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Old 03-01-2017, 00:34
jimmylad
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I recently downloaded the Cricket Australia app to get the ABC commentary for the Australia/Pakistan test series. What I didn't realise is that there are two commercial stations that also do commentary in Australia and it has been fascinating to listen to them..

The above got me thinking about England Test matches. Will their ever be commentary on commercial radio over here? talkSPORT 2 would be the obvious choice. Does anyone think they or anyone else are ever likely to pick up commentary rights? Say for an away series? I believe talkSPORT did this once in the West Indies a good few years ago now. Or could someone pick up home rights and broadcast commentary instead of or alongside Test Match Special. TMS is second to none but it would be interesting if they got some competition.

Edit: Just to note that Merv Hughes commentating on Triple M radio kept using the word 'bull****er' to describe the computer score predictor they were using which kept giving dubious predictions. There no way he would have gotten away with that on UK radio. Rather interesting that he is able to use such words on Australian commercial radio. (I say specifically commercial radio as I'm not sure he'd get away with it on ABC their public broadcaster)
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Old 03-01-2017, 01:01
The Difference
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I recently downloaded the Cricket Australia app to get the ABC commentary for the Australia/Pakistan test series. What I didn't realise is that there are two commercial stations that also do commentary in Australia and it has been fascinating to listen to them..

The above got me thinking about England Test matches. Will their ever be commentary on commercial radio over here? talkSPORT 2 would be the obvious choice. Does anyone think they or anyone else are ever likely to pick up commentary rights? Say for an away series? I believe talkSPORT did this once in the West Indies a good few years ago now. Or could someone pick up home rights and broadcast commentary instead of or alongside Test Match Special. TMS is second to none but it would be interesting if they got some competition.
talkSPORT 2 picked up commentary rights to England's one-day series in Bangladesh last year at short notice, after the BBC secured (primarily Test match) commentary rights to that series but were unable to fulfill them logistically when it came to the ODIs.

I think the ECB value the premium they can receive in rights fees for exclusive radio commentary rights to international cricket, but having said that, they turned down a higher offer lodged by talkSPORT when England rights came up for renewal in the early 2000s in order to stay with the BBC. Clearly it would be difficult for any radio broadcaster to compete with TMS without exclusivity and so justify a significant amount of expenditure on non-exclusive rights. The five series talkSPORT covered exclusively between 1998 and 2005 were all England tours of other nations during our winter, so were negotiated with the home nations' cricket boards rather than the ECB.

I'm also not convinced that either talkSPORT station would be willing to commit so much airtime and resources to an England Test tour given the amount of the schedule they would have to devote to one, potentially conflicting with their regular commentaries from sports with domestic interest including the Premier League, Champions League, Aviva Premiership etc. That may cause a headache. However, they seem well prepared to pick up non-exclusive rights to limited overs cricket and I could see them doing a commentary deal (in addition to the one BBC Radio will surely have) for this year's ICC Champions Trophy, which is to be played in England and Wales this June. talkSPORT 2 have recently renewed their Indian Premier League commentary deal for a second year.
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Old 03-01-2017, 11:18
Gerry1
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talkSPORT could always use split DAB/MW programming to avoid disrupting their schedules, or even split their 64kbit/s DAB on D1 into 2 x 32kbit/s DAB+.
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Old 03-01-2017, 11:36
gomezz
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I recently downloaded the Cricket Australia app to get the ABC commentary for the Australia/Pakistan test series. What I didn't realise is that there are two commercial stations that also do commentary in Australia and it has been fascinating to listen to them
I was trying to get the commentary from the ABC website on my Android tablet for the last day of the 2nd test but even thought it showed as playing there was no sound. In the end I just listened to the BT Sport app commentary which was sparser being for TV of course.
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Old 03-01-2017, 12:56
jimmylad
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I was trying to get the commentary from the ABC website on my Android tablet for the last day of the 2nd test but even thought it showed as playing there was no sound. In the end I just listened to the BT Sport app commentary which was sparser being for TV of course.
Download the Cricket Australia app or use their website cricket.com.au. You have to sign up but it's free of charge if you just want the radio commentary, You have to become a premium user (I'm not sure how much it costs) to get the channel 9 TV pictures, though I'm not sure if it would be geoblocked outside Australia? The radio coverage isn't mind, at least not in the UK.
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Old 03-01-2017, 13:39
gomezz
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use their website cricket.com.au
That is where I went but got nothing. Do I have to turn my tablet the other way up?

In related news my Day 1 highlights failed to record this lunchtime presumably due to the Boring Bloody Big Bash live match over-running and confusing the Youview box accurate recording mechanism. Got it set now to record the teatime showing.
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