May 08 Wednesday 2002
Sky television will broadcast England's matches live

LONDON: English cricket fans are unlikely to be able to watch the forthcoming Ashes series, or the World Cup next February, on terrestrial television.

Satellite broadcaster Sky holds the rights to cover both tournaments live, and no terrestrial broadcaster plans to show highlights.

Both Channel Four, which televises the majority of England's home Tests, and the BBC, which broadcasts radio commentary, have declined to carry coverage of either series.

And neither of the other two broadcasters, ITV and Channel Five, are interested in televising cricket.
England play five Tests in Australia from November, and take on the hosts and Sri Lanka in a triangular one-day series.

The World Cup begins in South Africa in February, lasting six weeks, and is expected to attract more than a billion television viewers worldwide.

Sky holds the live rights for the Ashes tour, and has traditionally offered highlights to a network broadcaster.
But the rights-holders for the World Cup, World Sports Group and Global Cricket Corporation, are believed to be asking substantial sums from those wishing to screen the tournament. 

The two companies purchased global cricket broadcasting rights from the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2000 for 360 million.

A spokesperson for the BBC suggested that Channel-IV would be the logical broadcaster as it gained the rights to cover six of the summer Tests in a joint deal with Sky in 1999.

"We are surprised that Channel Four has lost interest in cricket and are turning their backs on the sport," the spokesperson said.

"For some years now Sky and Channel Four have positioned themselves as the home of cricket.

"We have consistently maintained an important relationship with cricket fans through Test Match Special on Radio Four and on Radio Five Live."

This does not affect our core commitment to the summer of cricket Channel Four screened highlights of England's tour of India at the end of last year, but decided against showing clips of the team's series in New Zealand because of the 13-hour time difference.

Much of Australia will be 10 hours ahead of English time during the Ashes series, but South Africa will be just two hours ahead of the UK during the one-day showpiece.

"We are a commercial channel and have to make sure there is a balance between cost and the number of people who will be able to watch," a Channel Four source said.

"This does not affect our core commitment to the summer of cricket, and compared to that, highlights are really not a major issue."

England and Wales Cricket Board media spokesman Andrew Walpole said that the question of what should be shown was one for the broadcasters to debate.

"We would always want the widest exposure for the sport," Walpole said.

"But both Channel Four and BBC Radio have done a tremendous job of promoting the game in England."