ECB AGREE EXTENSION TO CONTRACTS

THE England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have agreed a three-year extension to their current television contracts with Channel 4 and Sky Sports.
The deal, which runs from 2003-2005, is valued at closed to £150m, which includes off-air as well as on-air spend, an increase of 57 per cent over the final three years for the current four-year contract.
In international cricket, the agreement covers the Zimbabwe and South African tour in 2003, the visit of New Zealand and West Indies in 2004 and the series against Bangladesh and Australia in 2005.
Channel 4 will continue to broadcast live coverage of six of the seven npower Test Matches with Sky Sports broadcasting live coverage of one npower Test Match and the entire NatWest Series of one-day internationals.
In domestic cricket, Sky sports will continue its coverage of the Norwich Union League, Benson and Hedges Cup and CricInfo Championship, as well as England Under 19 and England Women's Internationals, while both Sky Sports and Channel 4 will broadcast selected Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy matches.
The new deal confirms ECB's commitment to keeping a balance of cricket on terrestrial and satellite television. The TV contract will terminate simultaneously with the current BBC Radio contract.
Terry Blake, ECB Commercial Director, said: "This is a great day for cricket. Channel 4 and Sky Sports have been excellent partners of ours and I congratulate them both for their success in modernising the broadcast of televised cricket."
David Brook, Director of Strategy and Development, Channel 4, said: "This has been a very successful partnership. We are proud that the game has been re-energised and proud of the success that our innovations have brought to it. English cricket is back on the map and Test Match cricket goes from strength to strength. We look forward to repaying this expression of confidence from the ECB by continuing to make further investment in the sport, particularly in grassroots and the domestic game, to ensure that the next generation of cricketers come through." (CD)