New Delhi, December 8, 2011: ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), Asia's No. 1 sports broadcaster, announced a brand new five-year contract for the exclusive rights to broadcast Cricket Australia's (CA) domestic and home international matches across various platforms including television, internet, mobile and radio covering the entire Asian region.
As a part of this deal, the current Future Tours Program (FTP) sees ESPN STAR Sports broadcasting more than 191 days of live International cricket action from Australia, including 27 Test Matches, 44 One Day Internationals and 12 Twenty20 games.
This is the first time ever that a broadcast deal with Cricket Australia will give ESPN STAR Sports rights to showcase two India series. India is slated to play 4 Test matches and a tri-series with England as the third team in the 2014-2015 season. This tri-series, featuring India, Australia and England and scheduled right before the ICC World Cup in 2015 is already looked upon as the signature event of the year and is positioned as the 'Clash of the Titans'. India will visit Australia again for 7 ODIs and 2 T20 matches in the year 2015-2016.
Over the next five years, all of the leading teams will be visiting Australia. In addition to the Ashes between arch rivals England and Australia in the year 2013-2014 which, based on the current FTP, will see 5 test matches, 5 ODIs and 3 T20 matches, other top cricket nations including South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and New Zealand will tour Australia to test their mettle in the fiercely competitive environment of cricket down under.
James Sutherland, Chief Executive Officer of Cricket Australia, said: “We are delighted that a telecaster of ESPN STAR Sports' standing and class will be putting Australian cricket in front of so many cricket fans”.
Manu Sawhney, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, said: “We are very pleased to announce this partnership with Cricket Australia with whom we share a very strong relationship. Australian Cricket has always been exciting and is played with utmost competitiveness in a super charged atmosphere which makes for every fan's delight. It is therefore not surprising that it is called the ultimate test for any cricket player”.
In addition to the pulsating international cricket action, ESS also plans to broadcast Cricket Australia's top-class domestic cricket over 280 days, which has been critical in nurturing Australian cricket talent and future international champions. This includes popular tournaments such as the KFC Big Bash T20, the 4 day Bupa Sheffield Shield tournament & the Ryobi One Day Cup.
The KFC Twenty20 Big Bash has emerged as an extremely popular T20 tournament. The tournament has drawn some of the world's best players including Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and more to compete along with home grown Australian talent. The tournament will further grow in popularity as the legendary ace spinner Shane Warne has announced his participation in it from this season.
The top two teams from this premier tournament qualify for the coveted Nokia Champions League Twenty20. Star performers also play for various club teams in the IPL.
India's forthcoming tour of Australia starting December 26, 2011 will feature 4 Test matches, 2 Twenty20 matches and a tri-angular One day series with Sri Lanka as the third team. The tri-series will have as many as 15 one day internationals. All the matches of this series will be televised live on STAR Cricket and STAR Cricket HD and the tri-series will also be broadcast on ESPN.
Press release from BWI
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