Dubai: UAE cricket fans were caught unawares as most of them could not get to the watch the opening ceremony and the India Premier League match on TV on Saturday.
Gulf News was flooded with calls from many fans after they had tuned into OSN HD channel, through which they watched the last year’s IPL, to find they were not telecasting the event. Many fans thus missed watching defending champions Mumbai Indians versus two-time winners Chennai Super Kings match at the Wankhede Stadium.
This year, beIN Sports have acquired the rights to bring IPL to the fans, for which additional subscription is required now. A few fans who found out that beIN is telecasting the event immediately contacted Etisalat and realised that to get this channel one will have to subscribe.
“I was shocked to realise that OSN wasn’t showing IPL like in previous years and had to contact the Etisalat. Immediately on subscribing, I have been able to watch the opening match,” said a fan. who contacted OSN and was told that they don’t have IPL this year but other cricket matches from around the world.
Another fan said that he had already subscribed for beIN as he watches lot of football matches on their bouquet and hence did not have any problem. Some cricket fans tried watching IPL online but Hotstar, which has the rights for live streaming, is not available here.
