Sports Rights: Cricket

DMC

The rights for cricket on UK TV is up for grabs....

From the other day on the Media Guardian website and The Times, the ECB are starting TV rights negotiations.

Only flaw in this article is that Channel 4 and Sky's current contract
started in 1999, after the World Cup and not the "three years ago" comment
further down....

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1314051,00.html

TV's big hitters go in to bat for English cricket rights

Ian Smith and Dominic Timms
Tuesday September 28, 2004

BSkyB, Channel 4 and the BBC are expected to compete for the rights to cover English cricket when the deadline for bids ends tonight.
Channel 4, the current rights holder, has until midnight to enter a bid for a three-year contract that starts in 2006.

The new deal, which covers England's home Tests in addition to the shortened 20/Twenty games at home and abroad, is expected to exceed the £19m a year it paid last time round.

Broadcasters however think the ECB is being optimistic if it thinks it can engineer a major hike in prices as the climate has changed in the last four or five years with TV networks refusing to pay prices they cannot recoup.

ITV, for instance, was adamant it wasn't going to pay the £180m a year it paid for the rights to the premier league football and the rights ultimately returned to Match of the Day.

The success of the English team this year - apart from Saturday's loss to the West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy Final - should help push the bidding past the £60m-a-year mark.

Sources close to the England and Wales Cricket Board said they expected bids from broadcasters that have not previously shown any interest in the sport.

But Five and ITV dismissed the idea that they may bid individually or jointly. "We've looked at the rights deal, as has everyone else, but it is highly unlikely we'd make a serious bid for them," said a Five source.

Channel 4 confirmed it would bid for the rights. It overhauled cricket coverage when it snatched the rights from an unsuspecting BBC three years ago.

The BBC is examining the 60-page rights document but the director of sport, Peter Salmon, said recently that the corporation would not go out on a limb to take them back.
"I wouldn't dream of taking on a sport and not being able to cover it really well with enough airtime. If I can't satisfy myself ultimately that I can do that, we won't be taking up the cricket offer," he said in an interview last week.

"We're under some pressure as clearly viewers would like to see it back on the BBC. They don't like the adverts. Cricket authorities would like a bigger market for their rights. Fine, but can we do it well and can we afford it?"

If the bids go above £60m it would represent nearly 20% of the BBC's annual £350m sports budget

BSkyB, which shared some of the rights with Channel 4 in 2001, could make a knockout bid for all the rights. However, it remains to be seen how much of
an appetite the ECB has for what would be effectively subscription-only cricket.

Giles Clarke, the chairman of the board's marketing advisory committee, said the subscription debate was an "irrelevance".

"Remember, we are not just dealing with analogue turn-off and charter renewal but a deal that only starts in 2006," he said.

"Who knows what technology will be about then, never mind what will be around by the end of the deal in 2009."

In The Times too...

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9071-1284443,00.html

TV channels gear up for cricket bidding war
By Peter Klinger


A BIDDING war is expected to erupt between Channel 4, the BBC and BSkyB this week as the deadline to tender for rights to televise future England cricket matches approaches.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) expects bidders to submit offers by the end of this week for the right to televise domestic and international cricket from 2006 to 2009. The rights include Test and one-day international matches.


Sources close to the ECB said that interest from both free-to-air and subscription broadcasters has been strong. But observers have pointed to Channel 4 and BSkyB, the incumbents, as the favourites to retain the rights.

Channel 4 and BSkyB, in which The News Corporation, parent company of The Times, has a 35.4 per cent stake, are thought to be paying £20 million a year each to the ECB for the television rights.

The BBC, once the traditional home of cricket, has been without rights since 1998 and is considering a bid.

Five and ITV, the rival broadcasters, have in effect ruled themselves out of the bidding.

In 1998 Channel 4 and BSkyB outbid the BBC to secure the broadcast rights.

Under the £103 million, four-year deal covering 1999-2002, Channel 4 won the rights to televise Test cricket, while BSkyB secured coverage of the international one-day series.

A follow-up three-year deal, covering cricket from 2003 until the end of next year, also went to Channel 4 and BSkyB. The deal was worth £40 million a year, compared with about £26 million previously.

Observers have argued that the England team’s strong showing this year could significantly boost the value of the rights, despite a general fall in the value of broadcast rights for other sports, including football.

Peter Salmon, head of BBC Sport, said last week that the corporation had reviewed the 60-page tender document but would only bid if it could “cover (cricket) really well with enough airtime”.

Channel 4 has been lauded for the way it has covered Test cricket since 1998.

However, the broadcaster is losing money on its cricket coverage.

The England Test team has enjoyed a renaissance this season and its Ashes series with Australia, the world champion, next summer is eagerly anticipated and expected to generate a big audience.

English success against Australia is likely to further enhance the value of the television rights, although the reverse might be the case if England’s improvement proves to be short-lived.

It remains unclear what packages the ECB is offering potential bidders.
There have been persistent rumours that BSkyB may launch a knock-out bid to control both Test-match and one-day cricket, although the ECB might be unwilling to confine cricket coverage to subscription-only television.

Even though Channel 4 is losing money, it wants to continue its involvement but will be wary of a fierce bidding war with BSkyB.

An ECB spokesman would not comment on the negotiations.

It is thought that the ECB wants to conclude the broadcast rights negotiations before the England team leaves for its tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa in November

DMC

And more....

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9071-1284046,00.html

BBC to win the cricket Test
By Steven Downes, Times Online


Bidding for the television rights to cover English cricket closes tonight, with pundits predicting that the BBC will reclaim the sport, possibly even at a knockdown price less than the £52 million a year agreed by Channel 4 when it snatched it from under the noses of the Beeb in 2001, ending half a century of coverage by the corporation.

