iStream.com, India’sFirst Online Video Service has acquired the exclusivelive streaming and video ondemand rights for India forthe Micromax Cup India-SriLanka series starting July 21, in Sri Lanka. Withthe Indian team out of action for 4 months, this series has been one of themost anticipated ones, and will see them pitted against the Lankans in 5 ODIsand 1 T20. Sri Lanka is oneof India’sfavourite hunting grounds with a record of winning 67 matches out of the total76 played.
The deal wassigned with Sporty Solutionz, which has got exclusive Internet and mobilerights for this series from Ten Sports. Allthe 6 day-night matches starting at 2:30 pm will be streamed live on iStream.com, and will alsobe available on demand for a month after the tournament.
“After arelatively long lay off, Indian cricket fans will be delighted to see theirheroes back in action. We saw tremendous response to UEFA Euro 2012, which westreamed exclusively in India.This series will further strengthen our sports vertical on iStream.com. We planto bring in more such exclusive partnerships in the online videospace," said Radhakrishnan Ramachandran, Founder and CEO, iStream.
Apart from thematches, iStream viewers can catch special programming around the event,including pre and post-match highlights, team statistics, player profiles,trivia and other related clips. Integrating social features, iStream will allowFacebook users to live-chat on the site while the matches are played and “like”or “tweet” any clip or statistics.
Expressing hisexcitement on the partnership, Chief Executive of Sporty Solutionz, AshishChadha added “iStream is the pioneer in the internet streaming space and I amsure with their unique technology delivery platform live-streaming of thematches will be altogether a great experience for the Indian cricket fans.”
iStream.com addshundreds of new videos every day to its library of over a 100,000 clips ofpremium News Bulletins, TV Shows & Movies in five Indian languages fromover 50 channels. It also streams 26 news channels – in English, Hindi, Tamil,Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam – live 24/7.
Last yeariStream.com raised US$ 5 million from global private equity fund SAIFPartners. It was SAIF’s first investment in the online video space. The$1.25 billion fund counts online travel services from MakeMyTrip and localsearch company Just Dial among its top portfolio companies.