LAHORE : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday inked a satellite broadcast deal with the national sports television and signed a further agreement to secure cable distribution with I-Media Communication Services.

The broadcast deal will be effective for the 2020-2023 cycle.

The agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan who is also the patron of the Board.

Speaking on the occasion, PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani thanked the premier for his support.

PCB will be soon finalising the grant of its broadcast rights for international territories separately as well as launching a new structure for its digital media rights.

The broadcasting arrangement is structured to provide increasing revenues over the term of the cycle and PCB expects to earn in excess of $200 million over the three years.

While addressing the signing of the agreements, the premier had said that it is imperative that PTV takes lead in the country’s sports coverage, especially cricket, given the huge fan following of the game in Pakistan.

Recalling the times when the state-owned PTV was broadcast across South Asia, the premier said: “As they say, you survive when you adapt. Unfortunately, due to myriad reasons [that I don’t want to discuss right now], our national broadcaster lagged behind the rest of the world.”

We hope that with our newly-introduced reforms the institution will see an improvement, with better revenues and quality of content, he added.