The International Cricket Council (ICC) governing body has launched a media rights tender process in Nepal covering next year's Men's T20 World Cup.
The ICC has issued an expression of interest document in Nepal for rights to the 2026 World Cup, to be held across neighbouring India and Sri Lanka between February 7 and March 8.
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The package on offer includes non-exclusive broadcast rights, "subject to an overspill" from the ICC's Indian media rights partner, and non-exclusive digital streaming rights.
Linear coverage will still be provided in Nepal by Indian media heavyweight JioStar, as part of a deal between that behemoth and the ICC dating back to mid-2022.
The ICC.tv in-house streaming service will also air coverage from the 20-team tournament in Nepal.
Nepal qualified for the event through an East Asia-Pacific event held in mid-October.
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By GlobalDataThe ICC has said that broadcasters and networks should register their interest by contacting iccmediarights2024-2031@icc-cricket.com. Access to the details around the rights package on offer will then be provided.
In terms of recent ICC media rights activity, late November saw the governing body unveil state broadcaster PTV and streaming platform Myco as its Pakistani media rights partners through 2027.
In India, meanwhile, December has seen heavy speculation that JioStar is looking to back out of its ICC deal two years early – both parties, last week, came out strongly against these reports, however.
The ICC said that those aforementioned reports "do not reflect the position of either organisation."
India is by far and away cricket's biggest market, and any instability in the ICC's broadcast rights revenue from that country would cause serious worry at the game's governing body. Indeed, the ICC is already expecting a 30% drop in revenue from its next media rights contracts in other markets, starting in 2028.
At the previous Men's T20 World Cup, meanwhile, held in the US and the Caribbean in June last year, Nepal failed to make it past the group stage, losing three of their four matches.
