LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sold out the media rights of the upcoming back-to-back series against Australia and New Zealand to a Dubai-based sports channel after a couple of other local bidders couldn’t make a substantial offer for the same.

The two series, being held at the neutral venues of the UAE from October to December 2014, include five Tests (two against Australia and three against New Zealand), eight One-day Internationals (three against Australia and five against New Zealand) and three T20 Internationals (one against Australia and two against New Zealand).

Although the PCB isn’t happy over the response from the sports channels, it struck a deal worth US$5 million, Dawn has learnt.

However, the PCB is not ready to divulge any details about the deal. “We could’ve grabbed a better deal if the matches were in Pakistan but playing at a neutral venue like UAE where cricket is not a popular game, this is quite good,” a PCB official said on the condition of anonymity.

“PTV was also in the run but its offer carried some technical flaws, so it was rejected. Two other channels’ offer was also too low as compared to the Dubai-based channel,” the PCB official said. “Overall the two series will generate around USD 8.5 million including commercial rights and at the end the PCB will earn some profit.”

Published in Dawn, September 16th , 2014