Cricket could return to BBC TV, with the England & Wales Cricket Board "prepared to tailor a package of games to suit in the next round of rights negotiations," according to Richard Hobson of the LONDON TIMES. ECB Chair Colin Graves said that the commercial department "has already spoken to broadcasters seeking their wishes beyond 2019, when the present contract with Sky is due to expire." The "main chunk of fixtures will go to Sky or BT Sport," whose recent five-year deal with Cricket Australia features the '17-18 Ashes. But the ECB believes that "it can also arrange a bundle of matches, possibly around a new-look domestic 20-over competition, to interest the BBC without upsetting the bigger players in the market." Graves said, "Our commercial guys are talking to everybody, all the broadcasters not just the BBC, and saying that if we have a new format of packages for cricket, would you be interested? That is both domestic and the international bit." Match schedules are unclear because the int'l Future Tours Programme "is still to be agreed post-2019 while plans for a revamped domestic Twenty20 comprising eight or so high-profile teams are on the backburner" (LONDON TIMES, 10/28). The PA reported the BBC "last held the rights" to broadcast live Test match TV coverage in '99. The overriding likelihood is that Sky "will retain the bulk of the international output," with BT Sport another player following its success in securing the '17-18 Ashes series (PA, 10/28).
