After indecisive jabs at the costly acquisition game of live sporting events, streaming platforms are now re-thinking that hands-off strategy, it seems. The latest is American media giant Discovery that wants to prop up OTT service Discovery+ via sports and cricket is the latest target.

SportsPro website, quoting the UK’s The Daily Telegraphnewspaper, said Discovery was in a three-horse race with pay-TV broadcasters BT and Sky for a four-year package, worth in excess of UK£50 million (US$68.7 million), for UK region rights to England’s upcoming cricket tour of Australia.

All in, the rights package covers both the men’s and women’s Ashes, the men’s one-day international (ODI) and Twenty20 series in 2022, Australia’s other home internationals and the domestic Big Bash League (BBL) competition.

The Telegraphadded that Amazon, which has been beefing out its sports offering lately, has ruled itself out of a deal.

Cricket Australia (CA), the national governing body, circulated tender documents for the package last month. BT Sport curreny holds the rights in a five-year deal that began in 2016, having purportedly paid more than UK£80 million (US$110 million).

However,The Telegraphreports that figure is unlikely to be met this time due to a downward trend in the sports rights market.

For Discovery, getting the Ashes would allow it to build on the momentum it hopes Discovery+ gathers later this year when it broadcasts the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded all TV and multiplatform broadcast rights in Europe to Discovery and its Eurosport network from 2018 to 2024.

While streaming giant Netflix has repeatedly denied that it was interested in sporting events to be showcased on its platforms, Amazon Prime Video did acquire the India region rights of New Zealand cricket.

Amazon.com Inc’s Prime Video in November 2020 announced it had acquired the rights for broadcasting New Zealand cricket matches in India, marking the streaming service’s first foray into live sports in its fastest-growing market.

As part of the deal between Amazon and the New Zealand Cricket Board, Prime Video will exclusively stream all international cricket matches played in New Zealand for both men’s and women’s cricket, across all formats of the game beginning late 2021 and through to the 2025-2026 season, the company had said in a statement.

(Photo courtesy ECB website)