Those who don’t want to pay a premium for Star Sports for Asia Cup 2023 have good news. Doordarshan (Free Dish) will have Asia Cup 2023 LIVE Broadcast for free for India Cricket Team matches. It will include the blockbuster India vs Pakistan match on September 2. However, it should be noted that Disney+Hotstar will have Asia Cup 2023 LIVE Streaming for free for mobile users for the first time.
Asia Cup begins on August 30 with Pakistan vs Nepal in Multan. It will be the only home match for the original host Pakistan. Pakistan will also host Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka and a Super 4 match in Lahore. Sri Lanka will host all the remaining matches.
Disney-Star holds both digital and TV rights of ICC tournaments after paying a whopping $3.04 billion for the current cycle. However, to entice viewers after success of JioCinema in IPL, Disney-Star has made it completely free for mobile users. But for TV viewers, both tournaments will be behind paid packages.
Despite the notion of India shifting to digital with 3 Cr viewers tuning in to watch IPL 2023 Final, Disney-Star has shown TV is still in good stead.
Disney-Star registered a whopping 540 million viewership. With Asia Cup 2023 and World Cup 2023, the broadcaster is now want to ace the Live Streaming business as well.
It should be noted that Disney-Star already had broadcast few IPL games on its Free-to-Air Star Utsav.
But despite the exclusive media rights deal, Star Sports is liable to share its feed with Doordarshan as per Indian law. Any sporting events of national importance must be shared with Doordarshan. And that is how DD Free Dish will have Asia Cup 2023 matches.
Asia Cup 2023 Schedule – Revised
| Date | Venue | Match | Stage | Match Timing/Result |
| 6 Sep | Lahore | Pakistan vs Bangladesh | Super 4 | 3:00 PM IST (Pak win by 7 wickets) |
| 9 Sep | Colombo | Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh | Super 4 | 3:00 PM IST |
| 10 Sep | Colombo | India vs Pakistan | Super 4 | 3:00 PM IST |
| 11 Sep | Colombo | Reserve Day | (Ind won by 228 runs) | |
| 12 Sep | Colombo | India vs Sri Lanka | Super 4 | (India won by 41 runs) |
| 14 Sep | Colombo | Pakistan vs Sri Lanka | Super 4 | (Sri Lanka won by 2 wickets) |
| 15 Sep | Colombo | India vs Bangladesh | Super 4 | 3:00 PM IST |
| 17 Sep | Colombo | Final | 3:00 PM IST | |
| 18 Sep | Colombo | Reserve Day |
