New English cricket TV deal leaves several questions unanswered

HUW TURBERVILL: With several key positions at the ECB vacant, the BBC not mentioned and a new weekly highlights show without a broadcaster, what does the latest announcement actually tell us?

While the announcement that the ECB has brokered a new TV deal – or should that be 'extended'? – with Sky came as no surprise this morning, the absence of any mention of the BBC or any other terrestrial broadcaster for that matter was eye-catching.

So, the current deal, which we are only about halfway through, don't forget, lasts from 2020 to 2024. Sky paid £1bn, the BBC £100m. Men's Test cricket still accounts for the lion's share (about 60 per cent).

While it was laudable that former ECB chief executive Tom Harrison managed to bring BBC TV back to the table after an absence since 1999, many, myself included, were disappointed that there was not at least one live Test match on Auntie's channels per summer. There are some Hundred games for men and women and a few T20Is.

This time the BBC have not been mentioned at all. When I put this to the ECB, they said it was important to get the deal with Sky through before agreeing one with other broadcasters. 

This is extraordinary, isn't it? I assume that the ECB talked to all potential clients, saw what they were offering, weighed up the options, then made a deal. "The BBC is a red herring, they don't want live Tests," is a widely held view. "This isn't a new deal, just an extension," I have also been told. 

But if it's an extension (with Sky), why has it not been extended to the BBC? "Because they have just extended the Sky 'silo'." Oh.

This isn't a pop at Sky. Their coverage is excellent (if you can afford it). This deal stipulates 90 extra hours of live cricket on TV each year, including more Blast matches. There will be more money for Dynamos cricket (and so on). No one really conceived that any extension wouldn't include Sky as major players. But still…

^{The new deal promises increased exposure for the T20 Blast (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

The other consideration in all this is that the new deal has been made about a fortnight before a new chair is appointed. 

Richard Thompson, of Surrey, is the favourite. Martin Darlow (acting chair) and Alan Dickinson (on the independent board) are the continuity candidates.

Thompson opposed The Hundred. This new deal appears to extend its shelf-life to 2028. 

Even if Thompson wanted to can it, the ECB's 'Marmite' pet project appears to be guaranteed another seven editions. 

What is also extraordinary is that this deal is said to have been negotiated by Harrison, who has now left the ECB (after receiving his share of a deeply controversial £2.1m bonus scheme for, in part, birthing the 100-ball baby). Tony Singh (chief commercial officer) worked with him. Darlow signed it off.

Clare Conor has been acting ECB CEO, but there have been concerns about a conflict of interest as she is also head of women's cricket at ECB, among other roles in the game… including the MCC presidency until October.

I just can't quite see why there was a hurry for this deal. Surely with two more summers still to go after this one, the new chair and the chief executive could have been left to forge their own agreement.

"For those wondering why the counties seem to back The Hundred, even though it marginalises the competitions their own teams play in… well, they get paid £1.3m each a year to greenlight it"

It might be that Thompson or whoever lands the role wants the game to still be shown mainly on Sky (despite the growth of potential bidders including BT, Eurosport and Amazon Prime). 

Maybe the BBC or others just have no interest in showing a live Test match anymore. It is even conceivable that Thompson has changed his mind about The Hundred. 

He and his colleagues at Surrey certainly were against it. The county giants had no need for it. Blast matches at the Kia Oval sold out and were lucrative. They still do it when they are scheduled properly. Arguably other counties need it more.

The Hundred is deeply unpopular with so many county followers, who say that it has damaged the LV=Insurance County Championship, now played mainly at the start and end of the summer (spring and autumn, or early and late summer, depending on which side of the fence you sit on); the 50-over game, which misses the best 100 white-ball players in the country (not great in a format in which we are world champions); and the T20 Blast, which has seen a drop in some crowds this year.

The future of The Hundred is a thorny issue. It has been great for women's cricket, and therefore many cricket fans are reluctant to see it tampered with.

Richard Thompson is the county's choice to be the new ECB chair (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)

I have been given some background. Apparently "the deal has been discussed over a long period of time; the evidence shows the current arrangements are working and it's an important deal which gives the game certainty over its main revenue stream at a time of rising costs".

Despite the lack of permanent appointments at the top, "the Board and Executive are fully operational and [have] consulted with the first-class counties. [They] have an expert Board Media Rights Sub-Group and FCC Chairs Media Rights Advisory Group, both of whom have given the necessary levels of support and check and challenge throughout the process, and the deal was approved by the ECB Board."

So there you are then.

Incidentally, it's the counties pushing for Thompson to be appointed, to defy the independent board which conspicuously lacks cricket expertise, especially now Harrison has gone. Not everyone loves Surrey, but they feel he has the dynamism and clout to make a success of the job.

For those wondering why the counties seem to back The Hundred, even though it marginalises the competitions their own teams play in… well, they get paid £1.3m each a year to greenlight it. And from 2025 it's conceivable that foreign investment is allowed into it, giving the counties more of a windfall. 

Fewer games, more wonga. I guess there's some perverse logic to that.  

Oh, one last thing. There is to be a new weekly highlights show to be broadcast on a terrestrial station. We just don't know yet which one. 

We live in strange times.

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• ECB and Sky extend broadcast deal, with The Hundred set to continue to at least 2028