Sky’s Indian Tour Coverage Faces Broadcast Fee Obstacle

Sky TV’s coverage of England cricket’s tour of India faces complications because of a late demand from the Indian cricket board for fees reportedly exceeding US$800,000 for the broadcaster’s commentary team to work in the stadiums.

Sky’s broadcast team includes former England Test captains Ian Botham, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton.

Sky is reportedly reluctant to pay the fee and may have to accept local commentary or deploy its own team from a studio outside India.

Sky may be denied its usual pitch-side discussions and player interviews at the venues. But there are no problems with Sky’s access to a live feed of pictures from the Tests, which it is the UK rights holder of. The Tests begin November 15.{jcomments on}