The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has signed a three-year extension to its broadcast rights deal with Sky Sports. With the renewal, the network will be able to broadcast England cricket matches till 2028.
Sky Sports’ new contract with the ECB will go into effect in 2025. The network said that 90 hours of additional cricket will be displayed, including more women’s cricket fixtures and matches from lower division domestic tournaments.
In this agreement, Sky Sports will show one game per round for free on its YouTube channel. However, this free-to-air offer has yet to be finalized. The network states that it will be confirmed by the ECB later. The board’s contract with the BBC has also been extended until 2024. Moreover, at least two women’s T20 international matches will be broadcast on cable television during the extension period. There will also be more number of women’s Hundred matches.
The new agreement extends the ECB’s 30-year association with Sky Sports to include home international and domestic cricket. The ongoing five-year agreement, which began in 2020, has resulted in a significant increase in cricket viewing on Sky Sports. Overall, 134 million additional hours of live cricket was viewed in 2021 compared to 2017.
Stephen van Rooyen, Sky’s EVP and CEO UK and Europe said, “This is an exciting time for English cricket, and we’re thrilled to be furthering our long and successful partnership with the ECB. Together we will continue to help grow the game while boosting participation in the sport by children from all backgrounds through initiatives like our Dynamos Cricket Intros.
“On screen, we will continue to push boundaries in our BAFTA-winning coverage, bringing Sky Sports viewers even more live action from 2025 – including more women’s cricket than ever before – with men’s and women’s England internationals and domestic cricket. Sky’s investment over the last 30 years has contributed to a great deal of success on the pitch, and we hope to be at the forefront of much more to come.”
Clare Connor, ECB Interim Chief Executive Officer added, “Sky have been fantastic partners for cricket for over 30 years. Their broadcast coverage is rightly lauded as the best in the world, but more significantly than that we have a shared commitment to growing the sport and investing in more opportunities not only for people to watch and follow cricket in all its forms, but also to pick up a bat and ball.