Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Ashes set for free-to-air return England's home Ashes Tests are set to return to free-to-air television following a review of sport's "listed events", BBC Sport understands. International football qualifiers for the home nations, the Wimbledon tennis championship and golf's Open championship are also on the list. But flat racing's showpiece, the Epsom Derby, and rugby league's Challenge Cup final are both expected to be removed. The detailed recommendations are set to be confirmed on Friday morning. Last summer's Ashes, won by England, were shown exclusively live on Sky Sports, the first time a home series against Australia had not been available to viewers without a subscription package. But in December 2008, Andy Burnham, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, announced a review into the sporting events that should be safeguarded on free-to-air television. Reflecting on the success of the Beijing Olympics, he said "the broadcast of big sports events... get young people inspired by sport, driving sports participation and the creation of the next generation of sports stars." He added: "The sale of TV rights helps fund grassroots sport, so we need to get the balance right." Former FA executive director David Davies was appointed to head the review. In 1998 home Test match cricket was controversially axed from the list of "crown jewel" events, paving the way for the England and Wales Cricket Board to negotiate a series of multi-million pound deals with BSkyB over coverage. The ECB will now argue that, by depriving satellite broadcasters from entering the market-place for the most popular home Test matches, their revenue will diminish substantially - and that will have a knock-on effect for the funding of county cricket and the grassroots game. In August 2008, it signed a new four-year television deal with Sky Sports and Five (who broadcast daily highlights of home Tests), worth a combined £300m and running from 2010 until 2013. James Munro, BBC sports news correspondent, said the 2005 Ashes Test series victory, screened on Channel 4 and watched by millions, had sparked a "national celebration" whereas this year's success had not caught the public imagination in the same way. He added: "You have what David Davies would describe as 'moments of national resonance' - in other words important events that everyone has a right to see free-to-air." If the proposed changes were to come into effect, the next home Ashes series (2013) would remain on Sky, with the first to switch back to terrestrial TV being the 2017 rubber. Good news I would've thought, although cricket's top brass will be concerned about the drop in revenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snakehips 0 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Fuckin' brilliant news - especially if the Beeb get to show it as there would be no fuckin adverts. Being brought up watching Test matches on the BBC, I always liked seeing the changing field placings between overs, rather than miss everything for fucking adverts which is the case these days on SKY. Sad and old, I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 13967 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 No, I tend to agree. There's no point in having a game that takes a ridiculous amount of time to play unless you revel in every last detail of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Roll on 2017! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy 9 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 never gonna happen, the ECB will step in and whinge about the lost cash, and how they are plowing it into grassroots cricket, moan moan whinge whinge, shame cos the beeb need stuff like this, also am i right in thinking last time the rights were up the beeb never bid?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 1 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 One of the reasons Channel 4 didn't bid was due to the dent it was making on their programme schedules. I never understood why they couldn't just put it on a free to air digital channel as nearly everyone has this anyway these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy 9 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 One of the reasons Channel 4 didn't bid was due to the dent it was making on their programme schedules. I never understood why they couldn't just put it on a free to air digital channel as nearly everyone has this anyway these days. yep, E4 or the beeb can use bbc3, the first prog on that channel is 7pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0 Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 One of the reasons Channel 4 didn't bid was due to the dent it was making on their programme schedules. I never understood why they couldn't just put it on a free to air digital channel as nearly everyone has this anyway these days. Fucking annoying when they kept cutting away to show the racing, missing a wicket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 1 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Matter of pride perhaps, they might look a bit odd proclaiming the Great Heist of getting the Ashes then parking it on one of their lesser channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2188 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I'm surprised the Rugby League Challenge Cup was on the list of crown jewels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 One of the reasons Channel 4 didn't bid was due to the dent it was making on their programme schedules. I never understood why they couldn't just put it on a free to air digital channel as nearly everyone has this anyway these days. Fucking annoying when they kept cutting away to show the racing, missing a wicket. They went to Film4 at those points iirc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stevie Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Makes you laugh that the Boat Race is protected by these laws too. Who the fuck wants to see posh cunt students rowing boats up and down The Thames???? I wouldn't care, 9 times out of 10 the favourite wins anyway. Tradition my arse. There should be five events that should be free forever no matter what happens. The FA Cup Final The World Cup European Championships The Ashes Rugby World Cup Fuck the rest, including the Olympics, apparently Britain did well at the last one in China, I can honestly say I didn't care and didn't see one event, too much coverage on our terrestrial tellies in my view. Also the Superbowls thing should be made PPV, not part of our culture, wank sport, boring game, for fat geeks in bedsits wearing oversized orange tops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Aye but the Olympics are probably the single biggest sporting event there is. I appreciate it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's great that it's on terrestrial TV. I like how stuff like Wimbledon and The Open are on too, because they have something about them that transcends their sport. Basically, I think we should be looking to get more stuff on the list, not less. I agree about the Boat Race like. The Superbowl doesn't really matter though as it's on in the middle of the night anyway so it's not like it's