Sky New Zealand, the pay-television broadcaster, has acquired domestic rights to cricket's World Test Championship final between New Zealand and India next month.
The climax of the inaugural elite competition will take place from 18 to 22 June at the Rose Bowl in Southampton in England.
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Sky’s deal means fans in New Zealand will have to watch the country’s upcoming three test matches on different platforms, as Spark Sport has rights to two tests against England.
After Sky spent two decades as the dominant rights holder for cricket in New Zealand, Spark now shows domestic and international cricket played in the country until 2026.
Spark will show two tests between the Black Caps and England, at Lord's in London and Edgbaston in Birmingham, ahead of the World Test Championship final.
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However, in the ongoing battle between the two companies, Sky has won the rights for the conclusion of the first edition of the World Test Championship.
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By GlobalDataSpark has said it will have daily highlights of the final, following its live coverage of the New Zealand-England series.
Sky said: “To be able to share this landmark test with New Zealand is a huge honour for the Sky team, and we’re pulling out all the stops to make the most of this opportunity.”
After losing its long-standing domestic rights deal to Spark, Sky quickly renewed its agreement with the International Cricket Council to retain exclusive rights to the sport's major events through to 2023.
Spark landed a separate deal with the ICC for digital content rights to its global events, also to 2023.
The final of the World Test Championship will be shown in India by pay-television broadcaster Star Sports and sister streaming services Disney+ and Hotstar.
Meanwhile, Sky has renewed its long-running partnership with major US broadcaster ESPN.
Under a multi-year, multi-platform rights deal, Sky will continue to carry two ESPN channels on its Sky Sport platform, and on Sky Sport Now and Sky Go streaming services.
The partnership gives Sky customers access to video on-demand content from ESPNews, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Network, and the Watch ESPN app.
