The Ashes are coming home!
Everyone without Sky (including me)should have a terrific excuse to get fat and watch some free cricket when the England-Australia Ashes series returns to terrestrial TV in 2013, according to this article from The Observer:
Live coverage of the next Ashes cricket series in the UK is set to return to free-to-air television, it has been revealed.
Cricket’s greatest showpiece, which this summer was only shown live on paid-for broadcaster Sky, will return to terrestrial television when the England-Australia series returns to the UK in 2013.
The move follows a review of leading sporting events led by David Davies, the former Football Association executive. Ministers are expected to fully back its recommendations on the Ashes, it is claimed.
A senior government source told the Sunday Telegraph: “It’s a no-brainer. This is one thing we can do that chimes in with the wishes of millions of voters.”
A peak of just two million viewers watched this summer’s deciding Test at the Oval when it was broadcast on Sky. By contrast, more than 7 million viewers watched the conclusion of the previous home Ashes series on Channel 4 in 2005.
Despite the welcome move for England cricket fans, the ruling is likely to anger Sky executives, who acquired the rights to screen the next home Ashes series as part of a £300m deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) last year.
Tensions between the government and Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Sky and newspaper group News International, are already high following the Sun newspaper’s decision to withdraw its support for Labour and back David Cameron’s Conservatives at the coming election.
