With the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League now two months away, the league official broadcaster, Star India, has proposed a change in match timings. However, IPL franchises have opposed the proposed timings, claiming the new schedule will result in losing TV audience.
According to a report by Indian Express, Star India had proposed a change in the match timing to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL governing council had accepted the proposed changes in their recent meeting in Bengaluru.
The broadcaster has proposed the 8 PM matches to be shifted to 7 PM, while matches scheduled for 4 PM will be postponed to 5:30 PM.
None of the eight franchise is in favour of the proposed timings. In fact, they would like to stick to the conventional timings. “There will be no problem on days with just a single match but there will be a big one when there are doubleheaders. They won’t get the complete three-hour quota and instead will have to share it with two matches. The overlap will result in one-and-a-half hours of each IPL match losing out on viewers,” a franchise official said, as quoted by The Indian Express.
Even though the IPL governing council seems convinced with the timing proposed by the broadcaster, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla has stated that the final decision will be taken soon.
In September last year, Rupert Murdoch-owned Star India paid Rs 16,347.50 crore following an all-conquering bidding to bag the IPL broadcasting rights for the next five years.
