Whole nation can be part of rare moment
FINAL RIGHTS UP FOR GRABS
highlights — though these have drawn criticism for being scheduled after midnight.
Yet Channel 4’s situation is complicated by the fact that the cricket finale clashes with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, which is the only race to which it has the live rights this season.
Sources said that the ‘obvious’ choice would be for More4 to come into play to show one of the two events.
The BBC is considered extremely unlikely to enter into discussions due to the cricket clashing with the Wimbledon men’s singles final and having advertising breaks, while ITV sources said they too were ‘unlikely’ to end up with the rights.
There is no certainty that Sky will opt to strike a deal with another broadcaster. They could consider their free-to-air channels Pick and Challenge to be sufficient alternatives to their pay-toview platform.
There is also the possibility that they might opt for YouTube instead, just as BT Sport did for the Champions League final.
There have been growing calls for Sky to make the final free-to-air, especially given the BBC’s live coverage of England’s Women’s World Cup semi-final attracted a peak audience of 11.73million. England seamer Liam Plunkett backed a move for the final to be screened free. ‘It’s always nice to be on a bigger platform,’ the England bowler told BBC Radio 5Live. ‘Hopefully people tune in to watch.
‘It would obviously be great to have as many people watching as possible — we all feel like we’ve built something special here as a team. It would be nice to go all the way and to have big numbers From the Mail 12th June watching that final if we get through and win.’
If England make the final, it would be the first time since 1979 that they have done so on home soil.
ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said: ‘I would like to thank Sky for making the decision to show the Cricket World Cup Final on a free-toair platform, should England be successful in their semifinal match. Yet again, they have shown themselves to be a true partner of English cricket.
‘The investment they have made into cricket across England and Wales since 2005 has been instrumental in enabling us to produce England teams that have, in that time, been ranked No 1 in the world for both Test Match and ODI cricket, ICC T20 Men’s World Champions, winners of the ICC 2017 Women’s World Cup and now, at the least, semifinalists in the ICC 2019 Men’s World Cup. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with Sky over the coming five years.’
Announcing the decision yesterday, Sky UK and Ireland chief executive Stephen van Rooyen said: ‘We are proud to be the broadcaster for a home Cricket World Cup — one of the world’s biggest and most exciting sporting events.
‘Our aim has always been to celebrate what could be a ‘once in a generation’ moment of a home team in a big final on home soil. So, if England reach the final, we will make the match available to everyone so the whole country can be part of a rare and special big sporting moment.’
Channel 4 declined to comment.
CHANNEL 4 could scoop lastminute rights to the Cricket World Cup final after Sky pledged to make the ‘once-ina-generation’ match available to everyone if England win their semi-final. High-level discussions have taken place between the broadcasters, with Channel 4 considered the frontrunner of the terrestrial channels if Sky choose to share the coverage. The prospect of a deal is helped by the two having existing ties for Formula 1 and the Cricket World Cup, for which Channel 4 have shown