Cricket chiefs at Lord's, while recognising that C4's coverage has introduced a number of useful technical innovations, are anxious to take Test matches back to a channel where it can be guaranteed uninterrupted coverage to as broad an audience as possible. The BBC, with its two terrestrial channels, is the obvious candidate.

Recently, even during an outstandingly successful summer for the England cricket team, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has received complaints from viewers about interruptions to coverage for advertisement breaks and horse racing, while the move from the traditional 11am start to the day's play - mainly to ensure that TV coverage ended before the scheduled C4 News at 7pm - has also proved unpopular.

Using the Film4 digital channel to offer continuous, uninterrupted coverage has failed to staunch the loss of viewers. "The feeling is that with the BBC, we would not have to worry so much about breaking away from the play for the news, Countdown or Hollyoaks," one Lord's insider said.

The new deal will run from 2006 - missing next summer's much awaited Ashes tour by Australia - and is to last three years.


While some commentators have suggested that the BBC could bid as much as £60 million a year to recover the rights to English Test cricket, insiders at the BBC's sports department are more sceptical and believe they might win back the rights at a bargain price.

They point out that when C4 won the cricket rights, it was a fluke by the then C4 head of sport, Mike Miller. "Mike and his team went through the process of putting together a bid document, almost just to get used to the exercise," a source involved in the previous bid told Times Online. "They never thought they had a chance of winning."

Within a few months, Miller had moved to become head of sport at the BBC, inheriting many problems of his own creation through the loss of the cricket contract.


"It was almost as if the ECB had wanted to teach the BBC a lesson. And it might just be that the lesson has been learned now."

In the four years since, C4, which once included American football, Italian Serie A soccer and the Tour de France in its "alternative" portfolio, has all but abandoned sport, with just cricket and horse racing remaining.

Given C4's apparent antipathy towards sport, the likelihood that neither ITV nor Five will place a strong bid, and the ECB's desire for a strong presence on terrestrial television, it may not be necessary for the BBC to break the bank.

"We're under some pressure as clearly viewers would like to see it back on the BBC," Peter Salmon, the BBC's present head of sport, said last week.."They don't like the adverts. Cricket authorities would like a bigger market for their rights. Fine, but can we do it well and can we afford it?"

The BBC's annual sports budget is around £350 million a year, although much of that is already earmarked for Match of the Day football coverage and expensive, non-annual events, such as the Olympics and football's World Cup.

Under the existing contract, BSkyB has exclusive rights to one Test match per summer, plus one-day internationals and county cricket coverage, and it is expected that the satellite broadcaster - an associate company of News International - will be involved in the final mix of the deal once again.

With the growth of digital television, especially during the period of the contract in the run-up to the Government's analogue TV turn-off in 2010, it is not impossible that winning the cricket contract could revitalise the BBC's mothballed plans for a dedicated sports channel (American broadcaster ESPN this week announced that it is to launch a sports channel in Europe to meet a growing demand).

On the same principle, ITV may be considering some sort of offer, with a view to showing cricket on ITV2 or the planned ITV3. That, however, may not be entirely acceptable in terms of viewership reach to the ECB officials, for whom boosting cricket's diminishing profile is as important as hard cash.

EKRIUQ

Whoppadee, Whoppadee, Whoppadee, do.

God thats great news can't wait.

celticfc

It'd be great if some Cricket was to return to the BBC after such a long absence, I'm not a huge cricket fan but would watch it if it's on. IIRC though there is some very bad blood between the BBC & the ECB after the ECB kind of f*cked the BBC around the last time the rights came up for discussion.

Would that have much of a bearing on this?

DMC

TIPPTOP wrote:

Whoppadee, Whoppadee, Whoppadee, do.

God thats great news can't wait.

*sigh*

I guess you are apathetic towards cricket, or just plain pathetic. Leave your uneducated shreiks at the door of your house, and dont bring them into the playground, thanks. Ohh, and if you havent guessed, ****other threads are available****

As for celticfc's much more construcive comments, I really hope the BBC get them back, so the last Times article does fill me with hope, as it makes the correct points that Channel 4 lose money and as such are non-plussed with cricket at the moment, so the time is right if the BBC want it. Yes, they were angry with the ECB the last time, and by the sounds of Peter Salmon, the head of BBC Sport, he is either playing a cagey game (which is a good thing in rights negioations) or is just bidding for the sake of it. Also, the architects of the current TV deal at the ECB, former head honchos Lord MacLaurin and Tim Lamb, are gone, so will new ECB management think differently?

But I wont believe anything until the ECB decide... Dunno when that will be, within a couple of months I'd say.

Davey Devil

I don't care where it's on as long as Richie Benaud is doing some commentating/presenting. That guy is a legend.

DMC

Whats clear from this article is Sky's bid, and not so much what Channel 4 or even the BBC want .... but surely less test matches on terrestrial networks would harm the sport more? Remember how Rugby Union and League became so ghettoised on Sky for years?

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/comment/0,7493,1349639,00.html

Sky eye a larger slice of England Tests

Owen Gibson
Friday November 12, 2004
The Guardian

Sky and Channel 4 are poised to share live coverage of England's home Test matches under plans being considered by the recently appointed England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive David Collier.

At present, Channel 4 screen all but one of England's home Tests with Sky broadcasting the other. Sky also show home one-day internationals. Under the new proposal, Channel 4 and Sky will share live coverage of the Tests more equally, resulting in a series on home soil being split between the two broadcasters.

Such an outcome would mean fans having to upgrade to pay TV to follow an entire series, although highlights would be shown by whichever broadcaster did not have live coverage.

