How much cricket is on free T.V. in U.K.?
In Aus we get the summer & the World Cup on a commercial T.V.station.Last Ashes were in prime time so a government channel covered them.Everything else is on pay.
I saw somewhere that soccer was on pay over there.Is this true?
If they tried to put Footy or League on pay over here the government would get the flick.

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" You don't want the truth,you can't handle the truth."

Kenny,

There is no cricket on live free to air television. Sky holds the contract for all live Tests in England and normally buys up the rights to all the away tours (the only one they haven't done is tours to Zimbabwe) so the only free to air stuff is highlights packages.

Football is different all the premiership is subscription only, but a lot of the cup games (European and FA) are broadcast live. Internationals are available dependant on whether they are home or away. All World Cup games are availble on free to air.

http://www.keepcricketfree.org/

flanflinger,

Is cricket on pay because it did not rate or because it did & pay T.V. out bid free T.V.?
Rupert Murdoch is our revenge for English back-packers.

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" You don't want the truth,you can't handle the truth."

Cricket is on pay because the state run BBC to which we all contribute via a licence fee will not put a realistic bid for Test cricket, it squanders our money instead on minority sports, and second rate soaps and drama.

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Ern

Do alot of people get pay for the cricket?
Is their a dedicated channel for it?
How many commercial networks in the U.K.?
What minority sports does B.B.C. show?
Where would cricket rank in sporting terms with U.K. public?
In Australia it is third behind Australian Rules Football & Rugby League.

P.S. Sorry about all the questions but I'm curious.

.

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" You don't want the truth,you can't handle the truth."

Quite a few, can't give an exact figure but since the rights went to Sky more people I know seem to pay.
Not that I'm aware of, I might be wrong though...
4 or 5, depending on where you are... I can't receive Channel 5 for instance, but then I'm not missing much there...
Skiing, indoor bowls (there's another sport you Aussies are apparently quite good at!)
Probably about second behind football. Unless it's Rugby World Cup/Ryder Cup/Olympics time when everyone decides to change their minds for a bit.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

Thanks for the info.
Our government is cosy with our media barons but it sounds like your pollies are owned by them.

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" You don't want the truth,you can't handle the truth."

Not really. Three of the five analogue channels are commercial... and the one public-broadcaster is pretty autonomous: the funding comes from a license fee that has to be agreed with the government of the time... but the BBC as an institution is strong enough (with enough public backing) to see off pretty well any attack on its autonomy - especially now that it has picked up the pieces from the failed commercial-sector effort to make a success of Government-backed digital-terrestrial television (Freeview).

Digital terrestrial TV is the future of free-to-air broadcasting... and is open to all commercial operators. Sport makes a decent showing: soccer (Internationals, most of the important European stuff), rugby, motor-racing (including Formula 1), horse racing, athletics and boxing all seem to get reasonable air-time... and when there's significant British involvement we get a fair bit of tennis and golf.

Sadly, much of the above is better described as wall to wall advertising with occasional interludes for sport: Formula 1 is completely unwatchable, as is the cricket (with adverts after every over and every time there's a wicket). Bizarrely, things are no better on pay TV: you cough up... and still get wall to wall advertising. That said... I get the impression that the situation is very little different at the grounds these days... and I'm struck by how well Chappell's views summarise the UK situation:http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/iccct...ry/267482.html

Two thoughts

1. The cricket is not "completly unwatchable" all the action is there, and the adverts do not come after every over
2. The BBC is not going to cough up the money, so commericail guys do, and to pay for Cricket (not just the rights, but the crew, the equipment and the presenters) they have to re-coup the money, and the fact is that they have to advertise, or get us to pay a subscription!! Otherwise they could not afford to show the game

what minority sports? I agree, the BBC messed up big-time, but their coverage (audio, internet etc) on the build-up to the ashes has been fantastically comprehensive. will have to wait and see what the highlights are like, but they are taking steps in the right direction.