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Cricketers on a sticky wicket
The start of today's fourth Ashes match at Chester-le-Street is not the only cricket-related contest going on in town.
Media mix-up is just not cricket Rosli Othman
In fact, while it hosts the Australian-England match, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is involved in its own conflict with smaller rival, The Cricketer. While the ECB organises TV, radio and other media access to test matches played in England and Wales, the Cricketer has its own media arm, Test Match Sofa. Test Match Sofa was set up in the South London living room of cricket fan Dan Norcross to be an alternative, globally-available, rival to the BBC's famous Test Match Special (available only in the UK).
Tension builds
Now, however, the lawyers are involved - as the ECB puts pressure on Test Match Sofa to cut its ball-by-ball coverage. Nick Goldstone, partner in Davenport Lyons, represents the Test Match Sofa team. Tension has been building in anticipation of the Chester-le-Street match and then the fifth and final match at the Oval. Prior to the third test at Old Trafford, the ECB cancelled the accreditation of Andrew Miller, editor of the Cricketer, to attend the remaining tests. This was because he had tweeted a recommendation for Test Match Sofa. The Cricketer has temporarily accepted restrictions on the activity of its accredited journalists in order to let Miller and other Cricketer journalists to attend the last two Ashes test matches.
New contest
Now that England has retained the Ashes, fans may be wanting another convoluted contest to follow. This one could do instead. The ECB is, according to Davenport Lyons, 'a dominant monopoly and subject to the Competition Act'. Its turnover of £111 million is 111 times larger than that of the Cricketer. The BBC'sTest Match Special has an audience of millions of listeners while Test Match Sofa has an audience of tens of thousands.
