ESPN-Star Sports bags England cricket rights in India
ESPN-Star Sports (ESS) has entered into a new deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for home and domestic cricket events for the next seven years (until 2019).
The deal worth to be around $200 million is much larger than the the $80 million the broadcaster paid for the previous five-year agreement.
The current contract will cover two major events, including the next two tours of the Indian team to England, and the three Ashes series (2013, 2015 and 2019).
The deal includes the broadcast and media rights for online, mobile and radio, along with television. The network has acquired the rights for Asia and few territories of North Africa. ESS will broadcast over 300 days of live international content, comprising 47 test matches, 63 ODIs (one-day internationals) and 15 T20 (twenty-twenty) games.
David Collier, CEO, ECB, said, “Recently, since all sports are facing tough competition for funding streams, this is expected to provide an important source of additional revenue for funding the development of our game at all levels. Also, TV audiences for cricket are expanding rapidly in Asia and West Asia and we look forward to working closely with ESS to give both our international and county teams the widest possible TV exposure over the next seven years.”
ESS will broadcast more than 400 match days of cricket, starting with the ongoing West Indies tour of England, and going on to ICC Champions Trophy in England in June, 2013.
Other key events which are also in ESS’ kitty are two India series and the ‘Clash of the Titans’ (the tri-series featuring India, Australia and England, which is scheduled right before the ICC World Cup in 2015).
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