Sky Sports has secured the rights to England’s 2016 tour of Bangladesh, further strengthening its position as the home of cricket.
The deal for two Tests and three One-Day Internationals means that all of England’s matches for the next two years will be exclusively live on Sky Sports, following the recent agreement to show England’s tour against Pakistan in the UAE next month.
Sky Sports viewers can enjoy over 50 England Tests and more than 360 days of scheduled live England cricket over the next five years, as well as every ICC competition until 2023.
A packed upcoming England schedule features a winter tour to South Africa, the ICC World Twenty20 in India, and two home series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England’s Bangladesh tour is immediately followed by a five Test series in India, and England host the West Indies and South Africa in 2017, as well as the ICC Champions Trophy.
This is the latest in a series of rights deals announced by Sky Sports over the last 18 months. Major additions have included the Barclays Premier League for another four years, Open Championship golf from 2017, Matchroom boxing until 2021, La Liga, Major League Soccer, and most recently the Heavyweight World title clash between Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury next month.
Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: “Sky Sports will offer the complete England story – home and away – over the next two years. It’s exciting times for English cricket and thanks to this agreement our viewers can follow the team’s progress in all formats of the game, including ICC events.
“There’s a real sense of excitement building around English cricket after a thrilling Ashes summer and Sky will be with the team every step of the way.”
Sky Sports has long-term partnerships in place with the England & Wales Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council. Sky extended its broadcast agreement with the ECB earlier this year until 2019, giving fans unprecedented cricket coverage of England home fixtures, county matches, women’s and age grade cricket.
That followed the deal last October to secure rights for Sky Sports to show international cricket’s biggest events including the ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC World Twenty20 and ICC Champions Trophy. The agreement includes 14 ICC competitions and 250 days of live cricket between 2015 and 2023.
Additionally Sky Sports has agreements in place with the IPL, Cricket South Africa, Cricket New Zealand, West Indies Cricket, India Cricket and Cricket Sri Lanka offering viewers an unrivalled year-round schedule of live cricket.
Source: Skysports
