Cricket on Sky

Just read a Guardian piece about F1 no longer being on free to air TV from 2019 and saw some startling figures. I don't see it as an issue for F1 so much but Christ, the cricket audience has dwindled since free to air was sacked off.

The Ashes of 2005 was seen by a peak viewing audience of 8.4m on free to air TV. The Sky audience for the last Ashes series averaged around 600,000 viewers.

There has been a 32% drop in people playing the sport since 2007.

Scary stuff.

FWIW, I have a Sky subscription, I don't apologise for that. I love F1 and football, love the darts and any rare free to air coverage is pathetic. I only watch highlights of the cricket these days, and it's good coverage to be fair, but it appears there's a direct link between that going behind a paywall and less folk taking the sport up.

I remember the good old days where all sport was on terrestrial TV. I must be getting old.

No real point to this thread. I'm on a train home and bored.

 

It was predicted at the time that the viewing figures would suffer. I couldn't give a toss about cricket, but even I found myself with it on in the background sometimes on C4.

 

I can't stand cricket but even I watched the Ashes in 2005. It started (I think) whilst I was on study leave for my GCSE's so it was an alternative to that for me.

It obviously comes as no surprise that subscription services severely impact viewing figures but as you say, free to air services aren't a patch on Sky for the level of coverage.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

Think you'll find the Sky football viewing figures dived last season too. BT cutting costs after overspending on Champions League and Premier football.
Every sport seeing what the greedy league can get are wanting the same. It literally cannot go on forever.

 

The qualitys miles better. Watched some coverage of channel 4 not so long ago and it was plain awful.

I remember it on channel 4 when they would show other things and not do any thing other than the action. No verdict. No Saturday discussion. And you wouldn't get any coverage from abroad.

 

What do you want to see though? Ex-professionals dicking about with technology and 1,000,000 pieces of useless stats or the actual match?

 

Its really good. Crickets all about stats and figures. In sights a wonderful thing. Some of the master class stuffs amazing. Even the likes of micheal vaughans and Rob keys kids say they watch it over and over to learn. The reason some the top players are that is because they can make hard things look simple

 

HT loves it cos he's not the one paying for it

 

I'm not doubting the quality of it, but for me it's all about the actual game that's unfolding in front of me, end of.

 

Hemsworth One of our two national sports is dying on it's ass. It was before Sky but it seems the decline is accelerating. All the short term millions will be worth nothing when the next generation of kids have grown up never watching it or getting inspired by it. Not everyone can afford Sky. Get it back on terrestrial. To be honest if it means the money income going down so be it. I'd rather have a game with a future than an ever declining Sky circus.

 

I think I've mentioned this before, but in the days of the BBC broadcasting England Tests, they would pull back and show a full field arial shot between overs(with there being no ads). It was fascinating to see how the captains would organise the fields. My Grandad used to spend hours explaining what every single field position was called and what the pro's and cons were. Now, I know quite dedicated young fans who don't know a single field name barring the slips and wicket keeper...

And although the Sky coverage is really nicely produced and slick, nothing will beat that 2005 Ashes series on Channel 4. Everyone watched it, and were hanging on every ball. The stat YTBFC has quoted about participation dropping off is no myth, and should scare Sky and the ECB shitless. The coverage can be the most brilliantly produced ever, but if no young 'uns watch the sport, then the participation will drop more and mean there is no cricket to cover(and thus no big juicy rights contract for the ECB, and no lucrative advertising revenues for Sky)...

 

Less money the players will say f you to ecb. They'll go and earn a lot more just as the west Indies players have and the Australians have threatend to do recently.

The likes of Root and Stokes aren't playing cricket because of 05. That's a stupid thing to say. Stokes was playing indoor cricket at 5/6 or even earlier and Roots family's into cricket. .

As for killing the game. When was the game more popular. England getting another thrashing in front of a nothing crowd.

 

Would you go out and play, for example Lecrosse without seeing it played first? Kids are inspired by watching the sport(usually on TV). Thats not an opinion, thats a fact. Look at Football after Italia '90. Attendances and participation was up, and its the same with the '05 Ashes.

Since Sky took over, as YTBFC says, participation has dropped 32%. Almost a third less people are playing the sport. Which means that the chances of finding the next Root or Stokes in a lot harder, and that is if they even give the sport a go in the first instance.

And as for when was the game more popular, well, 2005 for a start. And in the 80's when the brilliant Botham was playing. And the 70's. In thise days the BBC got stupidly hight numbers for its coverage.

If you want an alternative method for showing cricket. The Aussies show their home series on their terrestrial TV, as well as their T20 tournament. their participation numbers? Up 16% in the first year and years 2 - 4? up 30%. Directly opposite to ours, i'm sorry to say...

 

So you not understand what people are saying?

Cricket as a sport is going to die. Sky and the IPL are just accelerating that.

Money will kill off the enjoyment of all sports until they are just franchises. They will exist as "entertainment". Much as WCW wrestling, NFL football and other American dominated entertainment shows. And once a sport loses its attention to the masses, sky will just chalk **** on it, the sport will have no kids playing it, and that will be that. You may not understand that. You may live in a bubble where you think lower crowds, less uptake, but higher paid players is a good thing. But don't come crying when someone stops paying your sky bill and you have nothing left to watch.

 

Explained far better than I could. However it will still probably fall on deaf ears! But for any one with any sense you've nailed the problem perfectly.

I actually cancelled sky this year. I realised I was paying the devil to kill the sports I loved as a kid growing up (and at £70 a month I have far better things to spend my money on). It's like hating the sun but reading it, or hating the Torys but voting for them.

 

It was more popular in 2005. That's kind of the point of the original post.

 

I've done exactly the same, and in all honesty I haven't missed it in the slightest. I have started taking my oldest lad to see Yorskshire a few times this season to try and keep his interest in cricket, and I'm hoping and praying that the ECB realise how much of a mess they have made with the Sky deal and sign some sort of terrestrial deal for at least the T20 competition...

 

I'd have to slit this up into different sections but to start showing the Australia models crazy. There players aren't happy FACT. Warner Smith Starc have all said they could not play for Australia past this July if CA don't pay those players that are likely to play the Big Bash fairly.

From that I listen to the England players are more popular across the globe than ever before. Ben Stokes was the highest paid non Indian in the IPL ever last season with it been likely that the Durham player will go for more in IPL 11.

Children are playing less sports for some reason. There are a number of different reasons for this from what I see. Less fields, Parents have been worried about their children going and playing 10/20 minutes away from home and consoles. how many times do you hear at oakwell of a child's fav thing been a console?

Cricket are trying to help with support of the ECB and the financial backing of Sky. http://www.skysports.com/cricket/ne...f-boosting-childrens-participation-in-cricket

I was listening to the guy that founded the youth tournament, the Bunbury Festival. Listening to the founder he thinks he gets more support now than ever. Sky go down a big thing of it. From what he said in years past people didn't care. These are Englands next starts.

I don't think the 05 ashes was bigger for a cricket fan than the Ashes away win or the win in India under Cook or even the win in SA.

When TV was on Channel 4 the ECB were generally worried about the sports. This was a reality and that was the birth of T/20 cricket.

 

I don't think the 05 ashes was bigger for a cricket fan than the Ashes away win or the win in India under Cook or eventhe win in SA.

Utter ******* nonsense

 

Disagree. Go look at the stats for those series. How many times have England won in Australia in the last 20 years and how many times have England won in England against Australia.

How many times have they beat SA away in the last 20 years or how many times have England won in India in the last 20 years? India haven't lost at home snce been beaten by England in 2011?