With less than a month remaining before England’s tour of Bangladesh gets underway, the TV and radio broadcast rights for the series still remains unsold. England will visit the Asian country next month for a short limited-overs series.
The tour will consist of three ODIs and as many T20Is. The ODI series will kickstart the tour on March 1 while the last T20I is scheduled to take place on March 14. And while England gear up for their first bilateral assignment in England since 2016, it looks like there is not too much excitement in England for the series.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the broadcasting rights for the tour remain unsold with broadcasters aiming for cut-price deal. The report added that the potential broadcasters are delaying their run in a bid to secure a cut-price deal with a growing belief in the industry that sports rights – not least bilateral international cricket – are overpriced.
In case a deal is not struck in time, the fans in the UK won’t be able to catch the action on radio or television. The report, however, also added that there is growing confidence that a deal will happen on both platforms with Sky Sports and talkSPORT seen to be favourites to secure the TV and radio rights respectively at a relatively cheap price.
Viaplay are also in contention to secure the rights. As of now, Viaplay are broadcasting the Bangladesh Premier League in the UK. In case, Viaplay beat Sky to secure the rights, it would mean England’s three series between January and March were all broadcast on different channels, requiring three subscriptions.
In the past, TV rights deals have been struck at the last moment in different countries. However, striking a late deal usually affects the coverage.
England not at full strength for Bangladesh tour:
Meanwhile, England are not at their full strength for the upcoming series in Bangladesh. England could not name a full-strength side due to overlapping Test commitments and a number of players, including Alex Hales, opting to play in the Pakistan Super League instead.
ODI squad:
Jos Buttler (captain), Tom Abell, Rehan Ahmed, Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
T20I squad:
Jos Buttler (captain), Tom Abell, Rehan Ahmed, Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.