Minor victory for free-to-air broadcaster over BSkyB

Success for BBC in World Cup ratings battle

Cricinfo staff

May 5, 2007

Test Match Special has dominated the radio waves and this summer celebrates 50 years on air © The Cricketer International

Roger Mosey, the BBC's director of sport, has revealed that their World Cup highlights programme attracted more than 17m people, compared to 6.6m who tuned into BSkyB's live coverage.

In a wide-ranging speech at the Professional Cricketers' Association Business Summit on Thursday, Mosey spoke of the BBC's flagship Test Match Special, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer, and the importance of balancing traditional programming with modern techniques in what is increasingly an advertisers' market.

Yet, while the BBC have continued to dominate cricket broadcasting over the radio waves - for half a century - the world of television is more fickle. The BBC's rights to cover live cricket ended in 1999 when it was sold to Channel 4. Subsequently, in 2005, the ECB's decision to sell the rights to BSkyB was met with admonishment by many, including several MPs, and Mosey is insistent that pay-per-view television has cut off a large section of the British population

"The issue isn't about Sky: it's about pay television compared with free-to-air," he said. "It's exactly the reason why audiences for English Test cricket have fallen significantly since it moved to pay TV.

"Being on terrestrial TV and being free-to-air is vital if you want to attract large audiences to sport. Don't believe the line that after analogue switch-off and when we're all digital it will be a level playing field among all broadcasters," he said. "Forking out an extra £35 a month or whatever for pay TV with sports channels is a rather key differentiator between channels."

Sky won the rights in 2005, ending Channel 4's coverage which, in their brief but successful six-year span, had attracted many new supporters to the game. Innovations such as Hawk Eye, their weekly cricket road-shows and high-profile commentators such as Richie Benaud and Tony Greig all helped rejuvenate a product which, in the hands of the BBC, had become stale.

"Personally, I would never argue that cricket shouldn't take some of its money from pay TV: it should be absolutely at liberty to do that," Mosey said. "But, I have a problem with the notion of the whole of the live content of a particular sport being on one platform - especially when it's a sport with as many hours as cricket.

"We do not believe it's essential or healthy that 100% of any live sport is with one operator. We do believe it's possible to arrange future contracts so that they give mass audiences the opportunity to see some matches live."

The BBC will have to wait, though, as the current contracts are not up for renewal until 2009.

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