The Hundred Cricket IPTV UK 2026: Full Streaming Guide | Xstream

What The Hundred Is (And Why It's Different)

The Hundred is the ECB's short-format cricket competition, played over 100 balls per innings rather than the traditional 20-over T20 format, with eight men's and eight women's franchise teams representing English and Welsh cities. Since launching in 2021, it has become one of the biggest domestic cricket draws in the UK calendar, running through late July and August with matches almost every evening.

Because it's designed to be fast, accessible, and TV-friendly, broadcast coverage is unusually strong for a domestic tournament — but that also means the games are split across a mix of subscription and free-to-air outlets, which is exactly where an IPTV subscription simplifies things.

UK Broadcast Coverage Explained

Sky Sports holds the primary live rights to The Hundred in the UK, showing the majority of fixtures across its Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event channels, typically in full HD with select matches available in 4K. A number of marquee fixtures — usually finals weekend and a handful of headline matches — are also simulcast free-to-air on the BBC, continuing an arrangement the ECB has kept in place since the tournament began to build a wider domestic audience.

For viewers without a Sky dish or contract, this split coverage is the single biggest headache: catching every match legally without Sky traditionally meant no live coverage outside the BBC's free games. An IPTV subscription that carries the full Sky Sports channel line-up removes that gap entirely.

Tournament Format & Fixture Structure

Each innings runs to 100 balls delivered in blocks of five or ten rather than traditional six-ball overs, which keeps matches to roughly two and a half hours — considerably shorter than a T20 fixture once change-overs are included, and one of the reasons it plays so well as an evening TV broadcast.

Women's Hundred Coverage

The women's competition runs in parallel with the men's tournament, sharing the same eight city franchises and, in most cases, the same match-day double-headers — a women's fixture followed by the men's game at the same ground. Sky Sports broadcasts the women's matches with the same production standard as the men's coverage, and it's increasingly common for a women's game to be the headline broadcast slot of the evening rather than a supporting fixture.

This double-header structure is worth knowing if you're planning your evening around the cricket: an IPTV guide with a proper EPG (electronic programme guide) makes it far easier to see both start times at a glance rather than guessing when the second match will begin.

How The Hundred Compares to the IPL and Big Bash

The Hundred is deliberately shorter and more condensed than franchise T20 competitions like the IPL or Australia's Big Bash League — a full Hundred season runs across roughly three weeks compared to the IPL's two-month schedule. For UK viewers who enjoy the franchise-cricket format but want something that fits into a normal August evening rather than a months-long commitment, The Hundred fills that gap, while IPTV still lets you follow all three competitions through the same app when their seasons overlap.

Best Devices for Watching The Hundred

Common Streaming Issues During Live Matches

A wired Ethernet connection to your streaming device resolves the majority of mid-match drops, since it removes WiFi contention entirely — particularly useful on finals weekend when household viewing numbers spike.

How Xstream 4K IPTV Covers The Hundred

Xstream 4K IPTV carries the full Sky Sports package, including Sky Sports Cricket, as part of its standard channel line-up — so every group-stage fixture, the eliminator, and finals weekend are all included without needing to add a separate sports package or satellite contract. The service also includes the BBC simulcast channels for the free-to-air matches, meaning you get the entire tournament through one single app rather than juggling two separate services.