ESPN STAR Sports grants Al Jazeera rights to broadcast cricket content!

ESPN STAR Sports, the exclusive Asian rights holder for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) domestic and home international matches, has announced an agreement with Al Jazeera Sport for the television broadcast rights of the Friends Life Twenty20 2012.

 

The deal marks a significant landmark for cricket broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa with Al Jazeera Sport televising cricket for the first time ever with LIVE coverage of 25 matches from ECB’s domestic Twenty20 league scheduled to take place from 12 June to 25 August 2012.

 

Covering terrestrial, cable and satellite television rights, the collaboration between Asia’s No. 1 sports content provider and the biggest sport broadcaster in the Pan-Arab & MENA region will bring the exciting action from the Friends Life Twenty20 available to numerous cricket fans in the region.

 

Said Anurag Dahiya, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Cricket Rights: “We are very pleased with the strong interest shown by Al Jazeera Sports in cricket. These arrangements promise to extend the popularity and reach of ECB’s events with the aim of raising the profile of the sport in the region, building on from last year’s highly successful ICC Cricket World Cup.”

 

While it is more easily recognised as the leading broadcaster of cricket into the sport’s core markets of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, ESPN STAR Sports has come to become the world’s leading distributor of international cricket rights.

 

ESPN STAR Sports licenses ECB broadcast rights throughout North Africa and the Middle East along with various other parts of Asia. In addition, ESS’ international cricket syndication business includes global distribution of marquee properties such as International Cricket Council events & Champions League T20 as well as Cricket Australia’s events (in Asia and North Africa).

 

Over the last few years, ESS has broadcast the game of cricket to over 180 territories across the globe in more than 16 languages, which has been a key contributor to the tremendous growth in the global visibility and popularity of the game.