IPL 2018: Star India to Provide Virtual Reality Facility in This Year's IPL

The game of cricket slowly and steadily is becoming a global game, and with the increased viewership, an immense amount of money has flooded in for the betterment of game as well as the fans. With so much money coming in, TV broadcasters are putting their best foot forward to improve the experience for the fans. Star India who have the broadcasting rights for the IPL now will provide Virtual Reality service through its digital and mobile entertainment platform Hotstar.

Star India bought the media rights for the IPL for a whopping Rs 16, 437 crores for a five year period from 2018 to 2022. Star India piped Sony entertainment who had broadcasted the league for past the 10 years.

Another option, the viewers will have is that they can pause the match at any given point and can swipe or tilt their phone to have a 360-degree view of the ground. Sanjay Gupta, managing director of Star India also added that they are not seeking any hardware support for the VR at this time.

He said:

“In India, between 600 and 700 million people follow cricket. However, of these, not more than 30 million would have seen a live cricket match in a stadium. We want to enhance the experience for those who can’t make it to the stadiums. Through Hotstar, using technology, we have made the virtual reality option available this year.”

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