ICC renews with Sky NZ to conclude rights sales process

Sky New Zealand, the prominent pay-TV operator in that country, has renewed its rights covering major events organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) governing body until 2028, Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) has been told.

The deal completes the ICC’s portfolio of main broadcast partners in its key target areas, with less than a month to go until the first event of the new broadcast rights cycle – the men’s Twenty20 World Cup in the US and Caribbean.

Originally reported elsewhere, and then confirmed to Sportcal, the deal represents a key renewal for Sky NZ, for which ICC major event action has been one of the main sporting properties covered over the last few decades.

The deal was done with no tender process having been publicly disclosed.

It is understood formal confirmation will be issued by the ICC later today, and that the body had originally been hoping to unveil a deal before late April.

Aside from New Zealand, ICC tie-ups for the next media rights cycle – in some cases through 2028, and in others through 2031 – have now been unveiled in India, the UK, Australia, the Middle East and North Africa, the US, the Caribbean and Latin America, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka (the last country where rights were tied up, in mid-April) and Pakistan. Sportcal