Reliance Jio has upped the ante in the live streaming sports arena by offering a special data pack for its users with the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. The IPL kicks off on 7 April. The telco has announced a Rs 251 plan that claims to offer 102GB data, allocated for live streaming of the cricketing event. The data available with this plan comes with a validity of 51 days.
Airtel has also added itself into the mix by offering free live streaming of IPL 2018 via its updated Airtel TV app. Just like Jio, this special offer is only available to existing and new Airtel 4G users on Android and iOS who need to download and update the app.
The live streaming space in India is gaining steam with the rise in the number of affordable 4G plans in the market. Airtel TV app is seen as a direct competition to Jio TV as well as Hotstar from Star India.
The Rs 251 data pack from Reliance Jio goes up against the Hotstar annual sporting pack that offers live streaming of all major sporting event throughout the year. This is the first time that Hotstar has decided against free live streaming of the IPL (deferred by 5 minutes) – That speaks volumes about the demand for live streaming these days.
Sony, Jio and Star India are fighting it out for the rights for cricket streaming in India. And all these brands are working to improve the experience of their apps, which is still a work in progress.
Recently, Jio got exclusive right to stream the Carabao Cup Final between Arsenal and Manchester City. They followed up football rights with access to the recent Nidhas Cup cricket tri-nation series between India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Jio has been busy working on its strategy for consumers over the past few weeks. They even offered a free one year extension of Jio Prime to existing Prime users on its network.
IPL 2018 will see MS Dhoni return to lead the Chennai Super Kings team. Rajasthan Royals, which is making its comeback after the 2-year ban, will be led by Ajinkya Rahane, after Steven Smith was stripped off his captaincy. The telco also got the green flag from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to kickstart its payments bank in the country.
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