Channel 4 wins the rights to broadcast the India vs England cricket series in the UK

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

Channel 4 have won the rights to show England’s upcoming series in India in a groundbreaking deal that sees Test cricket return to terrestrial television in the UK for the first time since the 2005 Ashes.

 

The Guardian understands that global rights holders Star Sports and Channel 4 have now officially signed a contract for the live broadcast of the entire tour – four Tests, five Twenty20s and three one-day internationals – with an announcement due soon before the first Test in Chennai on Friday.

 

The deal represents a huge coup for Channel 4, who submitted their bid to Star Sports last week – one described as “compelling” by insiders – but still feared being gazumped by a late move from either Sky or BT Sport.

 

This did not materialise, however, although one of the two subscription broadcasters could still come on board in some capacity, with the Star-Channel 4 deal said to be agreed on a non-exclusive basis that allows additional satellite and digital partners.

 

Channel 4 are confident that while three of the four Test matches start at 4am – the third Test is a day-night match with a 9am start in the UK – the national lockdown could see big audience numbers generated by England and India supporters, as well as potential newcomers to the sport.

 

While they last showed Test cricket back in 2005, a one-off deal with Sky in 2019 saw the World Cup final shared and Channel 4 attract 15.4m viewers over the course of the day. Subsequent research by the England and Wales Cricket Board suggested a third of this audience was watching cricket for the first time.

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by TNAmarkFromIndia

[Sandeep99]

Couldn't care if cricket died in the UK

[Serpico]

1 minute ago, Sandeep99 said:

Couldn't care if cricket died in the UK

you wouldn't mind if the already niche sport became even more niche?

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

12 minutes ago, Serpico said:

you wouldn't mind if the already niche sport became even more niche?

If it died everywhere outside of India, BCCI would have even greater control over the ICC and they'd have to give in to every one of our demands.

Edited January 29, 2021 by TNAmarkFromIndia

[Serpico]

3 minutes ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

If it died everywhere outside of India, BCCI would have even greater control over the ICC and they'd have to give in to every one of our demands.

like what demands

[Vickydev]

4 minutes ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

If it died everywhere outside of India, BCCI would have even greater control over the ICC and they'd have to give in to every one of our demands.

What would be the point of playing the sport if it dies everywhere outside India...just IPL with only Indian players?

[Serpico]

7 minutes ago, Vickydev said:

What would be the point of playing the sport if it dies everywhere outside India...just IPL with only Indian players?

SMAT all year long

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

1 hour ago, Serpico said:

like what demands

All ICC events in India. 

Exclusive window for IPL in FTP. 

All T20/T10 leagues outside of IPL banned.

Percentage of ICC income to be shared with other countries as BCCI sees fit. 

Pakistan banned from playing international cricket.

etc.

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

1 minute ago, MultiB48 said:

Only cricket depends so much on int fixtures ,all other professional sports depend on domestic leagues to maximize their profits ,do they share their football revenues from bundesliga and premier league with us ? why not turn football into a country based sport like cricket and share the revenues with everyone .

 

Zim got banned from cricket and Russia from Olympics and their athletes get caught doping when their political honchos fall out with western countries .

 

People should be grateful that we arent so insideus and provide for the rest of the cricketing world even though we struggle to provide basic infrastructure for our own .

True. We don't even need anyone else. We could be the only ones playing cricket and we could still make it sustainable. Year-long IPL season with only Indian players.

[msb1991]

This was the theme song for the 2005 Ashes series. Such a strange choice of song but for a whole generation, they will associate it with great cricket. 

 

[sage]

3 hours ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

If it died everywhere outside of India, BCCI would have even greater control over the ICC and they'd have to give in to every one of our demands.

lol what.. is that your end goal?

[Serpico]

1 hour ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

All ICC events in India. 

Exclusive window for IPL in FTP. 

All T20/T10 leagues outside of IPL banned.

Percentage of ICC income to be shared with other countries as BCCI sees fit. 

