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Test Match Special, Geoffrey Boycott & cricket broadcasting
According to Geoffrey Boycott in the Daily Telegraph (where else) the BBC’s Test Match Special is but a shadow of its former self. His comments were occasioned by the news that TalkSport have got the radio broadcast rights for England’s forthcoming Test series in India.
Of course Boycott really means that TMS without Boycott is no good though I am certain many don’t agree with that. Indeed in the last year TMS was the most listened to broadcast on BBC Sounds.
The reality is that for TMS and cricket broadcasting the times they are a changing. English and Welsh cricket has issues with discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and gender and cricket broadcasting that consists of a lot of ex-public schoolboys who are getting on in life is no longer what those interested in cricket, want to hear. The cricket expertise is fine, it’s the prejudices and worldviews that are problematic.
TMS has extended considerably its range of commentators in recent times and is much the better for it.
Its coverage of the recent cricket World Cup in India was in my view exemplary. Fascinating broadcasting even if you don’t like cricket which was always one of the great strengths of TMS.
TMS also covers every game in the County Championship on Radio 5 Extra and the web. It fills the gap in cricket reporting left by the decline of local papers. Its worth remembering that Sky has the TV rights to these games but shows hardly any.
This points to the changing nature of cricket broadcasting. It was always likely that Sky now owned by Comcast would role back from a good deal of its TV coverage. Audience figures are rarely revealed by Sky but it seemed clear that the current owners Comcast have little idea what this cricket game is all about.
Rupert Murdoch by contrast does have which explains why the Murdoch Empire which owns TalkSport is expanding its radio coverage. It has the money to do this and the BBC does not.
TNT is also expanding its TV coverage. The ex-BTSport operation now owned by Warners has some former BT rights but is adding more. Why? I’m not sure except it has lots of channels to fill.
The future as usual is uncertain but the era when cricket broadcasting meant the BBC on radio and Sky on TV is changing.
In practice this means currently that while in my day the cricket event of the festive season was often the Boxing Day Test in Australia now there is plethora of international games and nearly all of them can be found somewhere on TV and radio