Sky is believed to have submitted two bids to the ECB for the next rights contract that runs from 2006 to 2008. One is for exclusive rights to all home Tests, one-day internationals and a planned international version of the successful Twenty20 county format.

The other would see it share coverage with Channel 4. While the ECB would receive more money from an exclusive deal with Sky, topping the £40m a year that the two broadcasters currently pay between them, it is understood to be wary of the implications of cricket disappearing from terrestrial screens.

Altogether, the ECB makes around £50m a year from its rights deals and was hoping that the current strength of the England team and the introduction of more one-day internationals and Twenty20 cricket would lead to a hike in prices. But the dilemma for Collier is that any significant increase is only likely to be achieved by exclusively selling the rights to pay TV.

While Channel 4 loses money on its cricket coverage, its recently appointed chief executive Andy Duncan is thought to be keen to retain some rights. The BBC is understood to have all but dropped out of the bidding.

The likely outcome will see Channel 4 continuing to screen the sport, but showing fewer live Test matches, with Sky screening the remaining Tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 internationals, which would possibly be on a pay-per-view basis.

The process of deciding on the rights deal was held up by the appointment of Collier last month, with no decision expected until early December.

In the continuing absence of a commercial director at the ECB, the auction process is being led by Mark Sibley, senior vice-president at the sports marketing group Octagon. Sibley previously worked at both the ECB and BSkyB.

celticfc

Hmmm, it all seems like a bit of an anti-climax really, eh!

Another blow for terrestrial sports coverage & as the article says, that can't be good for the sport in general.

It's a pity the BBC don't appear to be prepared to make the extra sacrifice & bring some cricket back to its screens.

DMC

Part of me can see why the BBC is like this, celticfc. They felt utterly shafted in 1998 when the ECB went to Sky and Channel 4. 60 years of developing technology and broadcasting the game, and left with absolutely nothing. Its more a case for them, of the ECB coming back to them rather than the BBC go looking. Yes, Channel 4 improved the telecasting of the game, but they make no money on it, nor does it fit easily in their schedule.

It wont go down well if two or three tests go to Sky.... I actually cant see that happening myself. Does that mean that Channel 4 wants to screen less tests? This article really only shows Sky's side of the deal, it doesn't really show what Channel 4 have submitted, nor also has it shown anything the BBC might be considering. The BBC always play a closed hand when negioatating rights, you never hear leaks from their side. But I take anything written by that particular reporter with a pinch of salt.

Yes, I agree the incumbants are in the strongest positions, but I have an inkling that the ECB want more of the county game on FTA TV. I wonder if the BBC would like to broadcast live Twenty20 and National one-day League games, would the ECB look for some sort of a compromise deal with Sky?

mike65

Sigh...the best one can hope for is a real backlash by the English cricket watching public. The ECB love Skys money but they also want an audience and good reputation.

Mike.

DMC

Less for Terrestrial TV.... they wont like this in the shires...

http://www.sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2004/11/18/scfron18.xml&sSheet=/sport/2004/11/18/ixsport.html

New deal squeezes out terrestrial TV
By Sybil Ruscoe

Channel 4 will lose half of their cricket coverage in the new deal being struck between the England and Wales Cricket Board and the television companies.

Sky Sports would get the lion's share of English cricket with terrestrial coverage being confined to six weeks in late summer.

Sky would show the first Test series, the NatWest one-day inter-nationals and all domestic county cricket. Channel 4 would broadcast only the second Test series and lose the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy one-day games, which would mean no county cricket on terrestrial television for the first time. The negotiations cover 2006-2009.

Although Channel 4 would keep the 2009 Ashes series, the Tests against Sri Lanka (2006), the West Indies (2007), Zimbabwe (2008) and New Zealand (2009) would only be on satellite TV. Until now, in a typical summer Channel 4 have shown 11 live matches; under the new deal that would be cut to four or five.

Some counties are unhappy with the reduction of terrestrial coverage. Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon said: "Previous TV deals have emphasised the importance of spreading the cricket gospel and any compromise will reduce mass coverage of the game. I hope this isn't the thin end of the wedge leading to exclusive satellite coverage."

Channel 4's former head of strategy, David Brook, who struck the channel's previous deal, said: "A lot of people look forward to Test cricket on terrestrial TV and they're going to have to wait until July."

The present deal is worth around £50 million a year to the ECB and is likely to remain around that if coverage is shared. However, an exclusive arrangement would net much more. Brook, who now runs a digital TV network, said: "There's still a danger that the ECB could give the whole lot to Sky because there would be a big premium if they did."

In the current negotiations the counties have more power than in previous deals which were overseen by former ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin. Television revenue is a key source of income for the counties and critics fear the decision on rights is being driven by the counties' desire for more money.

Sky would also have all Twenty20 Cup coverage. Brook said: "I understand that the BBC made a perfectly good offer for Twenty20 and it's disappointing that there's going to be no Twenty20 on terrestrial TV. It's designed to get kids interested."

The ECB will announce their decision next month.

DMC

Just as I wrote on a cricket newsgroup about this...

I also understood, that all Test match cricket was part of the listed
sporting events until 1998, when the ECB were then able to convince the
Government to say that 1 Test and only one test, would go to Sky. Cricket
went on the new "B list" of second tier protected sports.

...The former head of the England and Wales Cricket Board comes in....

MacLaurin unhappy with new TV deal
Wisden Cricinfo staff
November 20, 2004

Reports that the ECB is about to agree a new TV deal which would pass more coverage of England's home matches to satellite station BSkyB at the expense of terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 have angered Lord MacLaurin, the former chairman of the board.

