| MUMBAI:
In a move that could hurt ECB's (England & Wales Cricket Board) business interests,
the Department of Cultural, Media and Sport is mulling over its panel's recommendation
to make available certain 'listed sporting events' on free-to-air television from
2017. England's home Ashes Tests are said to be in this list. While
the listed events still haven't been made public, the panel, chaired by David
Davies and commissioned by the former Secretary of State, issued a statement which
read, "Sporting events with a special national resonance should continue
to be protected for the widest-possible audience."
This
recommendation may be music to ears of the viewer but it's worrisome for ECB chief
Giles Clarke, who warned that if implemented, this could lead to a 'decade of
decay' for his sport and this report would have a disastrous effect on grassroots
funding. The
2009 Ashes, won by England, were shown exclusively live on Sky Sports, the first
time a home series against Australia had not been available to viewers without
a subscription package. In
1998, home Test match cricket was controversially axed from the list of "crown
jewel" events, paving the way for cricket board to negotiate a series of
multi-million pound deals with BSkyB over coverage. In
August 2008, it signed a new four-year television deal with Sky Sports and Five
(who broadcast daily highlights of home Tests), worth a combined £300m and
running from 2010 until 2013. Other
sporting events that could be made free-to-air are home and away football qualifiers
for home nations, Wimbledon tennis, golf's Open and Wales Six Nations matches
for Welsh viewers. | 
