India has been one of the world’s fastest growing nations in terms of football viewers, but the country will not have Bundesliga for the 2020/21 season on live television. The rights for this season have been given to Fancode, and it currently appears that it will be a streaming-only service. The announcement was made on September 18, 2020, on the eve of the new 20/21 Bundesliga season (reigning domestic and European champions Bayern play Schalke on MD1)
The move is bit of a setback for football viewers in India- the French Ligue 1 does not have an official broadcaster there, and the Spanish La Liga is also a stream only service (on Facebook). The country however does have a high rate of mobile internet penetration and data rates are amongst the cheapest in the world. Fancode are also initially offering streaming of Bundesliga games for free, but it remains to be seen whether they make it chargeable in the future.
For the better part of this decade, the Bundesliga TV rights in India have been with Star Sports (who also telecast the Premier League). Star have however opted not to renew, and some say this is because of the high prices they have paid for the rights to the hugely successful Indian Premier League T20 tournament (which begins tomorrow and effectively clashes with the Bundesliga till mid November). The IPL is normally held in April-May, but was moved to October owing to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Which channel is telecasting the Bundesliga in India for 2020/21?
No TV channel is telecasting the Bundesliga in India for 20/21- the rights are with the FanCode site.
Where can I watch Bayern vs Schalke on TV in India?
The Bayern v Schalke game on September 18, 2020 will not be on television in India. It can however be watched on FanCode (free to view at the time of writing)