and digital packages being available to all partners.
Sunset+Vine, who deliver outstanding coverage of ICC events and T20 tournaments around the world will again help to raise the bar in terms of production quality, capturing the onfield action alongside an impressive line up of commentators, including international favourite Danny Morrison and local voices Ian Bishop, Samuel Badree and Darren Ganga along with CPL’s Director of International Cricket, Tom Moody.
Pete Russell, Hero CPL’s COO, said: “Each year we grow our broadcast and digital footprint, and with us being the first major cricket league to return we are confident that we will see an increase on last year’s record viewership figures. Hero CPL is now the second most watched T20 league in the world and we are delighted that fans from around the globe are going to be watching in record numbers thanks to our broadcast and streaming partners.”
The Hero CPL T20 will witness participation from six teams – Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Trinbago Knight Riders, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Jamaica Tallawahs and St Lucia Zouks.
The tournament will see 33 games played at two venues in Trinidad and Tobago
