UK public-service broadcaster BBC has appointed Whisper, the UK-based sports and TV production firm to handle its live coverage of The Hundred, the franchise-based short-form cricket competition.
Operating from its Welsh production base, Whisper will produce live double-header fixture broadcasts for the BBC throughout the 2026 campaign, which began yesterday (July 21) with the men’s and women’s teams of MI London and Sunrisers Leeds facing off against each other live on BBC and the iPlayer OTT service (as well as on pay-TV broadcaster Sky).
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That was the first of eight double-header fixtures (16 games in total) that will be broadcast live by the BBC, with Whisper now confirmed to be providing production for each.
Additionally, Whisper will also support BBC Sport with bespoke digital content spanning the BBC’s social media and digital channels throughout the season, including leveraging the firm’s in-house graphic design agency Chapter3.
BBC’s coverage deal for The Hundred runs through the 2028 season, and that eight double-header deal includes the opening matches and the finals of both the men's and women's tournaments each year.
Speaking on the announcement, Whisper senior digital lead Alexander O’Hagan said: “The Hundred is an incredible tournament because it naturally lives where the fans are, both in the stadium and digitally.
“By combining our live production engine with dedicated, platform-first digital assets, we are offering services that lets fans interact with the tournament whenever and wherever they choose. This is about deeper integration: capturing the emotion, athlete personalities, and cultural hype to help the BBC spark new conversations, engage next-generation demographics, and drive long-term viewer retention."
Meanwhile, in cricket’s biggest global market, India, the JioStar media enterprise has captured the rights to The Hundred, showcasing all 68 games of the 2026 campaign.
The Hundred coverage will air on the pay-TV Star Sports Network linear channel and the OTT JioHotstar service.
Indian male cricketers are barred from playing in the Hundred, alongside any other foreign T20 competitions, by the country’s BCCI governing body as part of a measure to protect the domestic IPL competition.
In the women’s competition prominent Indian names such as Smriti Mandhana (Manchester Super Giants), Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma (both Sunrisers Leeds) all compete, though the relative lack of prominence of women’s cricket in India compared to the men’s game, the lack of Indian representation in the men’s competition, and the disparate time zone difference, means that The Hundred will likely struggle to position itself among JioStar’s top-tier catalogue of sports rights.
Indeed, JioStar holds rights to a wide range of top-tier sporting properties, primarily in the cricket business, including all major ICC events and tournaments through 2027 (despite speculation it may end early).
This deal comes with the eight franchises from The Hundred all now part-owned (both the men's and women's teams) by private investors, multiple of which stem from the Indian market.
Reliance Strategic Business Ventures – a subsidiary of Indian behemoth Reliance Industries (which owns JioStar) holds 49% of the MI London franchise (named after Reliance’s Mumbai Indians IPL team).
Meanwhile, the Sun Group, 100% owner of Sunrisers Leeds (and the Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team), and RPSG Group, which holds 70% of the Manchester Super Giants (and owns the Lucknow Super Giants of the IPL), are also India-based.
