Pom FBers - you might yet get your Ashes on TV for free...

Eventually...

But the ECB is not happy about it.

Has it made a difference to the level of interest in cricket in the UK?

Does the government there have the cojones to do it?

Would be interested to know the mood over there as it is at the moment.

The BBC are the only realistic bidders for cricket rights, other than Sky and they don't seem interested. So, the game could lose both ways - still no terrestrial coverage and Sky being able to name its own price for TV rights.

Cricket is as far as I can tell the only major sport in the UK which has sold all its TV rights lock stock and barrell to one broadcaster - the others have a mix of satellite and terrestrial coverage.

A better solution would have been for the ECB to market a package of (say) one test per season, two or three ODIs and a few domestic 20/20 games and reserve it for terrestrial broadcasters.

The current mood is: chilly.

Not sure there's much more to add. 2016 at the earliest. By then, everyone will have digital TV and I'd reckon that Sky will have launhced their own free-to-air sports channel (for reruns and the shite that no-one would ever pay a subscription for: monkey tennis, rugby league) and all it will mean is that they have to show five Test matches every four years or so on it - and console themselves with an increase in advertising revenue from the larger audience the Ashes would probably glean than their regular programming.

No biggy, says I.

Sky Sports will have to be available on Freeview and/or Freesat by then, so it's perfectly feasible for them to make it free to air technically.

The ECB could always stop the counties pissing the money away on Kolpaks and in fact stop financing them to the detriment of the national game. That would save some money. The only reason they require the Sky money so desperately is because the counties need it.

Personally, they could all go bust for all I care.

Sudden look at the main forum page and the title looked like ...

Porn FBers - you might yet get your Asses on TV for free...

Wishful thinking perhaps?

So no change, then?

I'm not too bovoired. The easiest solution is to let them run it in parallel a la 2005. If I'd missed a day (not often) then I'd watch Sky's extensive highlights, otherwise it'd be C4.

Zat wrote:So no change, then?

Probably not. The ECB are a bunch of lying turds anyway. They announced what they'd do would be to allow cricket clubs discounted access to Sky during the cricket season, so they could be a focus of cricket in their town or village blah, blah, blah.

Great discount it was too. 5% off the commercial Sky rate. So just the £400 a month then. Wankers.

That is pissweak.