Doordarshan To Broadcast T20 World Cup Matches

Prasar Bharati has announced that it will broadcast the T20 World Cup taking place in the West Indies and USA starting from 2 June on the DD Free Dish platform. 

Following this, Doordarshan will cover a series of major global sporting events. This lineup includes live, deferred live, and highlight coverage of the Paris Olympics Games 2024 (26 July – 11 August, 2024), Paris Paralympic Games (28 August – 8 September, 2024), International Cricket Series featuring India Vs Zimbabwe (6 – 11 July, 2024) and India Vs Sri Lanka (27 July – 7 August, 2024), as well as the Ladies and Men’s finals of the French Open 2024 (8 &9 June, 2024) & Wimbledon 2024 (13 & 14 July, 2024).

Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO, Prasar Bharati made the announcement during a media interaction in New Delhi on 3 June. Also present during the interaction were Sanjay Jaju, Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; Navneet Kumar Sehgal, Chairman, Prasar Bharati, and Kanchan Prasad, DG, Doordarshan. During the event, a special anthem titled ‘Jazba’ for the T20 World Cup, sung by Sukhwinder Singh, was launched by the Secretary. Additionally, a promo of the T20 event, narrated by the storyteller Neelesh Misra, was also unveiled.

Doordarshan has reached agreements with global sports organisations such as the NBA and PGTA to broadcast their content on DD Sports. NBA’s popular e-sports property, NBA 2K League matches, are aired on the DD Sports Channel. 

Prasar Bharati is currently in advanced negotiations with various sports bodies and agencies to feature different sports leagues and properties on its sports channel. 

Dwivedi also briefed the audience on the extensive preparations undertaken by both, Doordarshan and All India Radio, for the counting process on 4 June. Over the past year, DD Sports has produced and aired numerous multi-sporting events nationwide. These include the Khelo India University Games in Astalakshmi (the eight states of North East), the Khelo India Youth Games in Tamil Nadu, the National Games in Goa, the inaugural edition of Khelo India Para Games in New Delhi, and Khelo India Winter Games in Gulmarg and Leh. In addition to being broadcasted on DD Sports, the feed of these games was shared with leading private channels in the country such as Star Sports, Jio Cinema, and the Sony Network.

The Doordarshan team produced the World Feed for cricket matches at the Hangzhou Asian Games in China, covering both men's and women's matches. This feed, created from the ground up by DD, was broadcast in numerous Asian countries.

For the Indian Cricket Team's tour of the West Indies in August 2023, Doordarshan held linear television rights for all platforms. Besides English and Hindi commentary, limited-over match feeds were produced in regional languages such as Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, and Kannada, and aired on various regional channels within the Doordarshan Network.

Doordarshan has collaborated with major global sports organizations like the NBA and PGTA to feature their content on DD Sports. NBA 2K League matches, a popular e-sports property, are broadcast on the DD Sports Channel.