News - YouTube to broadcast live sporting events

[HEXUS]

Search giant Google has confirmed that it will broadcast all Indian Premier League cricket matches via YouTube.

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[Singh400]

Awesome sauce. I know some people who will be very happy. Not a cricket fan myself though.

[scaryjim]

I am... interested. *VERY* interested. This might be the first *good* use of youtube I've come across...

[OilSheikh]

Looks like not gonna be on youtube for us in the UK. pfft

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Looks like not gonna be on youtube for us in the UK. pfft

The US is excluded due to a prior licensing agreement but AFAIK the UK will benefit from the free coverage.

[pubbaa]

LoL, something tells me this is a plan to sell those mobile HSPA or mobile internet connections in india among non-tech savvy people in india (preferably people over 40+) , it's just perfect marketing

[scaryjim]

LoL, something tells me this is a plan to sell those mobile HSPA or mobile internet connections in india among non-tech savvy people in india (preferably people over 40+) , it's just perfect marketing

That's rather cynical, isn't it? Besides, AFAIK google don't own any mobile carriers, so it'd hardly be to Google's benefit even if lots of Indians did go out and get mobile broadband. Besides, I'm pretty sure IPL will be playing publically *everywhere* in India, and I imagine India will actually make up a tiny proportion of the online viewing figures for IPL cricket.

In fact, the plan is pretty obvious - by broadcasting online in every country except the US, Google can sell exactly the same advertising space tens of times, and simply play the appropriate ad based on IP address. Technologically simple (Google must already have the tech available to do this) and highly profitable.

My main hope from this is that the ECB take note - since I don't watch broadcast TV anymore a deal with Google to bring all English tests to YouTube would be brilliant