MUMBAI: Indian media and entertainment biggie Star India is going full throttle for its first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With 12 channels in its bouquet, Star India has decided to involve 10 of them and its digital platform Hotstar to live telecast the matches in six languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali.
“By leveraging the power of TV and Hotstar, IPL will be enjoyed by a total of 700 million fans across geographies which was 550 million in the previous year,” reads a press release issued by Star India.
The sportscaster which used to stream the action on Hotstar with a five minute lag will be offering it live on the streaming service with the possibility of a pay option. It is believed to be in conversation with various telecom operators which would bundle it in data and talk plans for their subscribers.
The Star India management was quoted in newspaper reports as saying they want to make Hotstar a more massy product than the premium service that is being offered currently.
Star India has innovated the technology for first time live on TV and digital, check-ins and live score cards on hand-held phones. What this means is that Hotstar users will be able to have a very visible score unit once they logon to the service on their handphones, as compared to earlier when it just streamed the regular TV signals with difficult to read aston bands and cards.
Star India MD Sanjay Gupta said, “Technological innovations is at the heart of the experience, bringing the stadium home and giving the fans an interactive and immersive viewing experience."
Star India may also introduce Virtual Reality (VR) for its Hotstar subscribers.
Meanwhile, the BCCI has announced that the mega auctions for the 11 th IPL will be held in Bengaluru on 27, 28 January 2018.
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