Indian subcontinent pay-television broadcaster Ten Sports and Pakistani pay-television broadcaster Geo Super have acquired the rights to Pakistan’s cricket series against South Africa and Sri Lanka in the UAE later this year.
The Pakistan Cricket Board said that Ten had secured the South African series between October 8 and November 15, comprising two Test matches, five One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20 games.
Geo will show the Sri Lanka series between December 11 and January 20, comprising three Tests, five ODIs and two T20s. Geo will also broadcast the one-off T20 between Pakistan and Afghanistan on December 8.
The PCB’s long-term rights deal with Ten Sports ended earlier this year and the board is currently selling broadcast rights on a series-by-series basis.
Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed, but the PCB said the agreements are “significantly higher” than the values the board received for the series under the previous media rights contract.
The ESPN Cricinfo website said the deal with Geo had raised question marks, with PCB caretaker chairman Najam Sethi being a key employee of the broadcaster. Sethi is an anchor of Geo News’ popular political programme ‘Aapas ki Baat’.
A PCB spokesman said: “Two bidders participated in the bidding process. The financial bids of both were evaluated in accordance with the terms of the Invitation to Tender. As a result of this process, the offer from Ten Sports for South Africa series, being the highest and the offer of Geo for Sri Lanka series also being the highest was recommended by the Bids Committee to the Board of Governors of PCB for approval. This approval has since been received, the media rights for the two tours have accordingly been awarded and this transparent tender process has been concluded.”