Sports
Sports Tak Delivers Knockout Performance During India vs West Indies Quarter Final
Sports Tak, India’s leading digital cricket platform, delivered a commanding performance post the India vs West Indies quarter final, emerging as the clear leader in live concurrent viewership among major cricket platforms.
From 10:50 PM onwards, Sports Tak recorded over 51,000 concurrent viewers, significantly ahead of competitors. In comparison, ESPNCricinfo registered 6,900 concurrent viewers, while Cricbuzz recorded 2,900 during the same period, giving Sports Tak nearly 7X higher live concurrency.
The strong performance during a high-stakes knockout fixture reinforces Sports Tak’s growing leadership in live digital cricket coverage. Backed by real-time analysis and high-engagement live programming, the platform continues to command audience attention during decisive match moments.
The surge in viewership also delivered strong visibility for partner brands, positioning them within premium cricket content consumed live by tens of thousands of viewers.
As the tournament advances toward its final stages, Sports Tak remains well placed to scale further, driving impactful reach and engagement during the biggest matches of the season.
Sports
JioStar terminates Bangladesh IPL and WPL broadcast rights deals
Payment defaults lead to licence cancellations and potential legal action.
MUMBAI: When the money stops flowing in cricket’s biggest cash cow, even the sub-licence holders can find themselves suddenly bowled out. JioStar India Private Limited has terminated its Bangladesh sub-licence agreements for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women’s Premier League (WPL) after the counterparty, Excel Lead IT Solutions FZ-LLC (holding company of broadcaster T-Sports), failed to clear outstanding dues.
The agreements, originally signed with Viacom18 (now part of JioStar) and later novated to Excel Lead, covered digital media rights for the IPL and WPL in Bangladesh for the 2023–27 seasons. In early January 2026, JioStar issued a demand notice for unpaid amounts related to the IPL 2025 and WPL 2025 seasons. Despite providing full access to matches and allowing complete commercial exploitation, the dues remained unpaid even after the cure period expired.
As a result, all licensed rights have automatically reverted to JioStar. The company has demanded immediate payment of all outstanding dues along with overdue interest and costs, and has instructed Excel Lead (T-Sports) to immediately cease any broadcast, streaming, promotion or exploitation of the rights in Bangladesh. Any continued use would constitute unauthorised exploitation.
JioStar is also considering legal proceedings, including interim and injunctive relief, to protect the commercial value of these high-profile cricket properties.
In a separate development, JioStar has invoked arbitration against Green Bean Sports Marketing (an affiliate of Gazi TV Bangladesh) over a sublicensing agreement for IPL television media rights in Bangladesh for the 2023–27 seasons. The agreement was terminated in January 2025 due to contractual breaches and payment issues.
Industry sources say JioStar remains confident in the judicial process and is determined to recover all outstanding amounts, including interest and litigation costs, in full.
The developments highlight a growing zero-tolerance approach by rights holders towards payment defaults and unauthorised exploitation in South Asia’s lucrative sports media market, where marquee cricket properties continue to command premium valuations.
In the high-stakes game of cricket broadcasting, it seems JioStar has decided that when payments don’t come, the game stops and the rights go back to the rightful owner.
