Sky Sports pays more than £880m to extend broadcast deal with England cricket chiefs
Sky Sports has agreed a four-year extension to its current deal as the main broadcast partner of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
The ECB said the agreement, which runs from 2025 to 2028 and covers men’s and women’s internationals, The Hundred and the Vitality Blast, would see Sky show more cricket than ever before.
Both parties said the deal represented an increase in investment from Sky, which is reported to currently pay £220m a year.
Clare Connor, ECB Interim Chief Executive Officer, said: “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.
“Our shared values and vision with Sky will make cricket accessible to even more people over the coming years and will use the power of sport to inspire the next generation, while safeguarding the wonderful traditions which are such a key part of our game.”
The current broadcasting deal between the ECB and Sky Sports, which began in 2020, includes some action being shown on the BBC, including new short-form competition The Hundred, which launched last year.
It has not been confirmed whether the BBC will continue this arrangement beyond 2024.
As part of the new deal Sky Sports has committed to showing 90 hours of additional cricket a week, including more action from the women’s game and T20 competition the Vitality Blast.
It will also see two women’s T20 internationals shown on free-to-air platforms and one game per round of the Blast broadcast on the Sky Sports YouTube channel.
Stephen van Rooyen, Sky Sports’ EVP and CEO UK and Europe, added: “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.”