Hot Off the Press Release: Sky Raises Cricket Stakes

Sky announced this morning it had secured rights for key inter-national cricket tournaments for the next four years.

It follows Spark’s nabbing of domestic rights for NZ Cricket games in this country.

Here’s the full press release and schedule:

 Sky extends international cricket deal for four more years 

Sky has extended its exclusive broadcast deal with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to deliver key international cricket events to Kiwi sport fans for the next four years.

The deal extends until the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India and includes both men’s and women’s ICC Tournaments.

Sky is set to broadcast 24 matches from the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup Qualifiers, including both semi-finals and the final, starting next week.

The first major ICC event will be the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup next February, followed by the Men’s Twenty20 World Cup starting in October next year, both in Australia.

Sky CEO Martin Stewart says “We’re thrilled to be able to deliver four more years of top tier international cricket, including World Cup tournaments, to Kiwi sport fans and Sky customers. We’ve worked with ICC’s Global Media Rights Holders, Star and ICC for a number of years and we’re looking forward to continuing to develop our relationship with them.

“In line with our commitment to broadcast more women’s sports, there’s a good balance of both men’s and women’s tournaments. We’re especially excited to be showing the 2021 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup that will be held in New Zealand. It’s going to be a special event for Kiwi sports fans and even more exciting that it will be on home turf.

“The depth and breadth of our sports offer is second to none, and we continue to add more. This latest deal follows the announcement of our six-year deal with Cricket Australia, including the iconic Boxing Day Test with Australia.

Earlier this year Sky announced a supercharged sports channel line-up including a dedicated channel for cricket. This latest deal adds to Sky’s outstanding portfolio of top tier cricket content.