Roar Rookie
Joined June 2020
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I have been a staunch defender of cricket’s one-day international (ODI) format for many years.
Recently, we received the news that amid a time of major upheaval for cricket in Australia, Cricket Australia and BBL bosses have decided to…
As COVID-19 keeps wreaking havoc worldwide, putting entire countries under severe economic and healthcare stress, it has also brought much of the sporting world…
Thanks Bob. Glad that you enjoyed it & learnt something from it. We as fans, need to be on CA’s back constantly. They better not put more games behind a paywall. ECB’s experience with Sky should act as a deterrent.
As regards to the ECB, it was Giles Clarke who was primarily responsible for making English cricket go behind a paywall. He was also one of the primary architects of the BIG 3 takeover in 2014. A thoroughly short sighted, greedy and detestable man. It seems incredible that the 2019 World Cup Final was the only live free to air cricket game shown in the UK in 14 years! Highlights packages on BBC or C4 at odd times, just don’t cut it.
Investigating cricket’s broadcast conundrum
Thanks Marcus. I think that CA did a disservice by putting ODI cricket & T20 cricket behind a paywall. Well, still at least the Tests, some Big Bash games & Aussie World Cup games remain on FTA, so I guess that we have to be grateful for that. But we would have to fight hard to maintain this. CA better not make cricket disappear altogether from FTA.
Investigating cricket’s broadcast conundrum
Thanks for your feedback and the comment mate!
Agree that COVID-19 has seriously complicated things for a lot of boards financially. However, in both ECB & CA’s case, the damage seems to be self-inflicted. ECB blew their cash reserves on “The Hundred” precisely because they are concerned about falling cricket participation in UK, due to lack of FTA coverage. CA made the boneheaded decision to put their savings into the stock market.
What im trying to argue in the article is that while pay tv cash seems important now to manage the crisis, it will be a short sighted decision with serious adverse consequences later on.
In any case, I understand that finances are finite. That is why I proposed a hybrid (FTA, Pay TV & Streaming) model for established cricket nations. So you get some cash from subscription providers, but you also maintain some form of FTA mainstream coverage for cricket. ECB’s decision to put every cricket game behind a paywall has been disastrous; so other boards simply cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes!
Investigating cricket’s broadcast conundrum