ENGLAND’S tour of India is set to be shown on live TV after a broadcaster stepped in at the last minute, according to reports.
The five Test tour is set to begin in just nine days and it appeared it’d be a blackout on UK screens.
ReutersEngland’s upcoming tour of India will be broadcast on TNT[/caption]
But TNT Sports have stepped in at the last minute, according to The Telegraph, and will now hastily assemble a panel of experts for their broadcasts.
A similar thing happened with England‘s tour of India in 2021, when Channel 4 stepped in at the last minute.
TNT has been ramping up its coverage of English cricket, showing the last two Ashes tours and England’s trip to the West Indies in December.
TNT’s pundity team is set to include Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan.
The broadcaster is expected to take the broadcast of the matches from a world live feed.
The rights to England’s tour of India were “sold some months ago” to Pitch International but the initial asking price was seen as too high by bradcasters.
The price inevitably fell the nearer it came to the tour kicking off, with it now just over a week away.
Pitch have signed a long term deal to broadcast Indian cricket and it is unclear yet if they have sold only the rights of this test to TNT or a longer term package.
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TNT were the early favourites to broadcast the tour but had previously publicly distanced themselves from a deal.
Sky Sports have the rights to all of England’s home matches as part of a long-term deal.
In recent years they have backed away from showing overseas tours, preferring to focus on the shorter form game by showing Australia‘s Big Bash League and SA20 in South Africa.
TalkSPORT will broadcast the series on radio in the UK after outbidding the BBC‘s Test Match Special.
TalkSPORT announced its pundits for the tour on Monday, which includes Pietersen, Darren Gough and Steve Harmison.
Also returning to broadcasting is Sky Sports legend David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd.