The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is the newest addition to BT Sport’s broadcasting portfolio. The sports broadcaster will be covering every single match of the 2021 edition of the Twenty20 tournament, following a multi-year agreement with Cricket West Indies (CWI).
“BT Sport’s line-up continues to grow as we show more world-class cricket to fans across the UK,” said Rachel Knight, Director of Sports Rights, BT Sport.
“The Caribbean Premier League will kick off an exciting period for cricket lovers on BT Sport, as we exclusively broadcast the 2021/22 men’s and women’s Ashes in addition to England’s tour of the West Indies in early 2022.”
This new deal is an up-gradation of the previous partnership with the CWI, the cricket board permitted BT Sport the media rights of all international and domestic rights to cricket in the region.
The England men’s and women’s tours were also broadcasted in this arrangement but did not cover CPL – known as the Hero CPL for sponsorship reasons – as the domestic competition is sold as a separate entity.
The pay-TV network had also bagged the rights for the upcoming highly anticipated The Ashes series which will commence in December. BT Sport beat rival Sky Sports by paying £80 million to pocket Cricket Australia’s UK rights for the 2016 to 2021 cycle. The agreement included the home international fixtures of Australia and also the domestic T20 league, Big Bash.
CPL 2021 will commence on August 26 with the first fixture between Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders will be played at Warner Park at 7:30 PM IST.