MacLaurin said that he gave the government a gentleman's agreement in 1998, while he was chairman, that coverage of Test matches would be kept evenly split between satellite and terrestrial television in return for them dislisting cricket. Until that time, TV coverage of Tests had to be on mainstream television as one of the so-called "crown-jewel" events which include Wimbledon, the Derby and the FA Cup final.

"I spent nine months talking to Chris Smith [the minister responsible] and I did the deal with him at a Test match at Lord's," MacLaurin told the Daily Telegraph. "He agreed on condition that we split coverage equally."

The rumours are that Channel 4's coverage will be downgraded, possibly so they only cover the second series of the summer. With all one-day internationals and domestic matches already the exclusive domain of Sky, that would mean that there would not be any cricket on terrestrial TV until mid July.

MacLaurin has flagged his concerns with David Morgan, his successor at the ECB. "If they change anything radically, they will have to clear it with the Government because Smith would have logged the deal," MacLaurin warned. "It'll be a great shame if we don't see cricket on terrestrial television until at least halfway through the season."

The BBC is the only other broadcaster who was interested in the rights, but they are understood to have withdrawn from the bidding last month.

eoinm1

TIPPTOP wrote:

Whoppadee, Whoppadee, Whoppadee, do.

God thats great news can't wait.

Speaking for myself I have never understood the point of Cricket.
Maybe that is due to my lack of knowledge and understanding of the Sport.
But I also feel the same way towards Golf.
I guess TippTop you, like me, have no understanding of the sport. If that is the case please take time to understand it before you dismiss it.
I would not bother taking the time to understand it but I also won't dismiss it.

Now time to give out about satanta getting the Grand Prix rights.

Eóin

DMC

Indeed, one look at Channel 9's FTA terrestrial coverage will show just how cricket is the number one sport on TV down under.

http://www.sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;sessionid=UG5THEA5EVF2JQFIQMFCM5OAVCBQYJVC?xml=/sport/2004/11/23/scrusc23.xml&sSheet=/sport/2004/11/23/ixsport.html&_requestid=54682

Sell-out to satellite TV would rebound on a greedy ECB
By Sybil Ruscoe
(Filed: 23/11/2004)

Can you imagine walking into a theatre and watching Hamlet from Act 4, or playing only side two of The Beatles' Sgt Pepper? That's the kind of madness the England and Wales Cricket Board are planning to inflict on England fans in their greed for cash.

The Daily Telegraph revealed exclusively last week that, from 2006, there will be no live cricket on terrestrial television until mid-July. Channel 4's live coverage will be cut by half and they will be left with just the second Test series of the summer, at best just 25 days of cricket out of five months of the season. Sky Sports will have everything else - the first Test of the summer, one-day internationals, domestic and international Twenty20 and all county action.

The leaking of information about the deal has infuriated the leader of the ECB's negotiating team, Somerset chairman Giles Clarke. He refused to comment on the details obtained by The Daily Telegraph but offered this terse statement: "The ECB have an open tender process which they are carrying out for their TV, radio and new media rights. Those processes are ongoing. No decisions have been reached."

Lord MacLaurin, the former ECB chairman, has claimed that giving Sky the lion's share of coverage would break a gentleman's agreement he made in 1998 with the then Culture Secretary, Chris Smith. To reap more revenue from cricket's TV rights, MacLaurin persuaded Smith to move cricket from the 'Crown Jewels' A-list to the B-list, opening the way for Test matches to be sold to satellite TV. In return, MacLaurin promised Smith that coverage would be shared equally.

Smith, now a Labour backbencher, said: "At the time we encouraged the ECB to keep as much on terrestrial as possible. We expressed the hope that while opening it up to competition, it would nonetheless go substantially to terrestrial television so everyone could see it."

Clarke refused to comment on the Smith-MacLaurin pact and insisted the board were conducting negotiations within broadcasting rules: "The ECB are following the legislation and the legislative requirements laid down by Parliament and, in certain areas, by the European Union." The broadcast deal for 2006-09 will be more complex than in the past and include lucrative internet and mobile phone rights. Clarke said the complexity of negotiations could delay a final decision until February.

Whenever it is struck, it will be a multi-million pound deal. The previous three-year contract was worth £147 million and some analysts believed the ECB were lucky to get that much. The counties get £1.3 million every year from ECB, so there is great motivation to drive a hard bargain. More money from TV means more money for the counties. One source claimed Clarke was determined to secure a "big trophy" by signing the biggest TV deal in English cricket.

Clarke said: "As it's not just me, but a variety of people who will review the final positions that we reach, I don't see it as having anything to do with any individual's personality whatsoever."

The hunger for cash has priced terrestrial TV out of the market. Channel 4 were thwarted when they realised the ECB had put what amounted to a £3 million price tag on each Test match. The channel still wanted to be the Test match channel, but £21 million per year for all the summer Test matches was beyond their budget and they could bid only for the four or five Tests in the latter half of the season.

At one meeting, a Channel 4 executive was apparently told that they needed cricket more than cricket needed Channel 4 - a dangerously arrogant stance to take. Cricket would do well to remember what happened to other sports which sold out to satellite television. Remember boxing, that once popular sport we used to watch on ITV and BBC Sports-night? Here are some ratings statistics to ponder. Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn on ITV - audience: 10 million. Frank Bruno v Mike Tyson on Sky: 600,000. England Five Nations rugby, as it was then, also lost is mass appeal on Sky and did not waste much time returning to the BBC. Channel 4's typical audience for a Test match is around a million, rising to three million if England are doing well. Average audiences for Tests on the BBC in 1997-98 were between 1.7 and 1.9 million. Sky refused to reveal their Test viewing figures.

In Australia, all home Tests and one-day internationals are broadcast on free-to-air TV and many believe that has fuelled the game's popularity.

