It’s just not, well, you know… 

5 August 2008 tbs.pm/930

ECB attacks BBC for failing to bid for television rights

So what’s the real reason behind the English Cricket Board moaning about the BBC’s refusal to bid for terrestrial TV cricket rights? Perhaps it’s because both Channel 4 and Setanta also refused to place bids, which resulted in both Channel Five and BSkyB winning the rights for another four years almost by default.

No resultant bidding war for cricket rights inevitably meant less potential revenue for the English Cricket Board, and both Channel 4 plus Setanta could possibly be excused on financial grounds courtesy of a weakening media economy. Hence the selection of the BBC as a soft target for the ECB’s money-making scheme backfiring.

If the English Cricket Board had suddenly become serious about promoting the game to all licence fee payers (as opposed to their previous stance of campaigning against cricket being added to the list of ‘protected’ sports), they could have separately offered the BBC a low cost deal to show highlights and/or selected matches.

But for some reason they didn’t.