Dave scores more live sport with new CPL cricket deal
UKTV announce exclusive broadcast rights for Hero Caribbean Premier League
UKTV’s leading free-to-air entertainment channel Dave has announced exclusive rights to broadcast this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
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 Lauderhill, 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, Trinbago Knight Riders, Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St Lucia Zouks and St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots 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.
Steve North, Dave general manager, said, “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.”
Richard Watsham, director of commissioning for UKTV, said, “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 week 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.”
Damien O’Donohoe, CEO of the Hero Caribbean Premier League, added: “We are delighted to welcome UKTV on board as a broadcast partner for the forthcoming CPL campaign. Their coverage will ensure that fans across the United Kingdom will be able to watch the biggest party in sport free-to-air which I have no doubt will have positive knock-on effects for the profile of the CPL internationally. Dave understand and embrace the values of CPL and share our commitment to deliver an outstanding product, and I have no doubt that this will help enhance the CPL further as we gear up for our fourth year of top-class T20 cricket with some of the biggest stars in the world on show.”
Cricket: Hero Caribbean Premier League starts at 1pm on 29th June with full coverage of Trinbago Knight Riders v St Lucia Zouks.
About Dave:
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Dave proudly presents a plethora of original commissions; award-winning Crackanory, Ross Noble Freewheeling, Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Goodish, and Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, all laden with the biggest names in British comedy. Not to mention a brand spanking new original series Hoff the Record, Undercover and Taskmaster.
There’s national treasures like QI, Red Dwarf X, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You, plus the Red Bull trilogy of Cliff Diving, X-Fighters and the Soap Box races. And of course, we still have Top Gear.
Dave is the UK's most watched non-PSB channel broadcasting to over 27 million people per month, featuring hit US shows including the sharp-witted and sharp-suited Suits, critically-acclaimed Parks & Recreation and brand spanking new US series The Last Man on Earth. How can we forget the wonder that is Storage Hunters and now original commission Storage Hunters UK, the gift that keeps on giving.
About UKTV:
UKTV is the biggest multichannel broadcaster in the UK.
The award-winning independent has eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, W, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food. These include the two most popular non-PSB channels in the UK and account for 9.31% of the British commercial TV market. The company's most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £319m and EBITDA of £82m. It invested £148m in programming and related launches last year, and is becoming an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC, alongside programmes originally shown on ITV and Channel 4. The network embraces technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat, Amazon Fire and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating its 23rd year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British television broadcaster in The Sunday Times top 100 companies list.
