No Ashes coverage on terrestrial TV

Let’s discuss a story which first emerged towards the end of last week: the very real prospect that this winter there will be no Ashes highlights programmes anywhere on UK terrestrial television.

Sky Sports always have the exclusive live rights (although it’s unclear why no one else bothers bidding for them), but the usual state of affairs is that either ITV or, more traditionally, the BBC, transmit a daily thirty minute highlights show, with the coverage and commentary taken from Australia’s Channel Nine.

Even though these programmes don’t air until the next day’s play is about to begin, they still provide a precious opportunity for people who can’t afford Sky to see the core of the action – the wickets, the boundaries, the key moments, and the controversies.

But not this winter, by the look of things. As the Daily Telegraph reported last Thursday, there is as yet no arrangement in place for terrestrial coverage. One major factor is that in the past Cricket Australia have sold the UK highlights rights directly to the TV channels. But the deal has changed, and now, for this series, those rights belong to Sky, along with their live coverage rights. In other words, it’s up to Sky whether or not to sell on a highlights package to a rival broadcaster.

You have to wonder whether Sky will actually be prepared to do so. They might well calculate that from a commercial point of view their exclusivity is of greater value than the revenue they’d make by selling the coverage.

Why did Cricket Australia agree to change the terms? By empowering Sky in this way, they’ve probably sold the English public down the river. On the face of it, the Aussie administrators have no obligations to us – but in another sense, they very much do. England and Australia may be fierce rivals on the field, when it comes to both the concept and staging of the Ashes, the two nations are not just partners but members of the same family.

The Ashes mean nothing without the passionate engagement of supporters from both countries – any by that logic, Cricket Australia are duty bound to give some consideration to access to the series for the UK public. By the same token, I would personally much prefer the ECB to sell our rights cheaply to a mass Australian broadcaster than expensively to a niche one.

But even if Sky will play ball, there’s much doubt over whether they’ll have anyone to sell the rights to. According to the Telegraph, “[ITV] have indicated they are not bidding at this stage while the BBC are thought not to be interested”. If this is true – about the BBC – then it’s a genuine outrage. How could the BBC not be interested in the Ashes? Can they not find time for 25 thirty-minute programmes on any of their many channels? And with all the millions they throw at stupid sports like Formula One, how could they not spare a few quid for the most important event in cricket, itself one of Britain’s major sports.

As the Telegraph also point out, there is still time for  deal to be made before the first test, and the BBC could still ride to the rescue after all. But my instinct says this will not happen, which would not only be a terrible shame, but a betrayal of the hundreds of thousands of English cricket supporters who cannot afford Sky. What a pity it is that, on all available evidence, neither our state broadcaster nor any of the people who run cricket seem to care about them.