Ashes free-to-air decision deferred

Date: Thursday 22 July 2010

The Government has deferred a decision on "crown jewel" sporting events until 2013, which means that home Ashes series will not have to be given away to free-to-air television in the near future.

An independent Review was set up in 2009 in order to see whether the list of protected events - known as the "crown jewels" - drawn up in 1998 should be expanded and include the Ashes, among other contests, on free-to-air television.

The ECB and all counties expressed their concern at the possibility of this occurrence under the Davies Review given the potential loss of revenue that Sky puts into the game.

That predicted loss, now known to be in the region of £125m over a four-year period, would therefore have had a huge impact throughout cricket, particularly at grassroots level.

Leicestershire CCC and the Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket Board contacted local MPs to voice their views on the matter as the money received by Sky is critical to the development of young players.

So, the decision to defer a decision will be widely welcomed around the county circuit.

Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said he “fully supports the principle of protecting major sports events for free-to-air coverage” but will not reassess the situation until the “broadcasting context” becomes clearer.

By this, Robertson means the Government will have another look at the state of affairs after the effects of the digital switchover in 2012 are known.

Robertson said there is “turbulence” in the broadcast market at present, with broadcast regulator Office of Communications (OFCOM) currently conducting a review into the Pay TV market.

The BBC are also holding a strategic review, so there is quite a lot of uncertainty as to who will broadcast what when the country goes digital in 2012.

With that in mind, the Government have taken the common sense view to keep the status quo when it comes to listed events.

That means that events like the Olympic Games, the FA Cup final, Wimbledon and the football World Cup will be continue to be broadcast on free-to-air TV, but the Ashes and the Ryder Cup will not.

Robertson said: “We are having the digital switchover in 2012 and it clearly makes little sense to have a review now and then another one after the (digital) switchover.”

However, he added that the main reason for keeping the Ashes on pay TV is financial, with Sky’s funding critical to the game.

Sky bid £264m for exclusivity of broadcasting England’s home internationals between 2010-13, and according to figures from the ECB’s consultants Oliver & Ohlbaum, any following deal from 2014-17 would have been worth 48% less – £137.4m – had the Ashes been made free-to-air.

Robertson said: “This entire review has been framed by the economic situation and in our judgment, when we looked at the economic impact, we realised this is not the time to take money out of the game and crucially out of sport’s grassroots.

“Every single first class county, the majority of the minor counties, the ECB, the International Cricket Conference and the MCC all wrote to us and implored us not to list cricket and the reason for that is that 80% of funding comes from its broadcast deals.

“If that was taken away from them, it would have a massive detrimental effect on cricket’s grassroots.

“It would have swept a way, at a stroke, thousands and millions of pounds of investment in young cricketers up and down the country and I was not prepared to take that decision.”

ECB chief executive David Collier, who was once Leicestershire CCC’s CEO, welcomed the decision.

He said: "The ECB welcomes the Government's thorough assessment of the facts and their subsequent decision which recognises the substantial investment cricket has been able to make in our sport's grassroots as a result of increased broadcasting income.

"This decision will empower the ECB to continue with our investment programme into grassroots facilities and coaching as set out in our strategic plan grounds to play."

ECB Chairman Giles Clarke also spoke of the importance of being able to put money into grassroots cricket.

He said: “All sports must be able to manage their affairs sensibly with the benefit of being able to sell their assets for good sums of money so that they can invest in grassroots and so that sport continues to have a future.

“We want to manage our own sport ourselves, to raise our money and to invest our money.

“In return, we will deliver more people playing, provide more coaches and have better facilities across the country because cricket is part of the social fabric that binds this nation together.”

Robertson is also expected to ask affected sports to put 30% of broadcasting revenues into grassroots, rather than the current guidelines of 5%.

When asked if he thought that figure was excessive, Clarke said: "I don't think it is at all. We're investing 23% of what we receive from the broadcaster in our grassroots, which is currently considerably more than the current guidelines of 5%.

"I think the minister is quite right to challenge sport and say, alright, move from 5% to 30%. We are happy to accept that challenge because we think it is extremely important to invest (in grassroots).

"We have invested in 10,000 new coaches and we will continue to do that. Without coaches, our young people will not learn how to play the game properly."