Live cricket will return to mainstream terrestrial television in the U.K. for the first time in a decade next week "after Channel 5 struck a deal with BT Sport," according to Callum Jones of the LONDON TIMES. The broadcaster "will air the first of five live matches from Australia’s Big Bash League on Boxing Day." It is understood to have paid a six-figure sum to show the fixtures, and "will also show highlights of January’s final." TV execs are "preparing to fight for a new tranche of cricket rights," with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) expected to launch the bidding process next year. As plans are finalized for a new city-based Twenty20 competition in England and Wales to answer the Big Bash and the Indian Premier League, sources said that Viacom, the owner of Channel 5, "is among a number of terrestrial broadcasters hoping to acquire the rights." ECB officials are "keen to use the new domestic English Twenty20 competition -- earmarked for launch in 2020 -- to boost interest in domestic cricket." A presentation circulated to its board argued that it was "essential" the contest’s TV rights included a free-to-air component (LONDON TIMES, 12/19).
