The England men’s and women’s cricket teams are expected to move entirely behind Sky Sports’ paywall next season after the BBC opted out of broadcasting live international matches in an extended rights agreement.
According to a report, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been unable to secure a free-to-air television deal for some of its Twenty20 internationals, a setback in its efforts to expand cricket’s reach. The ECB has been seeking to sell live rights for two men’s and two women’s T20 matches annually in a four-year contract starting next summer but has not received an acceptable offer following the tender process.
The BBC, however, has reportedly secured live rights to 15 Hundred matches each season—seven in the men’s and eight in the women’s tournaments—as well as Test highlights.
For the past four years, the BBC broadcasted two men’s and one women’s T20 each summer, representing the only regular international cricket available on terrestrial television since the 2005 Ashes. England’s 2019 World Cup victory over New Zealand at Lord’s was shown live on Channel 4, with Sky Sports agreeing to share its exclusive rights due to the match’s national significance.
However, the new contract will exclude the four T20 matches, as the BBC offered a lower fee than it paid in the previous cycle, which concluded last summer. While the BBC has shown continued interest in covering the Hundred and secured Test highlights and digital clip rights for BBC Online, its interest in T20 internationals has been limited.
The ECB attempted to find a free-to-air partner, offering the T20 matches to Channel 4 and ITV in recent months, but neither provided a satisfactory bid. Consequently, these games are likely to air exclusively on Sky Sports, which pays the ECB £220 million annually for live rights to all home internationals and men’s and women’s domestic cricket.
The ECB has encountered significant challenges selling free-to-air rights and has struggled to foster competition to pressure the BBC, whose sports rights budget has been constrained by a two-year license fee freeze in 2022, followed by below-inflation increases.
Sky Sports’ contract extension through 2028 was announced in June 2022, yet nearly two and a half years later, the free-to-air package remains undecided.
Adding to the complexity, viewership for the Hundred declined by over 25% this summer, though it held up better on the BBC than on Sky Sports despite coinciding with the Paris Olympics. Women’s Hundred viewership on Sky dropped 41% from 2023, with the men’s competition down 28%, while BBC viewership saw a 25% decline for the men’s matches and a 2% drop for the women’s.
The BBC also retains live audio rights for Test Match Special through at least 2028, covering every England Test, ODI, and T20 for both men’s and women’s teams.
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Name of Author: Cricexec Staff
