LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday, while announcing the broadcast and live streaming rights agreement for the Pakistan Super League (PSL), said the new deal was priced 358 percent more than the previous three seasons of the league. A statement issued by the PCB said the consortium of Blitz Advertising and Techfront had acquired the broadcast and live streaming rights for the fourth season, adding that the actual figures of the agreement would remain confidential. “The new rights cycle renews a time-tested partnership between Pakistan Cricket Board, Blitz Advertising and Techfront,” it stated. The details of local and foreign television channels that will air PSL 2019 will be “finalised and then released in due course,” the statement added. “We have successfully exceeded our targets for the new PSL broadcast and live streaming rights,” Ehsan Mani, the PCB chairman, said. “I would like to congratulate and thank Blitz Advertising and Techfront for partnering with us once again. This is a time-tested partnership and our joint objective, for the next three years, is to ensure that the PSL continues to grow in terms of fan engagement.” The rights were initially valued at around $41 million for three years, but a drastic and rapid fall in the Pakistan rupee’s value against the dollar in that time has meant that the value was closer to $33 million. Against that, the final deal has exceeded expectations. PTV and Ten Sports had submitted a joint bid, though it is believed to have been around half the value. It may be mentioned here that unlike the previous three editions of the PSL, this time, the PCB has decided to sell the media rights, instead of buying specific time of different TV channels to live telecast the matches through arrangements made by the PCB. When the PCB launched the PSL in 2016, no TV channel was ready to offer a reasonable price for seeking the media rights as the fate of first edition was still hanging in the balance. At that stage, then PCB Chairman Najam Sethi and his team had decided to buy the transmission time of three sports channels and made all other arrangements on their own of broadcasting and collecting the commercials which eventually paid rich dividends. In 2019, as many as eight PSL matches are set to be hosted in Pakistan, with the other 26 taking place in the UAE. With the sixth team renewing his ownership rights with the PCB, six franchises will compete with Islamabad United, who are the defending champions. The opening game between Islamabad and Lahore Qalandars will take place in Dubai on February 14. Published in Daily Times, December 22nd 2018.