The England & Wales Cricket Board "is under increasing pressure from the counties to ensure domestic cricket appears on terrestrial television when it renegotiates its current deal with Sky," according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH.
In another sign the counties "are flexing their muscles, the new tender process for hosting international matches between 2017-2019 will see the grounds and the board share any risk on losses from unpopular England matches."
The ECB’s current deal with Sky, worth an estimated £280M, was signed in '12 and "covered the period from 2013-2017 with an option for a further two years." The option "has to be signed by the end of this year and negotiations with Sky are likely to include replacing the whole existing contract with a new deal to run until possibly 2022 covering the International Cricket Council’s recently agreed Future Tours Programme." The board’s new CEO, Tom Harrison, and Chair Giles Clarke "are under pressure from the counties to push for at least a highlights package from the Natwest T20 Blast to appear on terrestrial television." It would be the first time county cricket "has been shown on free-to-air television for a decade." The counties "believe a presence on terrestrial television is vital to grow a new audience, and stem falling attendances." But the problem for cricket "is it depends heavily on its deal with Sky and they could drop the fee they are willing to pay if they were to lose exclusivity." One county source said, "The counties put a lot of pressure on the ECB and Sky to get highlights package last summer on terrestrial television but they failed to deliver. Now the attitude from the counties to the ECB is ‘do not get this one wrong’ because at the moment there is little brand value in being a county" (TELEGRAPH, 10/23).
