KOLKATA: In the past couple of days, there have been speculations floating around a Star India-Jio deal for IPL 2020. The two companies have come to an agreement finally that will allow subscribers of select Jio mobile plans to watch IPL 2020 for free. In addition to that, Jio Fiber users of certain plans will also be able to watch it for free, according to media reports.

The report also added that Jio will be providing free IPL 2020 streaming on its Rs 401 and Rs 2,599 mobile recharge plans. However, the plans mentioned already provide users access to Disney+ Hotstar.  Viewers without a subscription to Disney+ Hotstar or free access to the service will be able to stream only five minutes of the IPL 2020 matches.

When the news broke out that IPL might not be available for Jio users to watch this year, experts suggested there might be a huge impact on the digital reach of the tournament. It has always been estimated that a large number of IPL’s digital reach came on the back of Jio deal.

Given the fandom of the greatest cricket showbiz in India, Disney, which owns Star India, planned to launch Disney+ combining with Hotstar during March to exploit the popularity of IPL. Owing to the postponement of the league due to pandemic, it delayed the launch slightly. Hence, it can be assumed that Star India will leave no stone unturned to boost the digital reach of Disney+ Hotstar.