The England men’s and women’s cricket teams are set to return fully behind the Sky Sports paywall next season after an extension to the BBC rights deal in which the corporation opted out of showing live internationals.
The Guardian has learned that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been unable to secure a free-to-air television deal for some of its teams’ Twenty20 internationals in a blow to its attempts to broaden cricket’s appeal. The ECB has been seeking to sell live rights to two men’s T20s and two women’s T20s a year on a four-year contract starting next summer, but has yet to receive an acceptable offer at the end of the tender process.
