rich1uk wrote:the other side of this argument is having England games on FTA would potentially penalise your hard-core cricket fans
would SKY be prepared to invest the sort of money they do on coverage, on getting the rights for things like a series between NZ and SL or SA and WI if they weren't also getting the marquee home series ?
no way would FTA broadcasters pick up that slack
Not sure anyone expect Test series or even ODI series in FTA but T20 international should be on FTA even if they are literally given away very cheaply.
Plus having the highlights on BBC is far more valuable than prime time highlights on Five.
It is embarrassing that ITV wanted an indian domestic league more than English cricket rights.
It seemed like ITV/BBC haven't really given any guarantees to ECB they would be interested in some rights even if the price is very cheap and pretty much free.
if that is true it is quite sad that even a 2-3 hour T20 game has no interest for BBC even when their show bowls or so many cheap winter sports on the red button or bbc 2.
If the ipl final is still the last FTA live game in this country in 20 years time FTA Channel/ECB need to be embarrassed for that.