Willow TV to broadcast MLC across North America in long-term partnership
By Major League Cricket
Major League Cricket (MLC) announced today that its historic inaugural season will be broadcast live on Willow TV in the United States and Canada this July as part of a landmark five-year partnership.
The long-term media rights agreement with Willow TV brings the transformative T20 franchise competition, featuring many of the world’s top players competing in the United States for the first time, to North America’s premier cricket channel. The broadcasts on Willow TV will feature a world class production, with a 30-camera set-up for the matches at Grand Prairie Stadium in North Texas and Church Street Park in North Carolina.
The broadcast for Major League Cricket’s sold-out inaugural match, between the Texas Super Kings and Los Angeles Knight Riders, will be shown live on Willow TV this Thursday, July 13, starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Six teams will compete in MLC’s inaugural season from July 13-30: the Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom. Further details on the broadcast schedule can be found at Willow.TV.
Willow TV, the premier broadcaster of cricket in North America for almost 20 years, holds the rights to ICC broadcast and digital rights – including men’s and women’s World Cup events – along with iconic global cricket events such as the Indian Premier League and the Ashes.
Founded in 2003 by Major League Cricket co-founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, Willow TV was acquired by the Times of India (TOI) Group in 2016, the largest publishing company in India and South Asia. Willow TV’s partnership with MLC will also see America’s new professional cricket league covered with content across TOI.com and Cricbuzz, providing extensive reach to cricket fans across the US and Canada.
Vijay Srinivasan, Co-founder, Major League Cricket said:
“American cricket fans have been watching the best cricketers in the globe on Willow TV for two decades, and now they can follow the same type of world class action happening here in the United States live on Willow TV. We are thrilled to partner with Willow TV over a long-term agreement that will showcase the world’s best players taking part in America’s transformative T20 competition.”
Satyan Gajwani, Vice-Chairman of Times Internet, said:
“Willow TV is the long-time home for cricket in North America. We are thrilled to add Major League Cricket to our portfolio of world class events and provide fans with the chance to watch T20 franchise action taking place in the United States featuring T20 cricket superstars that Willow subscribers love to watch.”
The new cricket-specific venue in the Dallas-area, Grand Prairie Stadium, will play host to 12 matches in the groundbreaking American professional cricket championship, with seven matches also taking part at Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina.
Superstar players set to take part in MLC include Afghanistan T20 captain Rashid Khan, Pakistan’s Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf, South African internationals Faf du Plessis and David Miller, West Indians Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell, Australians Marcus Stoinis and Aaron Finch, England's Jason Roy and New Zealand’s Trent Boult.
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“It’s a tough pill to swallow”
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