Pakistan banned from playing international cricket.

What makes you think ICC can ban other T20 leagues? Are they going to send death squads to Dubai/Australia and occupy stadiums? The moment ICC don't share revenues, other boards will just go belly up an die. Cricket will become another Kabaddi like sport, only people in India and other subcontinent countries care about it.. even IPL will lose its attraction because its just another domestic competition at that point. India will rack up the world cups every 4 years but what glory is there in a "world cup" where only one country is playing? Do you see a kabaddi forum celebrating India winning yet another kabaddi world cup and people blasting crackers everywhere?

 

India needs other nations playing cricket at competitive level as much as other nations need cricket revenue from India. The reason our people are invested so much in cricket is because its one international sport that India is really good at.. if it stops being international it will be anther local gilli danda type game kids will forget after growing up

[Serpico]

1 hour ago, MultiB48 said:

how about we take their talent to build up our brand but wont give them a penny ,maybe a few chillars in the name of humanity.

Unless you imagine a future where Mumbai Indians run school level competitions in 11 countries and organize U19 world cups, talent in other countries will just go for other sports once they lose money. in cricket Most english elite athletes choose football/tennis already.. same for Rugby in NZ/SA and AFL for Australia, track and field for West Indies. Usain Bolt wanted to become a fast bowler but his dad suggested him to go for Athletics.. There won't any "talent' to take to build our "brand" in future if other countries stop playing cricket entirely. Do you see Pro Kabaddi taking talent from Jamaica and developing their brand? 

[BacktoCricaddict]

What about US streaming?  Hotstar? Willow?  Both?  

[MechEng]

2 hours ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

All ICC events in India. 

Exclusive window for IPL in FTP. 

All T20/T10 leagues outside of IPL banned.

Percentage of ICC income to be shared with other countries as BCCI sees fit. 

Pakistan banned from playing international cricket.

etc.

 

Force Australia/South Africa/New Zealand/England bowlers not to bowl above 80 mph.

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by MechEng

[Serpico]

4 minutes ago, MultiB48 said:

They can look after the grassroots ,we will simply scoop up the talents by offering lucrative contracts and by building up our brand ,much like people move to Western Europe after slogging out in their local competitions, talents will always be available. Once the engine starts to roll, it will be accepted.

no they won't be. Maintaining grassroots in cricket is very expensive undertaking. If you start "scooping up" talents there won't incentive for local cricket clubs/state teams to develop talent. Unlike Soccer, cricket is only popular in like 10 countries.. ICC is making so many efforts just to make kids in other countries show some remote interest in cricket.. even there most of the players are immigrant Desi players. If the cricket boards go down, kids will just start playing other sports.. all non asian countries are good at more than one sports.. cricket is their 2nd or 3rd most popular sport, barely hanging there after so many efforts from ICC. If they just stop giving a **** and do so much marketing, their first sport will just consume cricket's share of population. 

[MechEng]

And if they cross 80 mph, the next ball will be a free hit.

[Serpico]

2 minutes ago, MultiB48 said:

If it's so expensive then how do we manage it in India  .They need to lower their standards and match it with the rest of the world.And if they are so disinterested then they might as well move on to more interesting stuff.

we now have the richest board and still only have good infra in some places. Most tier two cities and small town don't have good cricket clubs and facilities for example.. we are managing because even the big cities we have good facilities in, have enough population to find good players from. You are right they will move on to more interesting stuff, but we are not talking about their plight here.. end of day they will still find another sport or hobby and fill their time. We will however miss new talent pool and competition and be reduced to not being good at any international sport. And IPL will be another domestic tournament and lose its "premier" value among Indian fans too. 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

4 hours ago, MechEng said:

Force Australia/South Africa/New Zealand/England bowlers not to bowl above 80 mph.

England to have roofed stadiums so that there is no swing.

[RajBan]

Looks like Friday night some people took interesting stuff.