I Missed Gunther, Oh No!

The time I decide not to watch an IPL match because I’m not that interested now in Deccan or Rajasthan, I find out that Andre Nel has been in the ITV 4 studio, damn!

But lots of people are tuning in, ITV 4 has a bit of a viewership coup on it’s hands.  It is now topping half a million on a Sunday afternoon.

Remind me again – just why is our domestic competition not available even as a highlights package on free to air?

IPL v England; Head to Head TV ratings.

The lure of fee to air TV!  As many people in Britain are watching the IPL as watched the Bangladesh v England tests.

Cricket to make a return to free to air in UK

Live cricket coverage is to return to the UK for the first time since 2005.  It’s only ITV and it’s only the IPL, but it is a start.  English cricket has plenty of potential niche audiences out there and presumably ITV can see a good inroad to the British Asian community with the IPL, while the BBC keeps with the more slender multicultural appeal of such gems as Formula 1 and snooker.  It is a shame the Ashes red herring has been allowed to keep cricket off free to air for so long.