In a recent announcement, television broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India has acquired broadcast and digital rights for England and Wales Cricket Board for the Indian subcontinent for a period of five years starting in 2018 through 2022.
The move was taken to focus on international cricket and other sports such as football, WWE, golf and tennis, after the broadcaster lost the media rights to its T20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL) to Star India Pvt. Ltd, in September 2017.
As per the agreement signed with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the Indian subcontinent, SPN has acquired the rights to both televise and digitally broadcast within the Indian subcontinent, all men’s and women’s international matches. Indian Cricket team is expected to play a total of five Tests, three ODIs and three T20 Internationals during this period in England.
This is the seventh such tie up for Sony after it had inked deals with major international cricket boards, namely, Cricket Australia, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Pakistan Cricket Board, Sri Lanka Cricket, Cricket South Africa, Cricket West Indies and Zimbabwe Cricket Board.
“Cricket is a passion for most Indians and this term of ECB games includes three tours of the Indian cricket team which promises some thrilling cricket, the first of these coming close on the heels of the hugely exciting South Africa series. SPN will now be home to almost all international away series giving our fans a one-stop destination to view their favourite stars in action,” N.P. Singh, managing director and chief executive officer at Sony Pictures Networks said in a statement.
With this association, Sony’s exclusive cricket portfolio includes seven of the major international cricket boards including Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
SPN has 11 sports channels in its network and reaches out to over 700 million viewers in India and is available in 167 countries.
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