Channel 9 to lose BPL broadcasting rights

Channel 9 of Virgo Media currently holds the broadcasting rights of the country’s biggest exciting and franchise based T20 cricket extravaganza, Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). They have been associated with the money-spinning tournament from the very beginning and acted as the official broadcasters for all three completed seasons so far.


But with another brand new season of BPL on the horizone and slated to begin in November, there is slight possibility of Channel 9 losing the BPL broadcasting rights. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)’s director Sheikh Sohail revealed the matter on Thursday.

“We have a deal with Channel 9 regarding BPL broadcasting. They are supposed to exclusively air the tournament for next three years. But now the board is mulling to cancel its deal with Channel 9, as the channel has failed numerous times to solve payment issues with the board.

“We have sent them official notice several times, but they have failed to get their payment done. So we may cancel our existing four-year contract with Channel 9,” said Sohail.

Meanwhile, the BCB director also informed the media that the coming season of BPL will feature 8 participating teams with Rajshahi and Khulna set to make return to the competition, as they have received applications from more than 10 companies who are interested to become franchises of these two teams. However, Sohail also added that due to organizational problem, the matches of BPL-4 will be held in Dhaka and Chittagong only.