Sky’s monopoly on Cricket – The Long Term Effects! (Plus general comments on Skys Cov

[Langeveldt]

Our maid at the flying club in SA regularly watches the cricket on totally free to air SABC.. She has no money at all, and lives in the location in Walmer, but she loves cricket and we regularly talk about it over a drink.. She is a Xhosa, like Makhaya Ntini

My point? I don't think I need to explain the benifits of not having to pay to watch cricket.. But it helps if numerous people watch it

 

[social]

The Aus gov't, in one of the few correct decisions they've made, has legilslated that certain sports/events must be shown on free-to-air in the national interest. Fortunately, test cricket played on Aus soil is one of these.

As a result, potential exposure is huge and the game is always at the forefront of public consciousness.

As for LE's point that no terrestial channel even submitted a bi, the only explanation could be that they couldnt be bothered preparing an offer when they knew that they'd be outbid.

In Aus, cricket coverage is a goldmine - cheap production costs and new material every day.

Cant help but thinking that Sky's monopoly could potentially undo much of the good work achieved by the Ashes victory.

 

[Dick Rockett]

Putting cricket on sky isn't going to make that much difference to the game, think back to the early days when there was no access to tv at all, did we suffer from a shortage of crickters? i don't think so.

Back in the early days, there was far greater access through newspapers and radio, and far less competition from the zillions of other potential leisure activities we have available today.

if it wasn't for him, we would have no cricket coverage at all.

Alternatively, if it wasn't for people like Murdoch, the cost of purchasing the rights to braodcast wouldn't be as stratospheric as they are now, and terrestrial channels might be better able to afford them.

Personally, from what I've seen here in NZ, the move of cricket from free to pay TV has had a definite negative impact on the number of people coming to the grounds. Despite the fact that in recent years the NZ team has been reasonably good, gates have rapidly declined.

 

[dpf]

Back in the early days, there was far greater access through newspapers and radio, and far less competition from the zillions of other potential leisure activities we have available today.


Alternatively, if it wasn't for people like Murdoch, the cost of purchasing the rights to braodcast wouldn't be as stratospheric as they are now, and terrestrial channels might be better able to afford them.

Personally, from what I've seen here in NZ, the move of cricket from free to pay TV has had a definite negative impact on the number of people coming to the grounds. Despite the fact that in recent years the NZ team has been reasonably good, gates have rapidly declined.

yeah agreed, altho we do get limited free to air coverage in NZ through prime tv, but even that isnt available in all areas

 

[GotSpin]

The Aus gov't, in one of the few correct decisions they've made, has legilslated that certain sports/events must be shown on free-to-air in the national interest. Fortunately, test cricket played on Aus soil is one of these.

QUOTE]

I think free-to-air get a crack at anything before pay.

 

[Craig]

To be fair Sky did to Channel 4 what CH4 did to the BBC when they won the rights, they simply put together a more energetic and persuasive bid with more money on the table and it was already a done deal by the time "ashes fever" struck the country.

And you also can get Sky Sports free for a year if your a member of a CCC, what susprised me though is how cheap sky sports actually is.

Out of interest how much is Sky Sports and is it an 'extra' package to basic Sky or can you get Sky Sports and that's it?

 

[luckyeddie]

As for LE's point that no terrestial channel even submitted a bid, the only explanation could be that they couldnt be bothered preparing an offer when they knew that they'd be outbid.

That's a bid for a highlights package (that could have been picked up for a song) - the attitude of the terrestrial channels was that if they couldn't show live cricket, then they wouldn't show ANY cricket - but of course in taking such action they retained the sniper's high ground and the ability to take pot-shots at Sky (not that I blame them for that, of course).

 

[luckyeddie]

Out of interest how much is Sky Sports and is it an 'extra' package to basic Sky or can you get Sky Sports and that's it?

I've just gone over to NTL for everything - phone, broadband internet, basic sky package and sports. The cost is around £70 a month for the lot. Not sure you can get the sport alone - it's an 'add-on' to the basic package on cable.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

I've just gone over to NTL for everything - phone, broadband internet, basic sky package and sports. The cost is around £70 a month for the lot. Not sure you can get the sport alone - it's an 'add-on' to the basic package on cable.

We're thinking of going over ourselves, only get about half the channels thanks to Sky's dodgy equipment .

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Thanks for that. Why they don't cover it more is beyond me really.

Possibly because it's not cost effective?

Loads of people would watch a Twenty20 match on Sky, but generally people who want to see County Championship cricket actually go and watch it at the ground. There is no market for Championship cricket, and the cost of putting out a four-day ball-by-ball production, even with a minimum of cameras etc, is still huge.

 

[luckyeddie]

We're thinking of going over ourselves, only get about half the channels thanks to Sky's dodgy equipment .

We made the decision when our set-top box (which had never worked properly) finally died and refused to come out of 'stand by' mode. I said 'send me another, please' and they said something along the lines of 'Yoinks! That'll be 200 spondooliks then, kerchinggg!'. I mentioned that I'd had the full Sky package for about 14 years (I remember when there were just 16 channels - and 2 of them were naughty) and their attitude was disgusting, basically saying that if I was a new customer I could have one for nowt, but existing customers could spin on it.

So I spun - to the opposition.

 

[GIMH]

I was under the impression Channel 5 were showing highlights of internationals and C & G games this season, I recently discovered I was incorrect, was it just a figment of my imagination or what?

 

[open365]

I was under the impression Channel 5 were showing highlights of internationals and C & G games this season, I recently discovered I was incorrect, was it just a figment of my imagination or what?

