Home Ashes Tests Back on Terrestrial TV

What do England’s home Ashes Tests, international football qualifiers for the home nations, the Wimbledon tennis championship and golf’s Open championship all have in common?

They are all set to feature on free-to-air television!

In a set of detailed recommendations set to be confirmed on Friday, home Ashes series will return to their status as a ‘crown jewel’ event on terrestrial. The Epsom Derby and rugby league’s Challenge Cup final are both expected to be removed however.

England’s 2009 Ashes victory, under Andrew Strauss, was shown exclusively live on Sky Sports – the first time a home series against Australia had not been available to viewers without a subscription package.

The series failed to capture the public imagination as much as the 2005 series victory – screened on Channel 4 and watched by millions.

The Beijing Olympics’ success initially sparked the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Andy Burnham, to review sporting events that should be safeguarded on free-to-air TV.

Mr. Burnham said broadcasting big sports events inspires young people to participate in sport and create the next generation of sports stars.

He continued: “The sale of TV rights helps fund grassroots sport, so we need to get the balance right.”

Home Test matches were controversially axed as a ‘crown jewel’ event in 1998, allowing the England and Wales Cricket Board to enter into multi-million pound contracts with BSkyB.

The ECB will argue preventing satellite broadcasters to bid for the most popular home Tests will slash their revenue and will have a knock-on effect on funding cricket at county level and its grassroots.

This debate will rumble on unfortunately as the ECB’s current deal with Sky Sports and Five (who show daily highlights of home Tests) -worth a combined £300m – runs till 2013. The next home Ashes to switch back to terrestrial would be in 2017.

An eventual return to terrestrial however is great news for cricket fans.