Sky to retain cricket rights until 2013

[madmusician]

Plus, Anita Rani is fit.

She was originally on Channel 4 you know.

Seriously, I agree with all you say. Just a dip-in from the BBC or another terrestrial broadcaster would be nice, so that when England next win the Ashes (, thy whole country can see it on their TV screens as it happens.

 

[evertonfan]

I knew I should have mentioned the fact that I was aware that Sky signed her from Channel 4 where she made fame presenting the Cricket Show alongside Adam Dark.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Sky have brilliant commentators and excellent coverage. Love watching matches on Star Sports for that very reasons (It is basically Sky Sports for India). Not a big England fan, but it is a lot of fun watching them play.

 

[Collingwood50]

So no one thinks that Channel 4's Coverage was any good?:crying

 

[madmusician]

Oh, I do - see my earlier post.

 

[aditya123]

Sky have brilliant commentators and excellent coverage. Love watching matches on Star Sports for that very reasons (It is basically Sky Sports for India). Not a big England fan, but it is a lot of fun watching them play.

ESPNSTAR is a sister network of Sky Sports(BSkyb).It is owned by Murdroch as well.

 

[evertonfan]

Channel 4's team was indeed very good, but one can't help but feel Sky's is a lot more proffesional. Which is understandable considering they have Gower, Botham and Hussain who have all captained their country. Mike Atherton as well but he's a cast off from Channel 4. As well this they have the user friendly ex-England coach David Lloyd who is not only knows a hell of a lot about cricket, his aura of humour and fun is a breath of fresh air and is great for the younger generation of fans. And then they have Michael Holding's brilliant commentary and they always have one commentator from the touring side such as Shaun Pollock in this series and they've used players such as Jimmy Adams and Rameez Raja in the past.

All in all i'm not denying the quality of C4's coverage, but I always have prefered Sky's commentary team and probably always will.

 

[madmusician]

On the topic of TV, why have Channel 5 neglected to broadcast any sort of programme tonight! I admit that they might have packed up and gone home, but they surely could have got Mark Nicholas to voice over some vintage footage and show the press conference. It's not everyday that an England captain resigns.

 

[evertonfan]

That sort of encapsulates the point that MUFC made to be honest.

 

[Skater]

I couldn't depend on 4 or Five talking about the captaincy live from Edgbaston like Sky did today.

 

[madmusician]

I know, I know. I think that Sky's commitment is fantastic, and for that they deserve the Test Matches. It's just the sad fact that they are pay-tv. Having said that, when Nasser quit Channel 4 did a big feature on it, leading the press conference, doing a big feature on the news and then extending their highlights programme that night. So if an FTA channel did have live rights, then perhaps they'd have covered it. Swings and roundabouts really.

 

[manee]

Plus, the innovation of Cricket AM is a surprisingly succesful one and what started as a stale and bland show has now devolped into a very entertaining and good to watch breakfast show with a great charisma between the two presenters. Plus, Anita Rani is fit.

The show is still painful in areas, with the guests fluffing up the scoring on the bowl out and people moving the stumps with Anita getting slightly angry as well as the interviews which can be outright awkward in areas.

As for Anita Rani - you damn right!

 

[Will_NA]

Cricket AM will never match the success of Soccer AM, unfortunately.

Anita Rani - you're joking.

 

[evertonfan]

It's obviously not going to match Soccer AM. That's the main reason people don't like it and it's silly. If they'd judge it on what it is rather than what it isn't then theyt'd see that's a decent show.

 

[Will_NA]

I get your point and I've tried to but it's not exactly a brand new concept. It follows the style of Soccer AM and you can't help but see a poor imitation.

They need showboating and third eyes (can't remember if they have that). Dunno how showboating would work but KP would feature on it a couple of times. Plus, the commentators don't have the chemistry of Lovejoy and Chamberlain.