Cricket fans enraged by Sky rights deal

net1

Sky's capture of exclusive TV rights to England's home Test matches has brought a furious response from fans angry that they will have to pay to watch live cricket.
Viewers who do not want to pay for Sky and cannot receive Five, which will show highlights, will be left with no cricket coverage at all after the end of next summer's Ashes series against Australia, the last to be screened by Channel 4.

Hundreds of fans complained on internet cricket boards, suggesting a boycott of future coverage and a plan to bombard the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) website with complaints.

"Am I the only one who thinks that the ECB are a spineless and disgraceful bunch of cretins who have no morals or ethics?" asked one fan.

"I do not see any way that the ECB can justify moving the entire cricketing portfolio to Sky. This will ultimately prove highly damaging for cricket and will have a detrimental effect on kids growing up, who will simply not be able to see Test cricket."

Another visitor to the BBC's Test Match Special site wrote: "The ECB have demonstrated once again that they are a bunch of greedy, stupid, pusillanimous, grasping, short-sighted fools."

"This sort of decision making is simply staggering - I can't think of a single reason bar the few more pieces of silver that Sky are prepared to pay that makes sense about this deal. It is madness."

The £220m deal announced today gives Sky exclusive live rights to all England's home Test matches from 2006. Highlights will air on in an early evening slot on Five.

"That's killed cricket for me. I won't pay for Sky, so I won't watch cricket anymore," said another fan. "Well done ECB, you've just completely wiped out the increasing popularity of the game."

"Sold us down the river. Can't pay, can't watch. This stinks. Everybody get on the ECB website now. We cannot let this happen - we must protest to the highest level."

Not all cricket fans were upset by the deal. "Non-stop cricket on a dedicated channel. This is the best deal, simply for the fact that no longer will we get interrupted by horse racing, or have to start Test matches at 10.30am because of Hollyoaks," said one.

Mickha

I agree with the majority of the fans and wonder what happened to the legislation that was brought in to protect the fans, where certain sporting events were supposed to be given a protected status and available to all sports fans, didn't this apply to home test series?
Next will be Wimbledon, and as I'm not a tennis fan I wont miss it, but when Sky finally get exclusive rights to the F.A. Cup final and all other major events, then maybe we'll see a backlash against Sky.

Llew

I always considered the cricket interrupted the horse racing. I like cricket too, but also prefer to watch it uninterrupted ( on terrestial of course. )

Llew

gameboy

BSkyB was under pressure again this morning on continued concerns the media giant overpaid for the rights to televise England cricket matches. BskyB shares were down 1.17pc to 549.50.

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