Sports Business: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Amazon Prime Video have signed a six-year deal where the OTT giant will live stream Blackcaps and White Fern based matches into India.
The deal also includes Team India’s tour of New Zealand in 2022, and a second tour, the dates for which will be announced later.
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David White, Chief Executive New Zealand Cricket, said: “One of NZC’s key goals is to extend our teams’ global reach and to build closer relationships around the world and, in terms of that particular objective, we don’t think we could be in better hands. India has always been important for viewership of NZC; no other country follows cricket like India, so it’s exciting to be announcing this agreement with India’s leading streamer.”
With this announcement, Amazon Prime Video becomes the first Indian streaming service to secure exclusive live cricket rights from a major cricket board.
“Over the last few years Amazon Prime Video has become the go-to destination for world class entertainment in India – be it our Amazon Original Series or the biggest blockbuster movies across languages,” said Gaurav Gandhi, Director & Country General Manager, Amazon Prime Video.
“… We are thrilled to work with New Zealand Cricket on this endeavor as they have a strong, passionate and much-loved cricket team, and the cricketing rivalry between the two countries has been fantastic. We are happy to make this collaboration with New Zealand Cricket our first live sport offering in India, and are confident that our Prime members will be delighted with this initiative,” he added.
Prime Video has also bagged the streaming rights for live sports around the world including Thursday Night Football, the Premier League, ATP Tour Events, WTA, the US Open (tennis), Uefa Champions League, Autumn Nations Cup (rugby), and the Seattle Sounders FC.