According to new reports which have emerged from The Times in the UK, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has entered into advanced discussions with Sky Sports over a ten-year domestic broadcast rights extension.

The deal would see the majority of the ECB’s domestic and international cricket action stay on Comcast, which is owned by Sky Sports, and would reportedly be worth significantly more than the current broadcast partnership with Sky.

The current deal, which is set to run until 2024, is worth a reported £220 million (AUD$379 million) each year of the deal and combines the broadcast with free-to-air public service broadcaster in the UK, BBC.

The report also suggested the ECB will attempt to get more rights for the BBC to cover the organisation’s shorter-form domestic cricket competition, The Hundred.

The BBC is expected to retain its rights to broadcast four international T20 matches, which includes two men’s and two women’s matches, as well as ten matches from The Hundred.

The news follows the recent release of an action plan designed to tackle racism and diversity from the ECB.

As part of the action plan, the ECB plans to offer financial support to the ACE programme, which focuses on engaging and providing more opportunities for children and young people from Black communities in the UK.

The increased investment will see the ACE programme expand its efforts into Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds and additional London boroughs, after being launch by the Surrey Cricket Club in 2020 and running in Birmingham and Bristol during 2021.

ACE programme chair, Ebony Rainford-Brent, said: “This is a really significant moment for ACE.”

“Although we started small in south London, we always envisaged this programme was going to have a big national impact.

“To be in six cities and on both sides of the Thames in London within two years of existence proves that our model is starting to change the game.

“ACE is focused on connecting the dots to help under-represented groups from the grassroots to the elite.

“We know this programme will help open up new pathways to do exactly that and are excited to partner with the teams at all these different counties to have an impact.

“We’re really grateful to the ECB for this meaningful support, allowing us to build on our initial backing from Sport England and start taking ACE to the next level – a truly national organisation,” Rainford-Brent said.

The ECB has also expanded its Community Talent Champion programme to a further 10 urban locations, as well as offering a further 3,000 Foundation coaching bursaries in 2022 and committing an initial £1 million to reduce financial barriers for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in talent pathways, supported by Loughborough University.