London: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Tuesday secured exclusive radio rights for all international cricket matches in India for the next four years.
The BBC clinched the rights from Nimbus International Communications Ltd, which last week bagged all the rights for next four years from the Indian Cricket Board for $612 million (approx Rs 2755 crore).
"We believe it's vital for cricket that there should be live free-to-air broadcasting, so we're delighted that the BBC's radio services, including the Asian Network, will be offering live coverage from India," BBC's Director of Sport, Roger Mosey said.
"This will be supported by our strong online news service and by reporting across our TV and radio channels," he was quoted as saying on Cricinfo website.
The BBC's flagship cricket programme, Test Match Special, will broadcast England's tour of India with Jonathan Agnew, Christopher Martin-Jenkins and Simon Mann providing live commentary.
Analysis will be provided by Geoffrey Boycott and Sunil Gavaskar.
BSkyB, who have broadcast live coverage of England's overseas matches for over a decade, submitted a $9 million offer to Nimbus which was rejected out of hand on Saturday.
Unless Sky increase their bid, coverage for English viewers might be offered to one of the cable networks: ARY Digital, Zee TV or Sony.
England's first Test gets underway at Nagpur on March 1.
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