The final of the Cricket World Cup will not be available on free-to-air television, even if England are on the brink of winning the competition for the first time.
Pressure had been increasing on Sky to show the game live on a platform accessible to a larger audience after the interest in the tournament has not taken off in the way it was expected.
BT Sport’s showed the Champions League final live on YouTube and online as part of their agreement with Uefa, but Sky have no such clause in their deal with the ICC to cover all global events from 2015 to 2023.
The Times reported that Sky are considering showing the final live on Sky One instead of broadcasting it on free-to-air television. Sky One comes with all Sky packages and has almost double the number of available viewers than Sky Sports at 12 million, taking the game to a larger audience.
The ECB are said to be happy with Sky’s decision as they want to maintain relations with one of their most important commercial partners; Sky recently agreed to pay £1.1bn for the rights to show all of England’s home matches and domestic games from 2020 to 2024.
England’s 31-run win against India attracted a peak audience of 1.78m and an audience reach of 3.45m, impressive figures for cricket, but a fraction of what they could get on free-to-air television, especially given the success of the BBC’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup.
England’s run to the semi-final of the Women’s World Cup broke several viewing records and their 2-1 defeat against the USA was the most watched programme of 2019 with a peak audience 11.7m and a peak share of 50.8 per cent.
Outgoing ICC chief executive David Richardson pointed to the online highlights available on the BBC and ICC channels. “We make sure we are pushing highlights out through the BBC and our own channels plus YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, which is successful, especially when you are trying to attract younger people. They are not necessarily following the games on television,” he told BBC’s Sportsweek.
Fans wanting to watch the final without having to pay for a Sky Sports subscription can do so by purchasing a NOW TV day pass for £8.99.
