posted Aug 7, 2008

Googly

I fear you will have to 'get on board' with Sky or miss the bus on this
Sky coverage is excellent I have to say

Especially in HD...yes I know £££££££ it is all money money, but what isn't ?

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posted Aug 7, 2008

< As far as I can see, Cricket will probably never be free-to-air again. So my rantings are pretty much futile. >

Got to agree, fear_my_googly:

< http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-1041975/BBC-hits-ECB-broadcast-rights-Sky-seals-deal.html >

The ECB is greedy and disingenuous - but it's also now clear that the BBC despise what's left of the cricket. I hold my hand up and admit that I was naive. But I don't regret defending the Beeb.

Only re-enlistment on the sporting 'A' list will put cricket on terrestrial TV or DTTV now, and the Government won't confront News International on this matter.

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posted Aug 7, 2008

"The ECB is greedy and disingenuous"

I wish I had said that - you sum it up perfectly!

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posted Aug 7, 2008

I wish I didn't have to say it, msredsock - and what a cracking day's play so far!!!

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posted Aug 7, 2008

I have to agree, I do quite enjoy listening to Bumble. But the voice of cricket for me is one Richie Benaud, he's so easy to listen to and is full of interesting anecdotes.

Maybe one day I will give in and pay for live cricket, but for now, at least, the BBC live text has people that seem to show a genuine interest in the game. Although I doubt they have the pedigree of Richie!

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posted Aug 7, 2008

More cricket fans will give into Sky's blackmailing and order Sky - especially for the Ashes next year.

But the fact is, around 90% less people are watching Test cricket on Sky than they did on free to air, so Test cricket - and cricket in general - will be harmed because less people will become new fans of the game. Good luck to Giles Clarke who can administrate a bigger and richer ECB - but less people will be interested in cricket.

I wonder if there will be a backlash next year when people realise that few people are watching the Ashes?

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posted Aug 7, 2008

Hey fear_my_googly...

I'm really sorry but I've got to disagree with you about C4's coverage being excellent.

They got tests to start at 10.30am so as to not upset Hollyoaks viewers, they frequently went to a horse race in the middle of the action and Mark Nicolas hacked everyone off with his bizzare commentating.

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posted Aug 8, 2008

Dodger

10 30 start was good idea - gives another 30 mins to play with a the end of play if req'd for light & rain

Hollyoaks is truly awful & needs putting down now

Horse racing - agree poor substitute & unacceptable to interupt cricket for

Mark NicholasI (& many others judging by what ive seen on threads) think he is an excellent anchor for cricket.

Sky should snap him up IMO

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posted Aug 8, 2008

This isnt rocket science:

The majority of households now have a digital tv platform. Why dont Sky Sports decode 2 of next summer's test matches?

This gets round the "scheduling issues".
No more excuses ECB. The time has come to save cricket not top up your pensions.

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posted Aug 24, 2008

An interesting idea msredsock and it would be very public spirited of Sky Sports to make 2 tests next year available to non paying viewers.

Sky Sports aren't public spirited though but are instead a profit making company who paid a lot of money to broadcast live cricket and, I assume would like to get a return on that investment.

This will never get any better than it is now people. The next step, assuming they are not already considering pay per view (which is likely for next year's Twenty20) is that we will start to see channels specialise in certain sports.

This I would view as a good move because Sky's subscription cost is over inflated due to Football coverage.

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