English cricket is "looking to land" a TV deal worth up to a "staggering" £1.25B ($1.55B) "when it puts its rights -- including for its new Twenty20 competition -- up for sale in May," according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. The "huge sum of money," on par with that paid this month for Champions League and other European club football, will "secure the future of the domestic game for a generation if the England & Wales Cricket Board can hit the target it has set for its first broadcast auction in five years." The ECB is "looking to land" between £230M-£250M ($285.5M-$310.7M) per year for five years from '20-24, an "incredible threefold-plus uplift" on the current £75M ($93.2M) it currently receives annually from Sky Sports for exclusive coverage of all live cricket in England. Competition from other terrestrial broadcasters for the ECB's new eight-team, city-based T20 competition will be "fierce." ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 all "declined to comment" but it is understood "the latter is set to bid for any free-to-air matches in the new tournament after broadcasting the Big Bash this winter." It is believed ITV will "carefully examine any package on offer before deciding to bid" but it has been warned by the ECB it will have to "mount a serious financial offer." The ECB's "confidence in landing such an increase" on its existing deal stems from three factors. Firstly, there is an acknowledgement it "undersold its last rights deal to Sky." Secondly, the broadcast market has "changed massively" since '12, with "BT Sport's buying power enabling Sky to be outbid by its new arch-rival." Finally, the addition of the new T20 tournament gives ECB CEO Tom Harrison and his exec team another product to sell (TELEGRAPH, 3/28). THE DRUM's Tony Connelly reported having gained the approval of all 18 first-class counties as well as the Marylebone Cricket Club, one of the sport's governing bodies, the ECB is now "pressing ahead with deciding on the broadcast model." The rights deal "will not be decided until this summer" (THE DRUM, 3/28).