It's just the internationals i think.

I think it's massively unfair to blame sky for anything, the amount of cricket they show is fantastic, the ECB put the rights to the TV coverage as low as they could go, but no terrestrial channel bid for them, why is that sky's fault?

It's a shame that they gave the rights away before the ashes, i reckon we might be in a different situation if the auction was done after.

 

[DanielFullard]

I'm not really blaming Sky for the way things have worked out and I love their coverage but it could be better in all honesty. Even a highlights show of CC would be something but to totally neglect the County championship other than for two games a year is annoying considering they have the rights to them and simply aren't using them.

Hopefully though they will select the right CGT matches to show and its good to see that they haven't planned too far in advance as they do with football which results in nothing-games being shown live whilst other games of crucial importance are taking place elsewhere. I support Sky's decision to show every team at least once in the CGT and hope they are able to stick by this. Im sure coverage of the NL will be extensive given its new format but the very fact that this new format exists means that the NL means very little.

I cannot complain for one minute about their willingness to show International Cricket though....And this year they really seemed to have pushed the boat out to cover a wide range of teams

I assume sky have full rights to the World cup too then?

 

[DanielFullard]

As for Channel 5 they are owned by BSkyB and in the past there are cases of Sky Sports bosses being very generous to the Channel in terms of Sport. A few years back they had a monopoly on England Football Teams away fixtures and allowed Channel 5 to broadcast a match in Poland live to help boost the Channel. They also allow Channel 5 to broadcast live NFL games every week which Sky also own the rights to in this country. There are a few cases of odd football games here and there but you get my point.

So Sky are being generous with some of their rights and hopefully this will expand to Cricket soon.

Does anyone know of any plans for any sort of highlights show set for Sky Sports this Season?

 

[DanielFullard]

Oh and for the guy asking about costs....Sky is about £36 a month for the sports package. You cannot just have Sports alone and thats the minimum cost. I pay an extra £10 a month to have it in my room and on top of the Movies its £52 a month of which I pay £30

 

[marc71178]

I'm not really blaming Sky for the way things have worked out and I love their coverage but it could be better in all honesty. Even a highlights show of CC would be something but to totally neglect the County championship other than for two games a year is annoying considering they have the rights to them and simply aren't using them.

To get any form of decent coverage it would need a lot of input for next to no income.

 

[marc71178]

As for Channel 5 they are owned by BSkyB and in the past there are cases of Sky Sports bosses being very generous to the Channel in terms of Sport. A few years back they had a monopoly on England Football Teams away fixtures and allowed Channel 5 to broadcast a match in Poland live to help boost the Channel.

I don't remember it being quite as you stated.

IIRC 5 bid a (for that time) crazy amount of money for the game.

 

[luckyeddie]

Incidentally, Sky are changing their cricket theme music...

Thanks to Yvette Thompson at Durham CCC for sending the following Sky press release on to me..

SKY SPORTS has selected one of cricket’s most recognisable tracks for its theme music this summer.

‘Dreadlock Holiday’ will be the soundtrack to Sky’s international and domestic cricket coverage for 2006 and will be heard for the first time this Sunday 23rd April, during Sky’s opening C&G Trophy match.

The song, which features the legendary lyric 'I don't like cricket, I love it, was written by Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart and was released by their band 10cc in 1978, reaching number one in the UK chart.

Sky Sports has had the music re-recorded by and the lyrics amended to ‘We don’t like cricket, we love it’.

Six different versions of the music will be heard throughout the summer including a classical version for Test match coverage and a break beat version for domestic one-day competitions.

Paul Fuller, creative director for Sky Sports, said: “We at Sky Sports wanted a tune that was catchy, instantly recognisable and reinforced Sky Sports passion for all cricket. We don’t like cricket, we love it!”

The tune reinforces Sky’s on-air ‘We Love Cricket’ promotional campaign which promotes the breadth and pedigree of the broadcaster’s commitment to various levels of the game.

“We are delighted to give permission for this song to be used,” said Guy Moot, Managing Director, EMI Music Publishing. “It is one of those timeless classic songs that captures a spirit and mood and is synonymous with the country's summer game.”

This month Sky Sports begins the first of a new four-year ECB broadcast deal for international and domestic cricket.

At international level, coverage will include exclusively live, ball-by-ball, coverage of each of this summer’s England Test, One-Day and Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Sky Sports will also show two women’s One-Day Internationals against India, and two England Under-19 One-Day Internationals against India.

Sky Sports will screen a record number of domestic matches exclusively live this summer with at least 60 games from the major domestic competitions. The first live match is this Sunday when Ireland make their televised debut in the C&G Trophy against holders Hampshire in Dublin.

The schedule includes eleven matches from the C&G Trophy, 14 matches plus the finals day from the Twenty20 Cup, 28 live fixtures and the final from the Pro40 plus two live games from the Liverpool Victoria County Championship.

 

[Richard]

I agree with Open365 here and said so in my initial post. My concern was not with the game being ruined, it was more to do with missed opportunity. Cricket has survived this long and will continue to do so regardless of any TV deal in place. Many cricket fans I know who go to the Riverside every week don’t bother following the game on TV at all. Cricket will not be ruined by Tv and to suggest it will be is idiocy. TV has had an impact like it has on many sports but if Cricket stopped being shown on Tv tomorrow would the game be “ruined”? Of course not.

That is not something we can know for certain.
If all sport was removed from television, sport would pretty much become history.
Sport needs TV and TV needs sport - simple as.