England’s bid to reclaim the Ashes this winter will be broadcast live in the United Kingdom by TNT Sports, following a one-year rights agreement with Cricket Australia. The deal, finalised over the weekend, gives TNT exclusive coverage of the iconic Test series as Ben Stokes and his team travel down under aiming to end their long winless drought in Australia.
The agreement means TNT will now cover all of England’s winter tours in 2025-26, having already secured rights for the white-ball series in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which bookend the Ashes campaign. TNT Sports’ predecessor, BT Sport, also held the rights for the previous two Ashes tours, though neither visit produced a victory for England.
The challenge facing the tourists is significant. England have lost 13 of their last 15 Tests in Australia, underlining the scale of the task for Stokes’s side. The team has not celebrated a Test win in Australia since Andrew Strauss’s squad triumphed in Sydney in January 2011, sealing a 3-1 series victory their first on Australian soil since 1987. England last lifted the Ashes in 2015, when Alastair Cook’s side claimed a 3-2 series win at home.
TNT has gradually emerged as the primary home of England’s winter cricket in recent years, holding long-term broadcast deals with New Zealand, West Indies, and Pakistan, while also securing a last-minute arrangement to air England’s five-Test series in India last winter.
Unlike that India tour, where former England captains Alastair Cook and Steven Finn provided studio analysis from the Netherlands, TNT plans to send a full on-ground broadcast team to Australia for live coverage. The network will also incorporate feeds and commentary from the host broadcaster to ensure comprehensive coverage for UK audiences.
TNT’s growing dominance in overseas cricket broadcasting reflects Sky Sports’ decision to scale back its winter tour commitments due to cost-cutting measures and its emphasis on extensive Premier League coverage. Sky will broadcast 215 live football matches this season but has chosen to focus its cricket portfolio on International Cricket Council (ICC) events, including men’s and women’s World Cups and T20 World Cups. Its only ongoing bilateral series agreement is with Cricket South Africa.
In addition to the five-Test Ashes series, TNT’s new arrangement with Cricket Australia also covers men’s white-ball series against South Africa and India, as well as a multiformat women’s series against India during the 2025-26 Australian summer.
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg expressed enthusiasm about continuing the partnership:
“We’re pleased to extend our longstanding partnership with TNT Sports and that they will again be instrumental in showcasing the Australian summer of cricket to UK audiences.”
With England eager to end a 14-year drought in Australia, TNT Sports’ exclusive coverage ensures that fans in the UK will witness every delivery of a potentially historic series.
