Reliance-owned Jio Cinema, which has the digital streaming rights of Indian Premier League, has drawn flak on Twitter and other social media platforms with several complaints of the app crashing or slow buffering on Day 1 of the mega tournament.

The Jio Cinema app crashed during the match between opening match of the season between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Gujarat Titans (GT). This left a lot of viewers frustrated as they could not watch the match without a glitch.

Viacom is offering free streaming of IPL 2023 on its OTT JioCinema, after Reliance picked the lion’s share of IPL broadcasting rights (for 2023-2027) for a total of Rs 23,758 crore. Disney Star bagged the TV rights for the Indian subcontinent, paying Rs 23,575 crore. This is for the first time that two companies are broadcasting the matches in India and other regions on separate platforms.

Earlier, Disney Hotstar used to stream the matches.

In reply to users, JioCinema tweeted “We regret this issue. This is not the experience we want you to have. To help us resolve this matter, pls DM details of your OS, app version & your mobile no. We appreciate your patience & hope to resolve this at the earliest.”In some cases, JioCinema’s Twitter handle also suggested users to reinstall the app and try again.

IPL has opened the gates of the stadiums for spectators after three years when only a limited number of people were allowed to watch it due to Covid restrictions. More than rivalries of the teams, the IPL this time also stands out to gauge the preference of Indians with regard to on which platform they would want to watch the games – on TV or digital apps. However, Reliance’s streaming app crash and other issues isn’t the start the company would have hoped for.