Timeline of cricket on UK television

This is a timeline of the history of cricket on television in the UK.

1930s to 1950s
  • 1937
    • In around 1937, the BBC broadcasts cricket on television for the first time.

1960s
  • 1960
    • No events.
  • 1961
    • No events.
  • 1962
    • No events.
  • 1964
    • No events.
  • 1965
    • 2 May – Sunday Cricket is broadcast for the first time. The programme, which runs throughout the afternoon on BBC2, features full coverage of a match "played under knock-out rules".[1]
  • 1966 to 1968
    • The BBC and ITV share the rights to England’s home test matches.
  • 1969
    • 27 April – Sunday Cricket begins broadcasting a match each week from the new Sunday League.[2]
    • 6 September – After six years, ITV decides to stop showing cricket on a national basis. Consequently, the BBC enjoys monopoly on covering the domestic game for the next two decades although ITV does broadcast occasional county games on a regional basis for the next 25 years.

1970s
  • 1970
    • No events.
  • 1971
    • No events.
  • 1972
    • A new one-day competition, the Benson & Hedges Cup, begins and the BBC provides live coverage of a match from each round.
  • 1973
    • No events.
  • 1974
    • No events.
  • 1976
    • No events.
  • 1977
    • No events.
  • 1978
    • No events.

1980s
  • 1980
    • No events.
  • 1982
    • No events.
  • 1984
    • No events.
  • 1985
    • No events.
  • 1987
    • 9 October–8 November – The BBC covers the 1987 Cricket World Cup. However due to the time difference – the tournament is held in India and Pakistan – live coverage is restricted to England’s matches and then only the final overs of each game are shown live. The only exception is the final itself which is broadcast live and in full.[10]
  • 1988
    • February–March – ITV shows highlights of England’s tour to New Zealand. This is the first time for two decades that the sport has been shown nationally on ITV.
  • 1989
    • No events.

1990s
  • 1990
    • January–March – Sky shows live coverage of England's cricketing tour to the West Indies. This is the first time that live coverage of an overseas tour has been shown in the UK. The coverage is broadcast on Sky One.
  • 1991
    • No events.
  • 1992
    • 22 February-25 March – Sky shows its first major cricket tournament when it broadcasts exclusive live coverage of the 1992 Cricket World Cup. This is the beginning of Sky's coverage of the event which continues to this day and is therefore the longest set of rights that Sky Sports holds. The event receives no terrestrial coverage apart from the final, when the BBC shows highlights due to England reaching the final.
  • 1993
    • No events.
  • 1994
    • Sky Sports broadcasts a home cricket one-day international for the first time.
  • 1996
    • 14 February-17 March – Once again, Sky Sports is the exclusive broadcaster of the Cricket World Cup with highlights shown on the BBC. The event was originally to be shown on a new cable sports channel but when the venture collapsed, Sky picked up the rights.[11]
    • June – Sky Sports broadcasts women's cricket for the first time.[12]
  • 1997
    • No events.
  • 1998
    • 22 September – The final edition of cricket magazine Gower's Cricket Monthly is broadcast following the announcement that the BBC has lost the right to show English cricket to Channel 4[13] with the final domestic live action being shown on the BBC at around this time.
  • 1999
    • 20 June – The BBC broadcasts live cricket for the final time for more than 20 years when it shows live coverage of the 1999 Cricket World Cup Final, bringing to an end of sixty years of continuous cricket coverage on the BBC. The BBC had shared live coverage of the event with Sky Sports.
    • 1 July – Channel 4 starts broadcasting cricket following the channel sensationally obtaining the rights from the BBC the previous year.[13] with the final domestic live action being shown on the BBC at around this time.
    • Sky Sports broadcasts a home Test Match live for the first time as part of a joint deal with Channel 4. This arrangement continues until 2005.

2000s
  • 2000
    • No events.
  • 2001
    • No events.
  • 2002
    • No events.
  • 2003
    • No events.
  • 2004
    • No events.
  • 2005
    • September – Cricket is shown on Channel 4 for the final time until 2019.
  • 2006
    • May –
      • Sky Sports becomes the exclusive broadcaster of all live cricket matches in the UK following the ECB awarding Sky exclusive coverage of all of England's home tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.[14]
      • Channel 5 becomes the new terrestrial home of highlights of England cricket's home matches.[15]
      • The first edition of Cricket AM is broadcast on Sky Sports and Sky One. Based on its successful football-related counterpart Soccer AM, it broadcasts during the football off-season.
  • 2007
    • 13 March-28 April – The BBC broadcast highlights of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup. This is the first time since 1999 that cricket has been shown on BBC Television. Once again, Sky Sports holds the exclusive rights to live coverage. The BBC also shows highlights of the 2011 event.
  • 2009
    • No events.

