UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has agreed a two-year extension to its partnership with the England & Wales Cricket Board.
The new contract extends the partnership through to 2019 and covers exclusive live rights to England’s home fixtures, county matches, women's and age grade cricket.
The ECB’s previous rights deal with Sky, worth an estimated total of £280m (€353.4m/$451.7m), covered the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, with an option for a further two years.
The additional two years include all of England’s Test matches played at home, including series against Pakistan and India in 2018 and the Ashes against Australia in 2019. All One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 matches, as well as some women’s and England Lions matches, are also included in the package.
Sky will also provide at least 60 days of domestic cricket each summer covering each of the major competitions and featuring every county.
The ECB has recently been lobbied by counties seeking a free-to-air platform in a bid to develop a new audience for the domestic game and address falling match attendances.
Brian Havill, acting chief executive of the ECB, said: “In the last decade their loyalty and quality as a broadcasting partner has been beyond question and has benefited the game in so many ways. In that period there has been an unprecedented level of investment in the county game, including facilities, the grassroots, particularly coaching, and of course the England men’s and women’s teams.”