ARY Digital Network, one of Pakistan’s main media outlets, has secured broadcast rights to the inaugural edition of Major League Cricket (MLC), the US-based men’s domestic Twenty20 competition launching later this week.
The six-team league starts on July 13 (Thursday) and the new deal will see coverage in Pakistan supplied by the A Sports linear channel and by the ARY Zap live-streaming service.
This announcement follows MLC unveiling its first overseas rights deal, with Viacom18 in India yesterday (July 10). Four of the six MLC sides are owned by investors of sides in the iconic Indian Premier League.
Pakistan national team players set to take part in the first MLC season between July 13 and 30 include Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, and Imad Wasim.
Salman Iqbal, founder and chief executive of ARY Digital, said: “The launch of a ground-breaking professional cricket tournament in the US is an exciting development and I am glad that ARY is part of this new venture as the MLC’s official broadcast partner in Pakistan.
“Cricket is making a grand entry into a market that holds huge potential and we hope that the audiences in Pakistan will enjoy our coverage of these matches.”
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By GlobalDataARY adds MLC action to its already-substantial list of live cricketing rights, including for the Pakistan Super League T20 competition, international cricket organized by the Pakistan Cricket Board, and tournaments staged by the governing International Cricket Council.
Tom Dunmore, Major League Cricket’s vice-president of marketing, added: “We are thrilled to partner with ARY and deliver the adrenaline-packed T20 action Major League Cricket will feature to viewers across Pakistan.
“We know how passionate fans in Pakistan are about cricket, and we’re excited that they will have the chance to see their favorite stars like Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, and Imad Wasim compete on an exciting new stage in the US.”
The first MLC season gets underway with the Texas Super Kings taking on the Los Angles Knight Riders at the Grand Prairie Stadium in the Dallas region of Texas.
Apart from those two sides, the four other competing teams are MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, and Washington Freedom.
MLC is owned by American Cricket Enterprises, a group that is backed by the founders of Willow TV, the largest cricket broadcaster in North America. The company won a competitive tender in May 2019 to fund and develop a professional T20 league in the US. MLC has been planning to deploy more than $120 million to launch this year.
In early April, the league brought in creative agency JDA Worldwide as its brand identity partner.
