ITV Secures Cricket World Cup Highlights

ITV will broadcast highlights of next month’s Cricket World Cup, according to a document published by UK broadcast regulator Ofcom, which says that all of England’s games – as well as the semi-final and final – will be shown on ITV1.

Sky Sports – which will rebrand Sky Sports 2 to Sky Sports World Cup for the duration of the tournament – has the exclusive live rights to the competition in the UK, after showing every World Cup since 1992.

According to media reports the consultation document said ITV and Sky have submitted a joint proposal which would see ITV screen nightly highlights, although there has been no official comment.

Ofcom is required to offer a consultation as the Cricket World Cup is one of the UK’s ‘listed’ events, which must be made available free-to-air.

The BBC has broadcast highlights from the last two World Cups, while more recently Channel Five has broadcast free-to-air highlights of England test matches and one-day internationals.

Meanwhile, ITV has also agreed a deal to broadcast IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton’s first title defence live next month.

Frampton’s fight against Chris Avalos, which will take place in Belfast on 28th February, will be screened on ITV’s main channel. The undercard will be broadcast live by ITV4 earlier in the evening.

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