The Asian Television Network (ATN) has renewed the Canadian rights for Cricket West Indies for two more years, making it the country’s exclusive broadcaster for the competition.

All games will be aired live on ATN’s CBN and ATN Cricket Plus. Both channels are available nationally on various cable and satellite platforms.

The term started on Wednesday as India began its 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle with a two-match series against West Indies. This will be followed by three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and five Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), with the tour set to end on Aug. 13.

Cricket is the second most watched sport around the world and is steadily growing in popularity, due in part to immigration, international students and growing accessibility of match broadcasts.

According to Cricket Canada, last year it was reported that there were over 40,000 cricket players across the country across more than 200 teams.

ATN was the first broadcaster to broadcast the World Cup of Cricket in Canada by satellite in 1986. Outside of the West Indies, it was also named the exclusive Canadian rights holder for ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and ICC WorldTwenty20 in 2016. Other cricket series for 2023 and 2024 will include tours from England, South Africa and Bangladesh, with a total of 68 days of international cricket from the Caribbean. Apart from the Cricket West Indies rights, ATN also holds the exclusive rights for New Zealand Cricket for the next season and will feature tours of Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia.

Pramod Israni, VP of marketing at ATN, says the market is huge – partially due to Canada’s growing South Asian community, but also because of its popularity with anyone from a Commonwealth country, be it the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean islands or South Africa.

“The majority of our viewership happens when India is playing because the Indian population here is so huge,” says Israni. “Whenever India plays it gets the highest viewership as far as that series is concerned. “But we also realized people from the Caribbean follow cricket a lot and don’t really care which teams are playing.”

Both mainstream brands and South Asian businesses are realizing the value of live cricket, Israni says. Banks and telecos are the big ATN advertisers, generally working with multicultural agencies who understand the game and are able to develop tailored content.

The Cricket West Indies, Israni says, are expected to bring a large audience, as matches being played in the Caribbean mean live broadcasts due not have to contend with time differences.