Ashes Series Fuels Contest for Broadcasting Rights

It is not just the action on the pitch that will be bitterly contested when the Ashes begins in Cardiff on Wednesday. As the first ever home Ashes series to be shown exclusively live on pay TV, it will also serve as the pertinent backdrop to the first government review to decide which sporting events are guaranteed for free-to-air television in a decade.

Sky has the exclusive rights to all England's home Tests and other England and Wales Cricket Board-sanctioned events under a £300m deal agreed last year. It was the overwhelming wave of public euphoria that greeted the last Ashes on home soil, which England won, that ignited a high-profile but doomed campaign to "keep cricket free".

Sky had already won the rights and the Ashes series was last shown on Channel 4, with more than 8m viewers watching the climax to each Test.

One argument was that the ECB had broken a "gentlemen's agreement" between then culture secretary Chris Smith and then ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin in 1998, when the list was last reviewed. The pair agreed to remove Test cricket from the list but MacLaurin vowed to keep a significant part on free-to-air TV.

The ECB chairman Giles Clarke, and chief executive, Hugh Collier counter that Sky's money has prompted huge investment in grassroots cricket, pointing to increased participation in the sport and bigger attendances at county grounds.

The money has also helped boost the game in schools and accelerated the advance of women's cricket. Sky's high-quality coverage has also received plaudits, particularly from those who remember how terrestrial channels would often switch to the news or horse racing before the end of play.

The absence of Test cricket from terrestrial screens has sparked a row between the BBC and the ECB. Clarke has accused the corporation of failing to bid for the rights when offered last year, despite pushing them to do so.

The ECB believe the BBC pulled out when it did a deal for Formula One instead. "It was extraordinarily disappointing that we should end up with a situation where taxpayers' money is being spent to pay for tax exiles to drive around a motor track on the other side of the world. I think it is thoroughly unattractive," Clarke has said.

The BBC, in turn, has accused the ECB of paying lip service to terrestrial coverage without being prepared to accept a drop in revenues or help with scheduling issues.

The Ashes is only likely to reignite the debate.