Technology’s role in sports is increasingly moving beyond simply enabling scale to make the viewing experience more inclusive, personalised and seamless, according to Akash Saxena, Chief Technology Officer, JioStar, who spoke at the FICCI FRAMES 2026 panel discussion, “Lighting Up a Billion Screens”. Moderated by Sports Journalist and Broadcaster Mayanti Langer, the panel brought together Ravi Kishan, Member of Parliament and Actor; former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan; Sheeladitya Mohanty, Head of Marketing, OpenAI India; and Saxena to discuss what it takes to reach 1.2 billion screens, enable hyper-localised and interactive fan engagement, and how personalisation is shaping the next phase of sports viewership.
Speaking about the scale behind live sports streaming, Saxena said JioHotstar since its inception has been building with the vision of creating a virtual stadium. The platform today spans devices ranging from small feature phones to large screens and has expanded across multiple languages.
Saxena said the platform’s approach to scale is also closely tied to inclusivity and has remained focused on building for Bharat, and not just for India. From starting with five languages, the platform has now expanded to 12. He stressed that this is not simply about translating content, but about recognising that “each language has its own story”.
For technologists, this creates a different challenge: reducing the friction involved in discovering and consuming that content. Saxena explained that if a viewer chooses commentary in a particular language, the platform remembers that preference so that the customer does not have to make the same choice repeatedly.
This focus on reducing friction also extends to how fans interact with the platform. Saxena said the industry is increasingly creating “optionality” for customers, whether through voice, conversational experiences or integrations that allow fans to access what they need without stepping away from the match. He pointed to the Swiggy integration, which allows users to order food directly from the JioHotstar app, as an example of this thinking, drawing a parallel with the traditional chaupal where people could get tea or samosas while remaining part of the experience.
Looking ahead, Saxena said the focus will be on understanding how people spend time on the platform and creating an environment that can serve those needs while keeping them connected to the event that brought them there in the first place.
Ultimately, for him, the role of technology is to enable the experience without overshadowing it. “Technology should be the fabric of the experience, not be the hero.”
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