Bt Sport Secures Ashes Rights

23 Aug 2015 | tshego

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BT Sport has secured the live rights to the 2017/18 Ashes series as part of a five year deal with Cricket Australia, which also includes rights to the Big Bash League.

The new deal, reportedly worth in the region of £80m, means it will exclusively show all Australia’s Test matches, one-day internationals and T20 games from 2016.

BT Sport, who will also broadcast the women’s Ashes, currently only shows the Caribbean Premier League T20 in its cricket portfolio.

Sky currently holds the rights to the 2019 Ashes series in England, the last series of the current deal, meaning UK-based cricket fans will need to have access to both Sky Sports and BT Sport in order to watch the 2017/18 and 2019 contests with Australia.

Delia Bushell, managing director of BT TV and BT Sport, said: “BT Sport is delighted to be adding international cricket to its line-up, and to be the new home of the next Ashes tour in Australia.

“We will show live domestic games featuring the best players in the world during the Big Bash League and all Australian home matches for the next five years.”

Cricket Australia executive general manager of media, communications & marketing Ben Amarfio added: “BT Sport put forward a highly compelling bid for the rights to broadcast cricket from Australia to audiences throughout the United Kingdom. They are uniquely placed to become one of the UK’s largest sports channels and we think cricket can provide the content and opportunities to help them do just that.

“With more cricket content now available via BT Sport, free-to-air television and through our digital platforms, we are making the game more accessible to more people. The principle of taking the game to more people is very important in our efforts to grow the game.”

The new agreement will start in October 2016 with Australia’s home Test series against South Africa.