Cricket Australia (CA) has announced details of its broadcast partnerships in the USA and Canada, with a particular boost for the KFC Big Bash League.
In the USA, CA has renewed all rights with its longstanding partner Willow for the next five years starting this season, including men’s and women’s international matches and domestic competitions – BBL and the WBBL. Cricket fans in the USA who are subscribers of Willow will also be able to live stream content at cricket.com.au.
In addition to the renewal of Willow, CA is excited to welcome NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), which will showcase 10 BBL|06 matches – a weekly match of the round will air live and on replay and all the BBL|06 finals will be aired on delay.
NBCSN is available in nearly 85 million US households as part of basic cable packages. In addition, all 10 BBL matches will also simultaneously be made available on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, which is free to download for authenticated pay-TV subscribers of NBCSN.
In Canada, CA welcomes new partner Asian Television Network (ATN) for the next five years, as exclusive rights holder of all men’s and women’s international matches, plus domestic competitions – the BBL and the WBBL. Cricket fans in Canada who are subscribers of ATN will also be able to live stream content at cricket.com.au.
Cricket Australia Executive General Manager of Media, Communications & Marketing Ben Amarfio said the deals continue to grow CA’s domestic and international cricket content on a global platform.
“We’re really thrilled to renew our long standing partnership with Willow and also welcome ATN and NBC Sports Network into the Australian Cricket family.
“The US and Canada markets are crucial to the growth of the game globally and the appetite and competition to acquire Cricket Australia’s media rights we saw in the US is testament to the growing appeal and outstanding quality of cricket that these markets have experienced. We are fortunate to be partnering with such prominent companies who clearly value the quality of Australian cricket content.
“The addition of NBCSN is a watershed moment for Australian cricket in the US. It is the first time Australian cricket will be available to such a broad mainstream audience and we think that not only will the 10 million plus sub-continent, Caribbean, UK, South Africa and Australasia diaspora throughout the US be excited about cricket being so easily accessible, but Americans in general will also embrace the Big Bash League.
“The growth of cricket, including the Big Bash League in recent years, has been phenomenal. We’re very excited to extend the reach of the Big Bash League into the US and Canada markets and look forward to connecting with fans whether it be via broadcast, online or on via mobile devices.
“Our current and new broadcast partners are renowned for delivering world class sports broadcasting and we look forward to them taking the game to more people in innovative ways. This is very important for us in our efforts to grow the game and was a major consideration in these latest rights deals.
“We’re particularly pleased that all of our women’s international and WBBL content will also receive exposure on a global scale through all of the recent renewals we have done in the UK, South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding Northern Africa and RSA), Caribbean, USA and Canada.”
Vijay Srinivasan, Chief Executive of Willow, said “We are delighted to extend our long-standing relationship with Cricket Australia. Australian cricket is consistently among the finest in the world and has been a mainstay of Willow over the years. We believe there is still enormous headroom for the U.S. cricket audience to grow both on television and digital and we are excited that Australian cricket will be part of our programming through our next five years of growth.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with Cricket Australia to bring world-class cricket to fans in the U.S.,” said Jon Miller, President, Programming, NBC Sports and NBCSN. “The Big Bash League enhances our expansive collection of best-in-class international sports properties.”
“We are delighted to acquire the long term rights for Cricket Australia for Canada until 2021 and our viewers will now enjoy all the games played in Australia featuring some of the top teams like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, England & New Zealand ” said Dr. Shan Chandrasekar President and CEO of ATN. “The game of Cricket is very well organized and managed in Australia. Cricket Grounds in Australia always bring in huge crowds and the Cricket Fans are among the best in the World and watching all the games LIVE over the next five years, will be a real treat for our Canadian subscribers “he added.