Select Committee must report into Sky Cricket Deal- Sanders

As the Ashes test comes to its climax Adrian Sanders, MP for Torbay, has today called for a report into why live test cricket is to be taken away from terrestrial television.

Adrian Sanders has written to the chair of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, of which he is a member, and the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, to voice his concern over live test cricket becoming available only for those who can pay.

Adrian said,

“Today sees the culmination of the greatest Ashes series for more than twenty years. Whatever the outcome, memories of the dramatic finishes to the last three tests will be embedded in our national consciousness. New role models of excellence and sportsmanship have emerged for our children. £380 per year for the average household viewer is not a price which should be put on this.”

More than 8 million viewers have tuned in to Channel 4’s live coverage of the Ashes series this summer and Andrew Flintoff is the favourite to win the BBC sports personality of the year- he would be the first cricketer to do so since 1981.

Adrian added,

“Thanks to free-to-air coverage, this special sporting event has been a shared national experience that has lifted the nation. Test cricket is special in that the action unfolds over four or five days. It relies on people being able to dip in and out of the coverage, but it is important for viewers to be able to stay in touch with the developing narrative.

“With this popular resurgence, it is a strange time to bid farewell to free-to-air live coverage of Test cricket and prepare for a future exclusively on pay TV.”

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