2010s
  • 2010
    • February – ITV shows live cricket for the first time since 1969 when it begins showing coverage of the Indian Premier League.[17] ITV then decides to take out a four-year deal for the event. ITV further expands its coverage of cricket when it shows highlights of the 2010/11 Ashes series[18]
    • 22–31 July – ESPN shows the inaugural Caribbean Twenty20 tournament.[19]
  • 2011
    • No events.
  • 2013
    • 30 June – Sky Sports launches its first temporary channel Sky Sports Ashes to provide full coverage of the 2013 Ashes Series. Temporary channel renames of this nature is now common practice within Sky, both for sports and movies.[20] Sky Sports Ashes subsequently returns for the 2015 Ashes series and also for the 2019 Ashes series
    • August – Cricket AM is broadcast for the final time.
  • 2015
    • February – Sky Sports takes over as broadcaster of cricket's Indian Premier League after five years with ITV.[21]
    • 14 February-29 March – ITV shows highlights of the 2015 Cricket World Cup.[22] This is the first and so far only time that ITV has covered the event. Live coverage is shown on Sky Sports, and rebrands Sky Sports 2 as Sky Sports World Cup for the duration of the tournament.
  • 2017
    • 18 July – Sky Sports is revamped with the numbered channels being replaced by sports-specific channels. One of the new channels is devoted to cricket and is called Sky Sports Cricket.[24]
    • 10 August-1 September – Sky Sports broadcasts eight matches live from the 2017 Women's Cricket Super League. This marks Sky’s first major foray into women’s cricket.[25] Sky expands its coverage the following year, showing 12 matches from the 2018 event.
  • 2018
  • 2019
    • 31 May - 14 July – Sky Sports Cricket is rebranded as Sky Sports Cricket World Cup to show live and recorded coverage of the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
    • 14 July – Channel 4 shows live coverage of the 2019 Cricket World Cup Final. This is the first time since 2005 that live cricket has been shown on terrestrial television. Channel 4 had the rights to show highlights of the tournament.[26] Sky Sports had the live rights to the tournament but had agreed to make the final available on free-to-air television if England made the final.[27]
    • 15 September – After 14 seasons, Channel 5 shows cricket highlights for the final time.[28]

2020s
  • 2020
    • July – Regular coverage of cricket returns to the BBC when it succeeds Channel 5 as the broadcaster of highlights of English cricket.
    • 20 August – The BBC shows live cricket for the first time in more than 21 years.[29]
  • 2021
    • 5 February –
      • The first live coverage of a test match on terrestrial television for more than 15 years is broadcast on Channel 4 when the channel begins showing England’s test series against India.[30] However Channel 4's coverage does not include the one-day and T20 international matches as these are shown on Sky Sports.[31]
      • BT Sport secures the rights to all international and domestic cricket played in the West Indies and New Zealand for the next two years. This includes England's tour to the West Indies in 2022.[32] Sky Sports had been the previous holder of these rights.
    • 2 March – FreeSports shows test cricket for the first time when it starts showing all tests, ODI’s and T20 fixtures involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.[33] This builds on the channel's cricket coverage which consisted of T10 and T20 events.
    • 21 July - 23 August – The inaugural 2021 season of The Hundred takes place. Games are shown live on Sky Sports, which rebrands Sky Sports Cricket to Sky Sports The Hundred for the duration of the tournament, and on the BBC.

See also

References
  1. "BBC Two England – 2 May 1965 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  2. "BBC Two England – 27 April 1969 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  3. "BBC One London – 7 June 1975 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  4. "BBC One London – 21 June 1975 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  5. "BBC One London – 9 June 1979 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  6. "BBC Two England – 17 May 1981 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  7. [https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1983-06-09 BBC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 9 June 1983
  8. "BBC Two England – 25 June 1983 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  9. "Channel 4 to show England in India" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  10. "BBC One London – 9 October 1987 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  11. A cricket coup for UK cable Variety, 2 March 1994
  12. Sky Sports celebrates 25 years of broadcasting women’s cricket
  13. "Channel 4 wins rights to home Tests". BBC News. BBC. 16 October 1998.
  14. BSkyB lands England Test coverage BBC Sport, 15 December 2004
  15. House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee report "Broadcasting Rights for Cricket", 24 January 2006. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  16. "Setanta snaffles UK rights to Indian Premier League cricket". the Guardian. February 25, 2008.
  17. Sweney, Mark (4 March 2010). "ITV buys IPL cricket rights". The Guardian.
  18. Sweney, Mark (17 November 2010). "ITV to air nightly Ashes highlights show". The Guardian.
  19. "ESPN grabs Caribbean T20 cricket rights". Digital Spy. 22 July 2010.
  20. "The Ashes 2013: Sky Sports dedicates channel to the Ashes". Sky Sports. 13 June 2013.
  21. Deans, Jason (17 February 2014). "BSkyB wins UK rights to IPL Twenty20 live cricket coverage". The Guardian.
  22. "ITV scores cricket World Cup highlights". the Guardian. January 27, 2015.
  23. "BT Sport has secured UK TV rights to Ashes in Australia". the Guardian. August 23, 2015.
  24. Sweney, Mark (27 June 2017). "Sky Sports to replace numbered channels and slash prices in revamp". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  25. "Sky Sports to broadcast live Kia Women's Super League cricket". Sky Sports. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  26. "ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: TV Guide". sportonthebox.com. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  27. "Thursday 11 July: Sky & Channel 4 to share Cricket World Cup Final". sportonthebox.com. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  28. "Live cricket returns to BBC TV" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  29. "BBC broadcasts live cricket for the first time in 21 years and break viewership records". 1 September 2020.
  30. "'A long 16-year wait': Channel 4 confirms India v England Test TV rights". the Guardian. February 3, 2021.
  31. https://sport-onthebox.com/2021/02/22/sky-sports-india-v-england-2021-odi-t20-white-ball-series-live-uk-tv-coverage-commentary-team-match-schedule/ India v England: T20I & ODI series live on Sky Sports]
  32. "BT Sport to air England cricket from West Indies and NZ". 5 Feb 2021.
  33. "Cricket on FreeSports". FreeSports. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
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