IPL 2 starts: Blackout for other TV Channels

The DLF Indian Premier League 2 kick starts in a few hours from now and if last year’s viewership is anything to by the General Entertainment Channels and their never ending family sagas can go for a virtual break. The men won’t complain anymore as all the women folk in the family won’t want to get hold of the remote and catch a glimpse of K-Series or Saas Bahu Aur Saazish. The T20 version seems to have been customised to keep off family fights over the TV remote.

Rightly marketed as small screen’s ‘Dhamaka’ last year which virtually led to the black out of other entertainment channels IPL 2 promises to be bigger and better in spite of going for a South African safari. And with the tournament becoming Non Resident Indian Premier League more eyes will be glued to the idiot box be it a 14 inch B/W television in the slums of East Delhi or a 49 inch plasma screen in a posh apartment at Juhu.

Bollywood can also shut down its shop for some time as Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty are busy in the rainbow nation cheering their respective teams. With Aamir Khan preaching election funda and Salman sorting his never ending problems with Katrina Kaif, Bollywood is in for a recession. Had the industry been collectively listed in the BSE or the NSE the share prices would have definitely gone south.

The coming of the flamboyant English players and the not so flamboyant Bangladeshi players has meant that IPL has truly become a global event. What IPL had done in its first season was packaged sports with entertainment. There was the competitive game for the die-hard cricket fan and entertainment for his family and friends who didn’t have the opportunity to swap channel and catch some soap or news.

The success of the tournament last could be measured from the fact the tournament had become talk of the nation. Women in offices would talks about the previous night’s game instead of their mother-in-laws and men would divert some of their attention from the gadgets and gizmos and cheer for their respective teams. This year such monopolistic attention might be difficult with the ongoing General Elections and the most interesting word we have learnt in the last 8 months ‘Recession’.

All in all IPL 2 promises to live upto the expectation it created with the mega success in the first season both in terms of the game and the entertainment value. After all unlike the Election campaigns which terms the fight as ‘Battle for the States’ Indian Premier League is all about ‘Battle of the Cities’