Global T20 Canada announces broadcast partners two days ahead of tournament

TORONTO — Two days before the first ball is bowled, the Global T20 Cricket tournament has announced its broadcast partners.

In Canada, the competition will be shown on Asian Television Network (ATN) and online via Hotstar.

Global T20 Canada also announced TV deals in India (Star Sports), the United Kingdom (FreeSports), Australia (Fox Sports), Pakistan (Geo Sports), Middle East (Orbit Showtime Network), Bangladesh (Ghazi TV) and the Caribbean (Sportsmax).

The 22-match tournament opens Thursday with the Toronto Nationals taking on the Vancouver Knights and runs through July 15.

Toronto and Vancouver will be joined by the Winnipeg Hawks, Edmonton Royals, Montreal Tigers and a Cricket West Indies B team. All matches will be played at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, Ont., just north of Toronto.

Imminent need

Council set to discuss possible location for homeless shelter on 15th Street

46m ago

International Spotlight

P.A.'s Howe one of 4 Sask. born players named to Canada's World Junior roster

16h ago

National

Ottawa to remove 30% investment cap for Canadian pension funds

20h ago

The tournament has drawn 96 players from some 20 countries including Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Shahid Afridi, Daren Sammy, Lasith Malinga, Steve Smith, Sunil Narine, David Miller and Dwayne Bravo.

Former Australian skipper Smith, along with vice-captain David Warner, made headlines recently for their role in a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. They were given 12-month bans by Cricket Australia but are allowed to play abroad.

Smith will play for Toronto while Warner was drafted by Winnipeg.

ATN has 55 channels — in 10 languages — in Canada but the Canadian cricket will be on CBN, a national sports network. ATN is available on Telus, Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco and Bell.

CBN is a predominantly English channel.

“I think it will do well,” Prakash Naidoo, ATN’s vice-president of sales and general manager, said of the Canadian cricket event.

“We’re not putting a premium price on it because they say you have to speculate to accumulate … Sometimes it’s important to step up for the sake of the viewer, especially seeing that they support you throughout the year.”

Most recently ATN was the exclusive Canadian rights-holder for ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and ICC WorldTwenty20 (2016).

The Global T20 Canada is the brainchild of the Mercuri Group, an India-based media company whose affiliate Mercuri Canada has signed a 25-year deal with Cricket Canada.

___

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press