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MUMBAI: ESPN International has entered into a cricket distribution
agreement with ESPN Star Sports (ESS) for International Cricket
Council (ICC) events and the Champions League Twenty20 for
the Caribbean market, ESPN Caribbean and Maritime Media vice
president Bernard Stewart announced.
The
development comes in the wake of ESPN exiting the Asian market
after selling its stake to News Corp in the Asian sports broadcasting
joint venture ESPN Star Sports. Post the clearance of the
stake sale, ESPN will be present in Asia through its digital
media products.
The
ICC agreement is a four-year deal from 2012 to 2015 and covers
several ICC events, including the global showpiece of the
cricket calendar, the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia
and New Zealand.
The distribution agreement covers terrestrial, cable, satellite
and new media platform rights. ICC programming will be presented
on two ESPN Caribbean television networks--ESPN Caribbean
and ESPN 2 Caribbean-- and on ESPNPlay.com, the region’s
recently launched broadband network for live sports programming.
The
Champions League Twenty20 agreement extends ESPN’s current
three-year deal by three more years covering 2013-2015. The
agreement covers all of ESPN Caribbean’s media platforms
including the two networks, ESPN Caribbean and ESPN 2 Caribbean,
and ESPNPlay.com.
“We
are delighted to again showcase talented cricketers from the
West Indies who will play in the ICC World Twenty20 and the
Champions League Twenty20 later this year, as well as the
crown jewel of cricket – the ICC Cricket World Cup –
in 2015,” Stewart said. “Cricket is essential to
our programming in the West Indies and has a dynamic following
there. This long-term agreement reinforces our commitment
to providing world-class cricket to Caribbean fans.”
ESPN
Caribbean’s upcoming cricket coverage includes the ICC
Under 19 Cricket World Cup in Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville,
Australia from 10-25 August; the ICC World Twenty 20 in Sri
Lanka from 18 September-7 October; and the Champions League
Twenty20 in October.
The
Champions League Twenty20 brings the best club teams from
top cricket playing nations, including the West Indies, Australia,
England, New Zealand and South Africa, together in one of
the major cricket competitions worldwide. Organisers have
announced that Pakistan and other nations will be added this
year.
The
winner of the Caribbean Twenty20 – to which ESPN Caribbean
holds the rights through 2013 – will represent the West
Indies in the CLT20. Trinidad and Tobago, the 2011 representative,
will return this year.
“We
have succeeded in securing some very significant long-term
broadcast partnerships for the ICC events and we are very
pleased to be working with ESPN to showcase an exciting calendar
of ICC cricket events in this cricket market,” said ESS
SVP corporate development & cricket rights Anurag Dahiya.
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