Given cricket has moved from cable television to OTTs, it has somewhat become less accessible due to the subscription plans
Remember when we used to rely on Doordarshan for cricket matches? As technological evolution took place, we slowly moved to cable television and private channels in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Around 2014 or 2015, the era of televisions was gone as the economical Indian smartphone industry boomed, and so did affordable data plans. With such rapid evolution, the majority of cricketers also moved from television screens to laptops, smartphones, tablets, or smart televisions powered by applications—in cricket's case, OTTs.
There's no doubt that OTTs have made things convenient. With a monthly, quarterly, or yearly subscription, you can watch movies, shows, and all the cricket in the world, from the Indian Premier League (IPL) to international tournaments.
However, we must not forget that urban and semi-urban India still comprises a very small percentage. The majority still live in villages, where income or financial power remains an issue, coupled with the lack of education to operate smartphones and their unavailability.
Yes, smartphones now have the feature to change languages, but seven or eight years ago, scrolling through the menu was not known to many. Furthermore, a good percentage of Indians still do not have smartphones or any other internet-connected devices.
However, the passion for cricket was there in almost every Indian – an issue that the government addressed.
In 2018, India's government-owned national free-to-air television channel Doordarshan made an effort to telecast IPL. Back then, Star had the broadcast rights of the league, bought at 2.55 billion dollars for global television and digital rights. Surprisingly, Star had no obligation to Doordarshan to broadcast the IPL for free.
While Star had no issue, the broadcaster provided some terms & conditions.
Doordarshan agreed to the terms and conditions, and Shashi Shekar, director of Prasar Bharati, Doordarshan's parent organisation, broke the news on X (formerly Twitter) by posting, "This brings #IPL2018 content to Doordarshan for the first time. Thanks to HMIB @Smriti Irani and Secy@MIB_India for the initiative and support."
Smriti Irani, an actor who worked for Star and was the then Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, played a key role in the negotiations. She even replied to Shekar's post, stating, "Glad to be of help."
According to reports, if you have a DD Free Dish, you can watch the IPL 2025 broadcast with some limitations, but for free. Star Utsav Movies will also broadcast the matches for free, but not all matches.
