While the Sri Lankan cricket team is yet to resume their international cricket season during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has decided to monetize and distribute broadcasting rights of the England tour of Sri Lanka scheduled for January 2021 on its own, instead of signing up with Indian broadcast partner Sony Pictures Network (SPN), Cricket Age reliably learns.
While the England vs West Indies three-match Test series marked the return of international cricket, the cricket action in Sri Lanka is yet to be announced. England was scheduled to tour Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series back in March but the series was called off due to COVID-19 and rescheduled for January 2021. The series was not a part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) signed with Sony since the SLC was unhappy with Sony’s offer for the tour.
Sony had initially valued the England vs Sri Lanka two test match series at $700,000 (INR 52 Crores) but SLC felt they should get the value of $1 million (INR 7.4 crore) for each match. The difference in expectations has led to SLC now deciding to distribute the series on its own.
Cricket Age understands that SLC was almost on verge of completing their paperwork with SPN for the rights for the next 3 years cycle, however, SLC again was not satisfied with $22.3 million (INR 164 crore) offer by Sony for the 3-year cycle but as they did not have any other alternative, they accepted the offer.
