Live cricket heads to UKTV’s Dave
UKTV’s leading free-to-air entertainment channel Dave has announced exclusive rights to broadcast this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League cricket (CPL).
“Securing exclusive rights to broadcast the Hero Caribbean Premier League is an important development to our sporting portfolio on the channel. The CPL is unlike any other domestic cricket tournament; with the first match only a couple of weeks away we are very much looking forward to bringing all of the energy, noise and excitement from the tournament, free to air to our viewers.” – Richard Watsham, director of commissioning for UKTV
The new deal, which will last for a year, will see live cricket back on free-to-air television and was greenlit by Dave general manager Steve North and UKTV’s director of commissioning Richard Watsham. Dave will be screening games in full at 1pm throughout the Twenty20 tournament, with five games being shown live from 11.30pm, including the final on 7th August. Match coverage is provided by sports production company IMG, and executive producer for UKTV is Arch Dyson.
The tournament, which starts on 29th June and runs until 7th August 2016, will be held across six venues in the Caribbean, and for the first time six fixtures will be played in Florida, USA. With the CPL now in its fourth year, established stars such as Chris Gayle, AB De Villiers, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo will all be featuring. This year the teams will include the likes of Jamaica Tallawahs, Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel, Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St Lucia Zouks and Antigua Hawksbills all battling it out in an initial group stage format before progressing to knock out matches.
The announcement further extends Dave’s live sport coverage following live boxing and darts events earlier this year.
“We’re really looking forward to our exclusive coverage of the Hero Caribbean Premier League. Dave is committed to bringing more live sport to free-to-air television and we’re proud that we can offer cricket a new home for fans this summer.” – Steve North, Dave general manager
Cricket: Hero Caribbean Premier League starts at 1pm on 30th June with full coverage of Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel v St Lucia Zouks.
