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Channel 4 losing test cricket

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smoker said:
Bang on.

Sporting events of national significance should be live on free to air channels, simple as.

Murdoch would buy up air and sell it back to us, if he thought he could get away with it.
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Isn't their a grade A list of events that must be shown on terrestrial tv. Such as the grand national, the open golf, fa cup final etc. Home test matches should be on that list.
 

Scotty 1978 said:
Isn't their a grade A list of events that must be shown on terrestrial tv. Such as the grand national, the open golf, fa cup final etc. Home test matches should be on that list.
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Wimbledon, the Snooker World championships and Silverstone as well. Plus the Rugby world cup. Not one cricket event is amongst the free to air list of sports. Shocking considering its our national summer sport
 
Scotty 1978 said:
Isn't their a grade A list of events that must be shown on terrestrial tv. Such as the grand national, the open golf, fa cup final etc. Home test matches should be on that list.
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Ashes tests maybe.

I really don't see why a test against Bangladesh from the Rose Bowl should be considered a national sporting jewel :lol:
 
Scotty 1978 said:
Isn't their a grade A list of events that must be shown on terrestrial tv. Such as the grand national, the open golf, fa cup final etc. Home test matches should be on that list.
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My concern would be funding for the game if it were a listed terrestrial event. Counties rely on England TV money to survive, money which they'll use to develop young talent, update stadia etc which all improves the game.

If we had cricket on terrestrial TV and all that stopped we'd be back to the
1990s of England losing all the time and people would get fed up and stop viewing anyway.

IMO, we have the right balance at the moment.
 
Scotty 1978 said:
All home Test matches should be shown on free to air television imo. It should be protected like wimbledon, Fa cup final etc. I am not a scratter therefore I can afford sky. But there will be a lot missing out on the test matches because they can't afford sky and have to make do with a hour highlights and TMS.
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Tidied
 
It's a shame it isn't on terrestrial for more people to watch.

But sky's coverage is top notch.
 
Picking up on a point from an earlier post, why are we paying such high subscription pays and having to ensure so many adverts ffs
 
Sky have taken it to a new level this year - not just the plethora of former England captains (for all those who find Strauss a bore, he was the England captain this time last year, and had he chosen to, would still be England captain therefore has an unrivaled insight into the inner workings of the team and the dressing room) but the analysis and coverage is second to none. Gone are the days where the afternoon session would be shared with racing from kempton and tennis from Wimbledon. That said, digital TV has changed the goalposts somewhat....
 
Its obvious.

The ECB would have had huge publicity had this been on the BBC, but as you say most people don't have SKY and are not watching it. It should be a national triumph as our summer sport comes good against its biggest rivals, but I assume many are watching the golf and the Cycling instead.

Its not 2005 mind as this is not very competitive. I fully Expect England to win at least 2 more of the remaining three tests.
 
One thing to consider though is that by guaranteeing this be free to air, it massively limits the money the ECB can make in selling the rights. This would filter right down to the grass roots and could potentially do more harm than good.

I also don't buy this argument that it not being free to air directly causes fewer kids to get involved. My local club has more kids than ever turning up to training on a Friday night and the vast majority of them come from households where satellite TV is not an option! If you have people in your club spreading the word in schools/local youth clubs etc. you will get the numbers.
 
Andy Reids Love Chil said:
It was the right thing to do in the long run IMO. Channel 4 did a lot for cricket but neither them nor the BBC would be able to compete with Sky's coverage now. They simply couldn't provide the experts and the extensive technology that Sky do nowadays.
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By denying it to the masses? How does that work? Ch4's coverage was more than adaquate imo.
 
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