Broadcasting the Ashes in the UK: the post-Sky terrain
It could be argued that its currently a golden age of digital cricket broadcasting across the globe.
There is a lot of cricket being played and quite a bit of it can be found, mostly on TNT Discovery, sometimes on Sky and occasionally elsewhere.
The coverage of the Ashes series just started provides a focus. TNT Discovery (actually Warners) have the UK TV rights. Their coverage is fronted up by Alastair Cook and Steven Finn and I think I heard Ebony Rainford Brent at some point. They are all Test Match Special people in the main but all of them have done previous cricket with TNT.
Previously the model was to take a feed for whichever domestic broadcaster was covering the game and have them in a studio somewhere (in Europe, wherever Warners had space). Now Cook et al are in situ but no studio.
I doubt Warners are that interested in cricket (or the audiences/advertising pull). Most of their cricket contracts were inherited from BT Sport. They’re covering the Ashes because no one else bid. Sky noted that Christmas darts at Ally Pally was their priority. One presumes again bigger audiences.
In fact South Africa aside Sky’s main cricket coverage now are England’s domestic games. One might speculate that the contract gives Sky some influence in the circles of power and perhaps helps somehow with their main priority-football. The reality is however that while Sky was once owned by the Murdochs who are cricket fans, the current US owners Comcast probably are not.
Meanwhile the BBC radio coverage on Test Match Special is unparalleled still and the BBC website has got rights to an Ashes highlights package.
Back to day one. The Telegraph thought the TNT coverage of the Ashes was rubbish. The Guardian thought it was ok
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