National: JetSynthesys has announced the global expansion of the Global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL) with Season 3 set to be broadcast across India and North America. The latest edition of the e-cricket league will air live on Star Sports Select and Star Sports Khel, while streaming exclusively on JioHotstar in India. In a first for the league, it will also be available on Willow TV across the United States and Canada, marking GEPL’s international television debut.
The expansion represents a significant milestone for GEPL, reinforcing India’s growing position in creating globally relevant esports intellectual properties centered around cricket.
The tournament will be held from August 1 to August 9, with six hours of live coverage daily from 4 PM to 10 PM across Star Sports Select, Star Sports Khel and JioHotstar. Under the partnership, Willow TV will distribute the tournament through Willow Sports (FAST platform) and its direct-to-consumer platforms across North America, taking the league to one of the world’s largest cricket-following diaspora audiences.
The wider broadcast footprint builds on the success of Season 2, when GEPL became the first e-cricket league to secure television broadcast alongside the IPL season on Star Sports and JioHotstar, generating over 174 million impressions.
Commenting on the milestone, Rajan Navani, Chairman, JetSynthesys, said, “When we launched GEPL, e-cricket had no stage in India and little recognition as a competitive sporting discipline. Season 2 changed that by bringing the league to millions of viewers through national television. With Willow TV, we are now taking the next step by introducing India’s homegrown e-cricket league to passionate cricket audiences across the United States and Canada. This is more than an international broadcast, it’s the beginning of India’s digital sporting IP reaching global audiences and further strengthens our vision of making India the creator and exporter of world-class interactive entertainment.”
GEPL Season 3 will be played on Real Cricket™, which has surpassed 400 million lifetime downloads. The tournament will feature an expanded line-up of eight franchises competing for a prize pool of ₹3.1 crore at the Jairaj Sports and Convention Centre in Pune.
The latest season also welcomes two new franchise owners. Playback singer Sonu Nigam joins as owner of the Kolkata Hawks, while gaming personality Scout (Tanmay Singh) takes charge of the Gujarat Wolves. They join the returning franchise owners including Peyush Bansal (Delhi Sharks), Nikhil Kamath, Ankit Nagori and Prashanth Prakash (Bengaluru Badgers), Sara Tendulkar (Mumbai Grizzlies), Suniel Shetty (Pune Stallions), Gopal Srinivasan, Madhusudanan R and Arjun Santhanakrishnan (Chennai Falcons), and Amit Mehta (Hyderabad Rhinos).
With its first international television broadcast and an expanded franchise roster, GEPL Season 3 marks a new chapter in India’s esports ecosystem, aiming to take homegrown competitive e-cricket to audiences beyond the country while strengthening its position as a global digital sports property.
