Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has hit many self goals this season and this can turn out to be another one. The board of Sri Lankan Cricket has decided to monetize, distribute broadcasting rights of the England tour of Sri Lanka scheduled for January 2021 on its own, instead of signing up with broadcast partner Sony Pictures Network (SPN).
England were in Sri Lanka to play a two-match Test series this March when it was called off due to the threats posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the series has now been rescheduled for January 2021. The said series is not part of the FTP signed with Sony. As SLC is not happy with Sony’s offer for the tour it has decided to reach out either directly to the broadcasters or re-tender the same.
England tour of Sri Lanka – SLC to distribute the series on its own
As per SLC, England test team will tour Sri Lanka in January to play two match test series. ECB is yet to officially confirm the series but SLC has declared that right before the England tour of India, English team will be in Colombo for two match test series. According to reports, Sony initially had valued the two test match series at $700K but SLC feels they should get value of $1Mn for each game (i.e $2Mn for two games). The difference in expectations has led to SLC now deciding to distribute the series on its own.
Meanwhile, as reported by InsideSport earlier, SLC is almost on verge of completing their paperwork with SPN for the rights for the next 3 years cycle. SLC again was not satisfied with $22.3Mn offer by Sony for the 3 years cycle but as they did not had any other alternative, they accepted the offer. The contracts with Sony are accepted to get completed this week.
Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka likely to be the first series under the new contract
Bangladesh’s pending Test series against Sri Lanka could be rescheduled in October, the month when Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) is being hosted in UAE. The said series will be the first of the 12 series covered under the media rights contract with Sony.
Originally, Sri Lanka was scheduled to host Bangladesh in the month of July for 3 test series but due to Covid19 the series will be now pushed to October. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury is looking to “work around with our schedule” after the postponement of the T20 World Cup.
Chowdhury said both BCB and SLC are positive about the Test series going ahead later this year.
“The ICC’s announcement of the three major tournaments has provided what window we can work with, as now that we know that the tournament dates are fixed, we can work around with our schedule,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Chowdhury as saying.
“Both boards are positive about the Test series going ahead later this year. We are in talks with SLC. Sri Lanka is in a better condition [in terms of Covid-19 caseload] than any of the other sub-continent countries at the moment, and since the situation is not favourable here, we are more keen on the away matches,” he added.
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