Tony Greig, the former England captain who commentates for Channel 9 in Australia, believes the ECB's broadcasting policy is flawed: "There is little doubt in my mind if free-to-air television doesn't cover all the Tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches in England, it is only a question of time before interest in cricket starts to fade. The cornerstone of Australia's success is the partnership Cricket Australia has with free-to-air television. At the expense of a few extra bucks for the counties, the ECB should ensure that free-to-air have live coverage of Tests and one-day internationals."

What is not in dispute is Sky's ability to cover cricket. The company have led the way in creativity and Sky were first to broadcast regular live pictures of England's overseas tours. More cricket would be good business for Sky and the plain economic fact is that if Sky want something they have the money to pay for it. Until now, Premiership football has driven the satellite market, but sales of dishes have slowed and cricket could attract more subscribers.

Around 7.4 million homes in Britain have satellite TV, but Sky's prices are still beyond some people's pockets. Sports packages, including cricket, cost between £26.50 and £33 a month, with pay-per-view games costing an extra £6 to £7. Cricket clubs wanting Sky in the clubhouse have to pay the yearly business rate of £2,735.40.

Paul Wojda, chairman of Whitchurch, a thriving cricket club who host the Shropshire versus Hampshire C&G Trophy fixture in May, said: "It's a hard job promoting cricket and it's short-sighted of the ECB to cut terrestrial coverage. We can't afford to pay for Sky at our club, and how are we going to explain to the kids that there's no cricket on their ordinary telly until July?"

With the success of the England team the ECB now have a more valuable product, and the board clearly have a responsibility to safeguard revenue from TV rights. But they also have a greater responsibility to protect the future of the game. That should not be compromised for short-term financial gain. Cricket, despite football's incursion, is the nation's summer sport and fans shouldn't have to wait until summer is nearly over to watch it on terrestrial TV.

It is probably too late to prick the conscience of cricket's money-grabbing decision-makers, but cricket risks paying a very high price if it sells out to satellite.

OAilpin

Check out www.kuduclub.com

DMC

Looks like a decision will be made this morning....

Cricket chiefs to reveal TV deal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4097137.stm

The England and Wales Cricket Board is set to announce a new TV rights deal covering the period from 2006-2009.

Details of the new agreement for all international and domestic cricket will be made public at Lord's at 1130 GMT.

There are fears that it could result in home Test matches disappearing from terrestrial TV for the first time.

BSkyB is believed to have offered £60m for exclusivity, but the ECB has been under pressure to ensure some coverage remains for terrestrial TV viewers.

Former chairman Lord MacLaurin said: "I hope that the ECB management are sensible and look at the long-term future of the game.

"I hope they balance it between satellite and terrestrial."

Channel 4 has screened England's home Test matches since 1999 when they ended the BBC's 61-year tenure.

Extending that agreement could cost the ECB as much as £20m, according to reports.

The 18 county clubs, meanwhile, have mixed feelings about the issue as the ECB's decision has a major impact on thei funding.

"As far as I am concerned, the more coverage there is on TV, in terms of hours, the better," said Worcestershire chief executive Mark Newton.

"Satellite television is watched more by younger people than older generations and it is now in six million homes, I believe, which is a sizeable audience.

"It is just getting them interested in the first place and that is being solved by the success of Twenty20 [cricket].

"So, with all things considered, I would go for the one with the greater income."

Sussex counterpart Hugh Griffiths believes, however, that the game's priority should be to attract the widest possible audience.

"Test matches on television are a hugely important shop window to attract a big audience into cricket.

"The more people that can watch, and that means terrestrial, the more people will come."

The ECB management board has been considering recommendations from its Marketing Advisory Committee, headed by Somerset chairman Giles Clarke.

Earlier this year, he promised they would consider the issue with an "open mind", but added: "This is the most valuable sporting property being offered in the television market in the UK this year."

DMC

Worst case scenario...


10.50am: Channel 4 has lost Test cricket rights. The England and Wales Cricket Board has awarded the contract to Sky in a four-year deal worth more than £200m. More follows...

mike65

Idiots. They will find come 2010 the games profile is nowhere as high as it is now thanks to selling out.

Mike.

DMC

Indeed. There is going to be uproar...

The deal has yet to be announced publicly... I await the full details...

DMC

Sky get all the internationals! And five get the highlights! FFS!

mike65

Outline details

SKY exclusive TV rights to all domestic cricket

Channel 5 have something (missed it)

BBC radio exclusive rights to domestic tests

Talksport have 20/20

ECB broadband rights

Mike.

DMC

five have all highlights to international games and will show them in prime time (ECB say 7:15-8:00pm) it will be unable to show day-night internationals in that slot.

DMC

The full press release...

ECB signs TV rights broadcast package for 2006-2009 with Sky Sports and Five

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/media-releases/sky-sports-get-exclusive-right-to-broadcast-live-coverage.html

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today announced agreements with Sky Sports and Five to provide television coverage of international and county cricket in England and Wales for the period 2006-2009.

Sky Sports has gained the exclusive right to broadcast live coverage of all international and domestic cricket in England and Wales. Within international cricket, this means Sky Sports will cover all seven home npower Test Matches as well as a minimum of 10 NatWest Series games and all International Twenty20 matches per season. It also covers the right to broadcast women’s international cricket. Within domestic cricket, Sky Sports will cover a minimum of 31 totesport League and Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy fixtures, 14 Twenty20 Cup games and two Frizzell County Championship matches per season.

The deal will lead to more consistent scheduling of npower Test Matches from 2006 with each day's play starting at the traditional time of 11.00am. The Sky Sports deal will also guarantee live coverage of every ball of every Test Match in each season.

