A Media Guardian report this morning suggests that the new Government is not going to add The Ashes to the sporting Listed Events, ignoring the recommendation that they should be included in David Davies’ report from last November.
The Guardian report is headlined “Ashes to stay on Sky” which is only really true of the current contract. Of course, it’s probably also true while the current short-sighted individuals in charge of the ECB ensure that cricket only reaches a small fee-paying audience.
It’s true that just about every major sporting body hate the Listed Events even if they’ve only ever sold their rights to a free-to-air broadcaster. But just about every major sporting body has in some way profited from public money in one form or another. Quid pro quo.
The Guardian report suggests that sports minister Hugh Robertson is calling for 30% of TV revenues to be passed on to grass roots. As it goes on to say, the definition for what that actually means needs some serious tightening up. Paying wages of overseas players probably doesn’t consititute “grass roots”. And while the FA passes on lots of cash to the grass roots, I rather suspect that – with the best will in the world – the Premier League doesn’t.
Overall this is disappointing, but largely expected news. I mentioned quid pro quo earlier; is the same true for Murdoch and the Tories perhaps?
[UPDATE] The decision surrounding Listed Events has been kicked into the long grass. There won’t now be any changes until 2012 when digital switchover has completed. While things like Project Canvas could be a game changer, I’m not sure what difference there’ll be in the state of TV between now and 2012 apart from Freeview having rolled out a bit more. Delaying any changes for a couple of years is just avoiding making a decision now. And there can’t be accussations of appeasing Murdoch by doing nothing at all. At least that’s the theory.