knocking anything better off, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stevie Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Aye but the Olympics are probably the single biggest sporting event there is. I appreciate it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's great that it's on terrestrial TV. I like how stuff like Wimbledon and The Open are on too, because they have something about them that transcends their sport. Basically, I think we should be looking to get more stuff on the list, not less. I agree about the Boat Race like. The Superbowl doesn't really matter though as it's on in the middle of the night anyway so it's not like it's knocking anything better off, is it? The World Cup is bigger by far Alex officially too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stevie Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I think the Ryder Cup should be free too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Aye but the Olympics are probably the single biggest sporting event there is. I appreciate it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's great that it's on terrestrial TV. I like how stuff like Wimbledon and The Open are on too, because they have something about them that transcends their sport. Basically, I think we should be looking to get more stuff on the list, not less. I agree about the Boat Race like. The Superbowl doesn't really matter though as it's on in the middle of the night anyway so it's not like it's knocking anything better off, is it? The World Cup is bigger by far Alex officially too. So it's the 2nd biggest then, for the sake of argument. It doesn't really change my point much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I think the Ryder Cup should be free too. Definitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0 Posted November 13, 2009 Author Share Posted November 13, 2009 Aye but the Olympics are probably the single biggest sporting event there is. I appreciate it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's great that it's on terrestrial TV. I like how stuff like Wimbledon and The Open are on too, because they have something about them that transcends their sport. Basically, I think we should be looking to get more stuff on the list, not less. I agree about the Boat Race like. The Superbowl doesn't really matter though as it's on in the middle of the night anyway so it's not like it's knocking anything better off, is it? The World Cup is bigger by far Alex officially too. So it's the 2nd biggest then, for the sake of argument. It doesn't really change my point much. The winter olympics has been dropped. Can't imagine many in this country being that bothered about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Aye but the Olympics are probably the single biggest sporting event there is. I appreciate it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's great that it's on terrestrial TV. I like how stuff like Wimbledon and The Open are on too, because they have something about them that transcends their sport. Basically, I think we should be looking to get more stuff on the list, not less. I agree about the Boat Race like. The Superbowl doesn't really matter though as it's on in the middle of the night anyway so it's not like it's knocking anything better off, is it? The World Cup is bigger by far Alex officially too. So it's the 2nd biggest then, for the sake of argument. It doesn't really change my point much. The winter olympics has been dropped. Can't imagine many in this country being that bothered about that. Doesn't mean it still won't be on the Beeb like. I meant the summer Olympics anyway. Although I quite like watching the winter games as well. Especially the skiing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stevie Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Aye but the Olympics are probably the single biggest sporting event there is. I appreciate it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's great that it's on terrestrial TV. I like how stuff like Wimbledon and The Open are on too, because they have something about them that transcends their sport. Basically, I think we should be looking to get more stuff on the list, not less. I agree about the Boat Race like. The Superbowl doesn't really matter though as it's on in the middle of the night anyway so it's not like it's knocking anything better off, is it? The World Cup is bigger by far Alex officially too. So it's the 2nd biggest then, for the sake of argument. It doesn't really change my point much. The winter olympics has been dropped. Can't imagine many in this country being that bothered about that. Doesn't mean it still won't be on the Beeb like. I meant the summer Olympics anyway. Although I quite like watching the winter games as well. Especially the skiing. Lost interest when Eddie The Eagle got half the distance of the second worst competitor in the ski jump tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Aye but the Olympics are probably the single biggest sporting event there is. I appreciate it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's great that it's on terrestrial TV. I like how stuff like Wimbledon and The Open are on too, because they have something about them that transcends their sport. Basically, I think we should be looking to get more stuff on the list, not less. I agree about the Boat Race like. The Superbowl doesn't really matter though as it's on in the middle of the night anyway so it's not like it's knocking anything better off, is it? The World Cup is bigger by far Alex officially too. So it's the 2nd biggest then, for the sake of argument. It doesn't really change my point much. The winter olympics has been dropped. Can't imagine many in this country being that bothered about that. Doesn't mean it still won't be on the Beeb like. I meant the summer Olympics anyway. Although I quite like watching the winter games as well. Especially the skiing. Lost interest when Eddie The Eagle got half the distance of the second worst competitor in the ski jump tbh. Actually I used to watch Ski Sunday back then. Could barely name any of them now like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 13967 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Tomba La Bomba! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Tomba La Bomba! He was class but my favourite was Pirmin Zubriggen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa Lazaru 0 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 The FA Cup FinalThe World Cup European Championships The Ashes Rugby World Cup I'd add 6 nations rugby, Wimbledon and like Alex said the Olypmpics, you could stick the Ryder Cup there as well, but thats all i'd be bothered with. I was reading somewhere they reckon Brown could be doing this with the Ashes to get back at Murdoch for returning to his first love of bumming the tories, i doubt its true, but i hope it is, and i'd have phoned murdoch and told him exactly why i was doing it if i were Brown! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 6432 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Franz Klammer! Canny good at theme songs too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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