Under the ITC Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events, part of the World Cup Cricket is a 'Group B' event. This means that the rights for highlights or deferred coverage of the final, semi-final and matches involving home nations' teams must be offered to free-to-air channels with national coverage.
However, following a consultation with interested parties, the ITC said it was satisfied that Sky had given the relevant free-to air channels (BBC1 and 2, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five) a genuine opportunity over a reasonable period to acquire the right to show highlights or deferred coverage.
As expected, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) has given UK pay-TV network Sky Sports the official green light to air live and exclusive coverage of next month's Cricket World Cup.
