The Sky New Zealand pay-TV heavyweight has struck a four-year rights deal with the governing England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in time for the New Zealand men's tour of England and Ireland over the coming few months.
The tie-up begins immediately and runs through the 2030 English cricketing summer – during that period, Sky NZ will be the only place in New Zealand to view all home international fixtures played by England's men's and women's teams, as well as English domestic cricket.
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Both New Zealand's men's (Black Caps) and women's (White Ferns) sides are due to tour England between now and the end of June – the Black Caps will play three test matches, while the White Ferns will take part in six limited-overs games. England's men's team is currently coached by iconic former NZ player Brendon McCullum.
The men's team will then return for further tours in 2027 and in 2030.
In terms of other marquee series during that time, both Australia and India will tour multiple times across the four years, including the 2027 edition of the iconic Ashes series between England and Australia (both the men's and women's sides).
Gary Burchett, Sky's head of sport content, has commented: "This agreement with the ECB is a key part of our long-term commitment to bringing the very best international cricket to New Zealand audiences. ECB cricket delivers global relevance, high-quality matchups & coverage, and lands perfectly in a key window of our calendar."
For Sky NZ, this significantly adds to the broadcaster's existing cricket rights portfolio – it is already the New Zealand Cricket domestic rights partner through 2031-32, while deals are also in place with the International Cricket Council (ICC), and for cricket in India and Australia.
Last year, coverage of home England cricket was provided in New Zealand by ICC.tv, the streaming service run by the game's global governing body and used to cover major series wherever a traditional broadcast partner cannot be found.
Prior to that, telecoms company Spark held rights in that market for the 2020-23 cycle, before shutting down. This deal covered the previous three-test tour of England by the Black Caps in 2022, which the hosts won 3-0.
Domestically, meanwhile, the upcoming England v New Zealand series will be broadcast exclusively live by Sky in the UK, with the current ECB-Sky Sports deal running across the 2025-28 cycle.
