Pakistan-England series awaits UK TV broadcaster as bilateral market feels tight

The PCB, along with cricket fans in England, continue to wait for a deal to secure the telecast rights for Pakistan’s home series against England in October. In a market where enthusiasm for bilateral cricket is waning, a PCB official informed ESPNcricinfo that the final bid for the series was very poor, and the fact that it failed to attract broadcasters to enter into negotiations was not surprising.

While i Caretaker reported on Thursday that The sky again TNT Sport have shown little interest in acquiring the rights, the PCB believes that any ideas of a UK blackout are risky and remains confident that an agreement will be reached. Privately, however, broadcasting company officials ESPNcricinfo spoke to suggested questions remain about whether the board’s approach to secure broadcasting rights is consistent with the powers of these agreements.

The PCB was also forced to accept an amount of more than a billion Pakistani rupees below its fixed price for the home rights of the series of houses from August 2024 to December 2026. It is understood that the board’s estimate was around PKR 3.1 billion (USD 11.2 million ) and although the final figures broadcasters were not disclosed, it is believed that they will eventually have to pay between USD 6 to 6.5 million.

ESPNcricnfo understands the community and the transparent nature of the bidding process has allowed broadcasters who often go above and beyond to come together to create arrangements that ensure they do not bid beyond the pre-agreed price, which is much lower than the PCB estimate. Ultimately, the rights were acquired by ARY, which runs the A Sports television channel, and Tower Sports, which operates the Ten Sports Network.

The PCB revealed, at the time of the announcement, that the domestic rights had sold double the cycle of the previous two years. The ICC, on the other hand, has managed to sell its rights to Pakistan for several times that amount, which is believed to be in the region of USD 25 million. PTV and Tower Sports have acquired the TV rights to broadcast six ICC events in 2024 and 2025: the 2024 Men’s and Women’s T20 World Cups, the 2024 Women’s Cricket World Cup, and the ICC Champions Trophy, the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup and World Test Championship. the last in 2025.

A PCB official said that a direct comparison between ICC rights and domestic rights was not directly scanned, as there are few India-Pakistan fixtures confirmed in all ICC events. Pakistan is also still the only major cricket country that cannot play India in a bilateral series, which results in the value of those rights being lower than they would otherwise be.

England will play three Tests in Pakistan in October, two years after they became the first team to sink Pakistan in the country. The BBC has secured the broadcast rights to the tour, but as things stand, a deal ensuring England cricket fans will be able to watch them attempt a replay remains elusive.