BSkyB has committed to extensive support programming to help ECB market cricket across cable and satellite. It will also make specific offers to county members and ECB affiliated cricket clubs for the installation of satellite dishes and for subsidised subscription fees.

Five has gained the rights to broadcast highlights of each day's play of npower Test Matches and NatWest One-Day International cricket. Highlights from daytime cricket will be broadcast on prime-time television from 7.15pm-8.00pm, while highlights from day-night cricket will be broadcast later that night.

David Morgan, ECB Chairman, said, "The media landscape is changing fast with cable and satellite now an established and growing part of British mainstream life. Sky Sports, with its continually expanding subscriber base, has shown unrivalled commitment to cricket over the years and we look forward to many more years of outstanding support. The television deal we have struck has guaranteed uninterrupted ball-by-ball coverage of all international cricket coverage which will not be restricted by other scheduling pressures.

"We understand that the decision to place all live cricket coverage on satellite and cable television is an emotive issue for some people. In our negotiations, we realised the considerable challenges which face some broadcasters in the live scheduling of our sport. We were also keen to maximize cricket's audience to cater for the many millions of cricket followers who cannot, or choose not to, watch ball-by-ball coverage of Test cricket during the day.

"We have made an agreement that will offer the highlights package to a peaktime audience. Five will broadcast highlights from 7.15-8.00pm, a time which is the most popular slot for TV viewing for children and a time when an average of 21m people watch television - this compares with 5-11m average viewers during 11am-5pm. We are excited about developing our relationship with Five and welcome them as a new broadcast partner to cricket.

"A strong financial base for the game is essential to its future progress. The bids we accepted allow us to invest even more in the development of the England team and grass roots cricket. Other proposals included live coverage of some international cricket on terrestrial TV but, if accepted, they would have resulted in a significant financial shortfall for the game and it was decided that this was not in the best interest of the sport.

"This is a very good deal for cricket as it guarantees wide accessibility to watch or listen to the action and secures the future development of the game from playground to Test arena."

Five's Controller of Sport, Robert Charles, said: "I'm delighted that Five is going to be bringing the country's cricket fans prime-time highlights of England's matches.

"This is the most exciting England team for decades and by showing highlights in an early evening slot, so soon after the close of play, we'll be giving fans an almost immediate opportunity to enjoy that day's play.

"Screening highlights at this time also means younger viewers, who are critical to the future health and prosperity of the game, will be able to watch the programmes too."

Vic Wakeling, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said, "Sky has been broadcasting live cricket from around the world since England's winter tour to the West Indies in 1989/1990. We have screened every winter of cricket played by England during that period, and have devoted an unparalleled level of coverage to the sport. We are delighted to be able to make this extra commitment to the English game at all levels.

"The past two summers have seen a huge surge in interest in cricket. The success of the England team has been crucial, but a new, younger audience has been attracted to the game thanks to some key initiatives, including the introduction of Twenty20 cricket and the spread of floodlit league matches. Sky Sports has covered action from these events live, and we have promised the ECB that we shall continue to develop live coverage and other programming which will entertain and inform Test fans of the future.

"Our audience continues to grow with 60 per cent of under 25s now living in a Pay TV home, plus over 40,000 pubs and clubs subscribers too. Sky's technology is amongst the best in the business, and our current commentary team includes four players who have captained England, plus a former England coach. We believe we can continue to bring top-class coverage of every Test match delivery to all cricket fans, old and new."

DMC

And the Radio release....

BBC retains exclusive radio rights for home internationals

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/media-releases/tms-future-secured-for-bbc-for-2006-09.html

The ECB today announced that BBC Radio has retained the exclusive radio commentary rights to all home international cricket in a four year deal covering the 2006-2009 seasons.

This secures the future of BBC Radio 4's Test Match Special programme after the 2005 season and extends cricket's close relationship with BBC Radio Five Live.

BBC Radio has also been awarded the non-exclusive rights to cover domestic cricket and it will provide commentary on the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy and the Twenty20 Cup.

In addition, The Wireless Group, which owns TalkSPORT Radio, has also been awarded the non-exclusive rights to the domestic Twenty20 Cup competition, thus becoming the first commercial radio station to be given the broadcast rights to live domestic cricket.

David Morgan, ECB Chairman, said, "I am delighted to have renewed our deal with BBC Radio, which has been such an excellent partner for cricket over the years. BBC Radio has a huge audience reach and, in addition to TMS on Radio Four, is able to promote the game on Radio Five Live, on Radio One and on BBC local radio.

"We also welcome TalkSport as a partner for the Twenty20 Cup. They have provided high quality live cricket commentary in the past and we look forward to working with them to promote the Twenty20 Cup to an even wider audience in the future."

Peter Salmon, Director BBC Sport, said: "With the England team on top form we are pleased to provide listeners with the most comprehensive radio coverage on Test Match Special".

Mike Franklin, Managing Director, TalkSPORT said: "The Twenty20 Cup competition has caught the public's imagination and brought in a new audience to cricket. talkSPORT's distinctive cricket coverage fits well with the excitement of the Twenty20 format and will appeal to talkSPORT listeners.

"For international cricket talkSPORT will continue to provide a comprehensive update report service for all England games and we remind all cricket lovers that our distinctive ball-by-ball coverage of England's current tour to South Africa starts this Friday."

mike65

Thank goodness for steam radio. I'm sure this will come back to haunt them there's no point in having all the money and an audience which numbers maybe a 1-1.5 million when terestrial will give them 4 times that without effort. The Beeb can take some of the blame though, they spent less on sports rights last year than in 2002 and I suspect thats continued.

Mike.

DMC

As I said earlier in the thread... Remember how Rugby Union and League became so ghettoised on Sky for years?

