Willow, offering more live, streaming and on-demand cricket than any other sports service, today announced the launch of Willow Sports, North America’s cricket-focused Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) channel. Starting today, Willow Sports offers fans free access to live marquee matches, classic games and much more.
“Over the past year, cricket’s popularity has skyrocketed in North America, largely fueled by USA’s stunning victory over Pakistan in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and the second season of Major League Cricket,” said Todd Myers, COO of Willow. “With this growing enthusiasm, Willow Sports will bring cricket further into the spotlight, offering free access to some of the most exciting matches and tournaments. American cricket fans have never had greater access to the second most popular sport in the world.”
A New Era for Cricket in North America
Willow Sports launches with a diverse lineup featuring select live matches from major competitions such as the IPL and ICC events, including the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, beginning with coverage of the highly anticipated match between the dominant defending champions Australia and 2020 runners-up India on Sunday, October 13 at 10 am ET. With an unmatched slate of live women’s matches, Willow Sports is the true home of women’s cricket in America. Viewers have access to unforgettable performances from top athletes, along with full-length replays and highlights of iconic moments like Virat Kohli’s record-breaking century and the USA’s remarkable victory over Pakistan.
This announcement comes on the heels of a wave of success for Willow, having recently partnered with several streaming services and regional sports networks, including Fubo, YES Network, ROOT Sports, NBC Sports Bay Area, Monumental Sports and Bally Sports.
A Growing Audience for Cricket
Willow is the home of cricket in North America and the only platform that reaches more than 5 million South Asians in the U.S. and Canada. The service connects advertisers and brands with an affluent and well-educated audience of passionate fans of cricket, the most popular sport of the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S., the Asian Indian community.
Willow Sports: A Free Option for Cricket Fans
Cricket fans living in the US have one main way to watch the sport live: Willow, a cable channel (also available online via Sling TV) which airs the sport. Well, that's not quite true any more, because a major free option is also now available.
This option is called Willow Sports, which is a free online channel for cricket operated by the sporting broadcaster. Like most 'free' channels, it's what's known as FAST, which stands for free ad-supported streaming TV, so you'll see commercials amongst your cricket.
You may be wondering how much cricket Willow Sports will show, given that it's free, and the answer could surprise you.
Willow has promised that the channel will show select live sports from ICC events and the IPL, starting with the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup which plays until Sunday, October 20.
2025 brings the ICC Champions Trophy, the end of this ICC World Test Championship cycle and its own iteration of the Indian Premier League, so lots of much-watch cricket could be broadcast on Willow Sports... though we'll have to see exactly how many games per tournament it'll show.
Beyond Live Matches: Replays and Highlights
As well as live sports, Willow Sports will show more cricket coverage including replays of major live games and highlight shows. Two examples provided in the press release include “Virat Kohli’s record-breaking century”, presumably the 2022 India vs Bangladesh match which saw him become the record-holder for most centuries scored in international cricket, and “the USA’s remarkable victory over Pakistan” which was a surprising upset that occurred in the T20 World Cup earlier in 2024.
How to Watch Willow Sports
That's all well and good, but how do you go about watching Willow Sports? Well, you can do that through a number of free online streaming services. Sling Freestream, Plex, DistroTV, YuppTV, KaroStream and brand-new platform Free Live Sports will offer the channel and all of those are free. Fubo will also have it.
A New Era for Cricket Viewing
It doesn't sound like Willow Sports will completely take over the cricket streaming market, unless its line-up of ICC and IPL matches covers whole tournaments. But given that it's free, it could prove a great way to give prospective cricket fans a taste of the game before they head for one of the paid options.
