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BCCI Legal Notice Forces ‘The Grade Cricketer’ to Remove IPL Videos
The Australian cricket podcast with a wide following, "The Grade Cricketer," with its irreverent commentary about the recent game, has gone ahead and removed all video postings about the current IPL from its YouTube channel.
The extreme step comes after reportedly receiving a legal notice, which is said to have been sent by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL 2025.
Sources indicate the legal letter expressed concerns regarding the unauthorized use of still photographs from IPL matches in "The Grade Cricketer's" videos. The BCCI is said to consider this usage as commercial exploitation and not editorial content per se, particularly given the sponsorship integrations in the podcast.
Grade Cricketer Deletes IPL Content Over Rights Issue
Presenters Sam Perry and Ian Higgins announced the removal of "all of the videos" featuring coverage of this year's IPL, stressing it was a proactive decision to adhere to the legal communication.
Though disappointed, they promised their huge international audience that the coverage of the tournament would continue in podcast and other forms, following a better understanding of the BCCI's content rules. The pair also teased a possible rebranding of the daily IPL-themed show.
This case illustrates the BCCI and IPL's strict media rights policies and their vigilance in guarding the commercial interests of the tournament. It reminds content creators to take note of the following broadcasting regulations and intellectual property rights while reporting big sporting events.
The BCCI has apparently asserted that the podcast was utilizing still photographs from the IPL for ‘commercial’ purposes rather than merely ‘editorial’ or reporting purposes. This is apparently tougher than before since, while cricket boards have previously targeted illegal usage of video clips, pursuing photos like these is a fresh initiative.
In order to prevent any suspension or banning of their social media accounts, the podcast group made the decision to delete all their IPL-related videos themselves.
Perry Explains Video Removal, Promises Increased IPL Coverage
Sam Perry clarified in his recent YouTube video, "You might have noticed that all of our videos from our coverage of this year's major cricket competition have been taken down from YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, Instagram, and X. This we've done ourselves; it hasn't been done to us. We've taken these down."
On Saturday night, Australian time, we received a very nice legal letter regarding aspects of our content from the cricket tournament we talked to you about related specifically to this season. Because of that, we made the decision to remove those videos," he added.
But Perry added that they would also continue to follow the IPL 2025 at regular intervals and even more frequently now since they are going all the way to India for their live performances.
It's important to remember we're going to keep posting coverage of the tournament at the same pace that we do. Actually, there's going to be more in the next few weeks because we're off to India. But our content approach has been the same for five years; we just now know more about what is and isn't passing muster.
Conclusion
With a legal challenge to use IPL photos notwithstanding, "The Grade Cricketer " took an initiative and deleted videos but promised fans continued, even enhanced, audio and live coverage from their forthcoming India tour, following new content guidelines.