Indeed for radio. Ever since the BBC lost out 6 years ago, I have listened to Test Match Special more.

But, just heard, the BIG caveat for the ECB is that cricket clubs will get subsidized Sky subscriptions and they wont have to pay full Sky pub/commercial subs.

And at the bottom of this page

Channel 4 today accused the ECB of "turning its back" on hours of terrestrial television coverage.

"Channel 4 made a full and substantial offer to try to retain the live rights to test cricket and to ensure that fans would still be able to watch the England cricket team free of charge. We were bidding as much per game this time as under the terms of the last deal, but we've still been substantially outbid by Sky," said a spokesman for the broadcaster.

"We've lost several million pounds a year on our cricket coverage ever since we took over televising the sport in 1999 and we simply couldn't afford to take an even bigger financial hit. While we're immensely proud of our coverage and are disappointed to be losing cricket from our schedules, we'll be able to reinvest the millions we're currently spending on the sport in other forms of programming.

"We hope the ECB does not come to regret its decision to turn its back on the hundreds of hours of terrestrial exposure that Channel 4 was offering."

DMC

Just to add to Mike's comment on the BBC... the BBC themselves know that they have overspent on football, espically on Match of the Day, FA Cup and England internationals.
The BBC still feel sore about 1998. Channel 4 now know how this feels, but less so.

celticfc

Very dissapointing news indeed, this can only damage the sport.

Mossy Monk

indeed, i cant but help feel that they have ****ed up on this one

mike65

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/h2cluster2/h2.cgi?thread=%3C1103111738-25368.46%40forum5.thdo.bbc.co.uk%3E&find=%3C1103111738-25368.46%40forum5.thdo.bbc.co.uk%3E&board=tms.england&sort=Te

the Shires speak out!

Mike.

The Westerner

This deal is not very good for cricket fans in the south of Ireland. Most peoples first reaction would be: live coverage on sky, ahh! i'll get the freebie highlights later. Er, no you won't, they have gone to Channel Five, a channel unavailable to most unless you live very near the border. Possible solutions? A digibox with one of those UK FTV cards mentioned in other threads maybe?

DMC

As the cricket board was not setup at the time, here is a copy of the thread on ICDG Broadcasting during the run up to and conclusion of the last ECB TV rights negioations.

DMC

BSkyB England Test deal approved

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4296941.stm

BSkyB's four-year contract to cover England's home Test matches live from 2006 has been given the go-ahead.

The deal was struck with the England and Wales Cricket Board in December but was delayed after complaints to Ofcom.

But the broadcasting regulator says objections about a lack of live Tests on terrestrial TV are a matter for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Because DCMS put cricket on the Group B list of sports, only highlights or delayed coverage are protected.

A statement on the Ofcom website said "several individuals" had complained about the fact that live coverage will no longer be available to free-to-air terrestrial television.

Channel 4 has screened England's home Test matches since 1999, when it ended the BBC's 61-year tenure, but it will now be replaced by Five as as cricket's sole terrestrial broadcaster.

As part of the new deal, highlights of each day's play in the Tests will be screened on Five from 7.15-8.00pm.

BSkyB's package also covers one-day, Twenty20 and women's internationals, as well as county cricket.

The BBC has retained the exclusive rights for radio coverage of home Tests and one-day internationals.

It will also have non-exclusive rights to cover the C&G Trophy and Twenty20 Cup - the latter shared with the Wireless Group, which owns Talksport Radio.

---

# Test series covered by the new contract:
# 2006 v Sri Lanka and Pakistan
# 2007 v West Indies and India
# 2008 v Zimbabwe and South Africa
# 2009 v New Zealand and Australia

---

ENGLAND'S TV DEALS
The ECB's decision will cause controversy
1938-1998: Exclusive coverage on BBC
1999-2001: Joint deal between Channel 4 and BSkyB worth £103m
2002-2005: Channel 4 and BSkyB deal extended for £150m
2006-2009: Exclusive live coverage on Sky; daily highlights on Five

The Rooster

I suppose the UK govt could put test cricket back on the A list and force test matches to be on terrestrial - like the Irish govt did when the FAI signed up with Sky.

Obviously people who dont subscirbe to Sky Sports will be upset at this decision - but I have my doubts as to whether it will negatively affect cricket in the medium to long term.

Sky have to be given credit for bringing more cricket to our televisions than ever before:
- Full live coverage of all tests and 1 day internationals that England play overseas. Very rare that you'd see this on terrestrial.You'd be lucky to get a half an hour's highlights, usually starting at 11.30pm - so much for the kids!
- Full test coverage of many tests not involving England - even highlights of these were unheard of terrestial tv.

If Sky are putting resources into bringing all this cricket to the UK/Ireland viewer, and are willing to give the ECB a bucket of gold for the "crown jewels", i.e. home tests, then I dont see why they dont deserve it.

Some people mentioned - look at rugby league, it's died a death since it went to Sky. In my view there are a number of reasons why rugby league's popularity appears to have diminished from say 10/15 years ago.

1. Sky Sports
Maybe it has had some effect, but IMO its the least relevant of all the points I'll mention here. Sky do a good job on RL - Hemmings and Stevo are as enthusiatic a commentary team as you'd ever see.

2. Rugby Union
a - rule changes
Because of numerous rule changes, rugby union is a far more exciting to watch sport now that years ago. IMO (and many others I know) it has undoubtedly passed out RL in terms of entertainment. Proper scrums, proper lineouts, rucks, mauls, exciting back play, being able to kick pens to the corner and still have the throw. No doubt that 10/15 years ago RL was the best to watch, but now the run-tackle-backheel-run-tackle-backheel justs seems monontonous compared to RU.
b - professionalism
RU tends to be run very well now, and most importantly there is never any cases of top RU stars transferring to RL. Players only move in the oppositve direction now.

