TORONTO, July 25, 2016 /CNW/ - Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) (TSX-V-SAT), Canada's largest South Asian Broadcaster, is pleased to announce that it has acquired exclusive Cricket rights for Cricket Australia, England Cricket Board, Cricket Ireland and Caribbean Premiere League.

The rights consists of all the games played in Australia from 2016 – 2021 including Big Bash League – (Men's & Women's), three bi-lateral series played in England in 2016 & 2017, three bi-lateral & one tri-series played in Ireland from 2016 – 2018 and the on-going Caribbean Premiere League 2016.

All the series acquired will be aired on CBN & ATN Cricket Plus and will feature all top teams like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Ireland and the West Indies. Caribbean Cricket League is an annual T20 Cricket tournament, established by the West Indies Cricket board, held in the Caribbean featuring 6 teams with a mix of Domestic & International players. Apart from the top players from the West Indies Cricket Team like Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, the league also features some of the top International players like AB De Villiers, Dale Steyn, Shoaib Mallik, Umar Akmal, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Kumar Sangakara, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson & many more.

Cricket is the 2nd most watched sport in the World & the fastest growing in Canada and this announcement will excite cricket and sports lovers alike. ATN already holds the exclusive Canadian rights for The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket South Africa and New Zealand Cricket, which makes ATN the largest Cricket distributor in Canada.

"ATN was the first to bring the World Cup of Cricket Live Via satellite to Canada in 1987 and ever since then we are pleased that we have played a pioneering role in bringing the best of Live International Cricket to our subscribers across Canada," said Dr. Shan Chandrasekar, President and CEO of ATN. "We are delighted to acquire these rights on a long term basis and this will be a real treat for all Cricket fans in Canada," he added.

About Asian Television Network International Limited:

ATN serves Canada's diverse cultural communities with 54 specialty television channels. The Company offers its flagship ATN-HD general interest service, 3 sports Channels, 4 news Channels, 5 Bollywood movie channels and a variety of channels that include 4 music Channels, 4 lifestyle Channels, 3 Chinese Channels, 6 Punjabi channels, and several regional language channels. ATN operates a South Asian Radio Service on Satellite Radio across The United States and Canada. Some ATN content is also available on any Bell mobile phone that supports video. ATN has programming alliances with leading international broadcasters like Doordarshan, Star Network (News Corp), Sony Entertainment Television, Viacom, Times Television Network, B4U Network, NDTV, Disney, ARY Group and many more. ATN channels are available on various Cable, Satellite and IPTV Platforms across Canada like Shaw Cable, Bell TV, Rogers Cable, Bell Fibe TV, TELUS Optic TV, Shaw Direct, Cogeco Cable, V Media and Others.

We rely on safe harbour provision.

SOURCE Asian Television Network International Limited

For further information: For more information please visit www.asiantelevision.com or contact: Pramod Israni, Vice President - Marketing, Asian Television Network International Limited, 330 Cochrane Drive, Markham, Ontario L3R 8E4, Canada, Tel: 905-948-8199, Email: [email protected]