BT Sport wins 2017/18 Ashes rights

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

For the next tour down under BT Sport have won the rights to broadcast the Ashes, reportedly paying £350m smackers for them.

£350m for a niche sport, in the middle of the night...in a historically bad place for English cricket. Not sure that's great business sense for BT (although if they can gain the summer tests then it makes sense)

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Sorry read the article wrong - BT have secured the right to Aussie home games in the UKfor the next 5 years (£70m a year), which obviously includes the next Ashes.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

£70m a year for Aussie home games...the Aussie cricket board have done BT up a kipper there. Absolutely ridiculous sums of money!

[Gregers]

So rubbish coverage then on a network less people get (and those that do don't watch much as it's rubbish)

That'll help test cricket...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

So rubbish coverage then on a network less people get (and those that do don't watch much as it's rubbish)

That'll help test cricket...

Very poor for the consumer this...having to pay twice for the same product, and in fact Sky's cricket coverage is absolutely fantastic, so them losing some of it is even worse for the consumer.

Only good for the cricket boards this...doubt we'll see this reflected in cheaper ticket prices for games tho...

[Duty281]

Wow! Never saw this coming.

The demise of Sky Sports happening quicker than expected - and, with the standard of their cricket broadcasting noticeably tiring over the last few years, not necessarily a bad thing.

Will be interested to see who BT Sport acquire for their team - if they get Mark Nicholas, it's a very, very bad sign!

[temporary21]

That does suck, I hope the sky team keep all the home games, half the fun is their banter. This split of coverage is terrible for the consumer, it hasnt even driven down the prices of either service

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Wow! Never saw this coming.

The demise of Sky Sports happening quicker than expected - and, with the standard of their cricket broadcasting noticeably tiring over the last few years, not necessarily a bad thing.

Will be interested to see who BT Sport acquire for their team - if they get Mark Nicholas, it's a very, very bad sign!

Would imagine they'll just have a studio of a couple guests then pickup the channel 9 coverage (shudder). There is no escape from the Nicholas!

[Duty281]

It's only £80 million (a slight increase on the current deal), by the way, not the £350 million originally reported.

Who would have thought the Daily Mail would get something wrong!

[Sponsored content]