Miscellaneous

Cut-Price Tests Fear For TCCB (01 Feb 1996)

ENGLAND`S worried cricket authorities are attempting to have Test matches removed from the Broadcasting Bill`s proposed list of heritage sporting events reserved for terrestrial television

Electronic Telegraph Thursday 1 February 1996

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Cut-price Tests fear for TCCB

By Charles Randall

ENGLAND`S worried cricket authorities are attempting to have Test matches removed from the Broadcasting Bill`s proposed list of heritage sporting events reserved for terrestrial television.

Richard Little, a Test and County Cricket Board official, and Terry Blake, the marketing manager, visited the House of Lords yesterday to put their case before next week`s upper chamber discussions, where amendments can be tabled as a preliminary to the parliamentary debate.

The TCCB have been lobbying MPs and are trying to mobilise opinion to prevent what they perceive as a serious threat to cricket`s finances.

They claim that removing a Test series from the BBC versus satellite market place would reduce the value of what they call their "major shop window".

Little said: "A Test series is potentially 180 hours of sport. If you add up all the other events on the list they don`t come to that. The Derby, for example, is a couple of minutes."

Combined income from the BBC and Sky amounts to about #15 million a year until the end of 1998. This figure contrasts with that of 1989, when the BBC, as sole bidders, paid only #1.5 million.

Much of the proceeds from the TCCB`s existing four-year deal have been earmarked for setting up an England Cricket Board as a single body to administer all aspects of the game.

Little said: "The fact that Sky weren`t debarred from bidding made BBC bid a fair price for the Test matches. ITV or Channel 4 have never shown an interest. If BBC were the sole bidder, the game could lose out on a financial basis. This worries us a lot.

"With Sky coming in, we`ve increased television hours from 300 to 600 a year. If we suddenly get a drop-off in our revenues, it`s going to hit the grass roots of the game. We have done nothing to disrupt the terrestrial-satellite balance, yet we`re the sport that is likely to suffer most by this list.

"The last contract was a pretty fair deal all round. We ensured we got a balanced package. The BBC had the Test matches and NatWest Trophy, while Sky took the one-day internationals and the Benson and Hedges Cup. Each got highlights of each other`s." 9 December 1994: County professionals set for rise from TV revenue

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)