3. Soccer
Soccer of course only benefited from Sky. The Premiership and Champions League are at unprecedented levels of popularity. The competiton (RL north of London) is losing badly.

So to conclude I think the demise of RL is a lot more down to the success of its competitors than it being on Sky. As a product RL is a distance behind soccer and RU. So personally I think its wrong to say cricket will follow the path of RL, just like it'd be wrong to say "Fantastic cricket is gone to Sky. Look what it did to soccer - made it more popular than its ever been". Sky have shown a committment to cricket. They deserve the chance. Clubs will get more money, and that can only help them in their cause have the facilities to attract more kids in summer.

DMC

But what was going for Soccer and RU, was that they still had some outlet on terrestrial, albeit FA Cup and some Champions League games, not all the 6 nations at the time etc. RL cut their viewing time on the BBC to about 6 games per season for the Challenge Cup. It was only in later years that the Super League gained a highlights show, on Sunday mornings in the North of England on BBC2.

The English RFU sold all games to Sky Sports at one point, and it backfired on them. Now the 6 nations are available again on FTA TV.

No one is doubting Sky's commitment to cricket, I'm a long term subscriber to the channel and I like their coverage (even though their commentators aren't the most enthusiastic and the moany bunch you'll hear!) But I would prefer that tests remain on a terrestrial station, and not be restricted to those who can afford Sky's premium. For everything bar token highlights to be the preserve of pay-TV is wrong.

DMC

Are the ECB beginning to regret?

BBC urged to join bidding
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/03/02/scnews02.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/03/03/ixcrick.html

By Sybil Ruscoe
(Filed: 02/03/2005)

The England and Wales Cricket Board have met the BBC in an attempt to persuade the corporation to resume broadcasting live cricket on television.

With the ink barely dry on the new television deal with BSkyB, the new ECB chief executive, David Collier, is already courting BBC Sport, four years before the next television deal is due to be negotiated. He held high-level talks with the BBC's director of sport, Peter Salmon, at Television Centre yesterday.

Details of the meeting were leaked to The Daily Telegraph by the fans' campaign group, Save Cricket, who are planning black armband protests against the ECB's sell-off to satellite television at this summer's Test matches.

Save Cricket, based at Norton Cricket Club on Teesside, wrote to the ECB demanding that officials lobby terrestrial television companies ahead of the next round of rights negotiations. Collier responded by email on Saturday: "I am personally meeting the BBC this week and we are most anxious to encourage terrestrial broadcasters to bid for rights when the next broadcasting deal becomes available," he wrote.

Save Cricket organiser Rhys Jenkins said: "The ECB are starting to realise just how annoyed people are and they're feeling guilty about their deal with Sky. It's obvious that they're worried about their exclusive deal with satellite television. They're already looking at the next deal and trying to get the BBC interested."

But yesterday the ECB backtracked, describing the meeting as "routine".

The ECB's controversial deal with BskyB, first revealed in The Daily Telegraph in November, saw all Test matches, Twenty20, one-day internationals and county cricket sold off to Sky Sports from 2006. C4, the rights holders since 1999, were left with no cricket at all after the rights for Test highlights were sold to Channel Five.

It is understood that the BBC did not table a bid, even though ECB officials were keen to see some cricket return to BBC television.

Yesterday a BBC spokeswoman refused to confirm they had met the ECB. "We have no comment," she said. But sources within BBC Sport said it was too soon for the corporation to make programming and scheduling decisions about broadcasting rights which would not be available until 2010.

John Grogan, the Labour MP for Selby and a Yorkshire member who is campaigning forTest cricket to be returned to the Alist of sports events which must be broadcast on terrestrial television, said: "The ECB should have been courting the BBC a year ago and the BBC should stop sulking about cricket and bid for the rights. They've both got to see the error of their ways."

DMC

I think the ECB definitely know that Sky are the only game in town...

ECB wants active TV rights market
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/5181422.stm

The England and Wales Cricket Board has encouraged terrestrial broadcasters to "bid aggressively" for TV rights when they next come up for grabs.

BSkyB holds exclusive rights for live coverage of all England's home games from now until 2009.

But MP John Grogan recently claimed only 200,000 were watching.

ECB chief executive David Collier told BBC Test Match Special: "We're seeing larger numbers than that... it's very misleading to take snapshot data."

Collier insisted the ECB was satisfied with TV audiences, both for Sky and for the nightly Test match highlights programme on Five.

"The broadcasters we've partnered with have done a superb job this year - have taken the game forward," Collier commented.

And he said he hoped broadcasters who did not bid for the rights last time would now view it as a mistake on their part.

"Clearly what we do want is to have a very thriving television market.

"We've tried to develop that, we've worked very hard with all of the broadcasters to develop that, and I think what you're seeing now is the television market emerging.

"From where we were a few years ago with a satellite market very much in its infancy, you're now seeing that getting to a much more mature state.

"You've only got to look at the Premier League with football and other broadcasters coming into the mix and I'm sure we'll see the same with cricket."

The decision to award live rights to Sky was taken before last summer's Ashes series against Australia when Channel 4's coverage attracted audiences of up to 9m.

The BBC, which screened England Tests from 1938 to 1998, opted not to bid, although it retained live radio coverage rights.

Following England's win in the Ashes series, a group MPs stepped up their campaign to have Test cricket put back on free to air television.

And in a report published in February, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee accused the ECB of breaking a "gentleman's agreement" dating back to 1998 to keep Tests on terrestrial TV.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said, however, that the government had "no remit to intervene" because cricket was not on the A list of sports events which are guaranteed free to air coverage.

His interview on TMS is here