Icc Strikes Lucrative TV Rights Contract
The ICC has received a major financial boost after agreeing a new global TV
rights deal with ESPN-Star Sports for the next two Cricket World Cups that is
reportedly worth double that of the previous contract.
ESPN-Star Sports is believed to have agreed to pay $1.1bn (£563m) to become
the International Cricket Council’s global media and production partner for the
next two Cricket World Cups and 16 other tournaments from 2007 to 2015.
The figure was not officially disclosed but the ICC confirmed ‘it was
significantly in excess of the previous deal’ which ran from 2000 to 2007 and
was worth $550m.
The bid, which covers two World Cups, a minimum of three Champions Trophy
tournaments and the first two Twenty20 world championships, was agreed by an ICC
board meeting in Dubai at the weekend.
Pan-regional Asian broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports is jointly owned by News
Corporation – which owns Sky in the UK – and the Walt Disney Company.
