The PCB has signed a three-year broadcast deal with the state broadcaster Pakistan Television (PTV). The deal will see PTV broadcast all Pakistan's home bilateral commitments as well as all domestic cricket.

The deal ends a brief period of uncertainty as the PCB's five-year deal with Ten Sports ended earlier this year, in a shrinking broadcast market further hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. It marks a return of sorts for the broadcaster that played such a vital role in the growth of the sport with its broadcasts from the 1970s right up to the late 1990s. From the 2000s, until earlier this year, the PCB's broadcast rights resided mainly with Ten Sports; PTV broadcast home games as part of a joint consortium with Ten Sports from 2012 until December last year.

Details of the deal have not yet been made public but it appears to be a departure from regular broadcast deals in which broadcaster and board agree on a total value the home board's fixtures are worth and then the broadcaster pays that amount out over the course of the deal.

In this case, the PCB and PTV will share revenues made from commercial rights for fixtures in the calendar: the PCB taking a 57.5% share and PTV 42.5%.

Global rights for Pakistan's cricket will be sold separately. The PCB will keep production rights of the broadcast and bear its costs, and there is expected to be an Operations Committee on which members from both parties will sit overseeing broadcasts.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will witness the signing of agreements between the PCB, PTV and cable pperators regarding Pakistan Cricket Broadcast and Cable Distribution Rights at a ceremony being held in Islamabad today.

More to follow…