Ashes to stay on Sky as Government defers review

The British Government has deferred until 2013 a decision on the recommendations of the Davies Review into so-called "Crown Jewel" sporting events, meaning that the England & Wales Cricket Board is unlikely to face the threat of its most marketable asset, the four-yearly home Ashes series, being handed over to free-to-air television in the foreseeable future.

Hugh Robertson, the sports minister who was an opponent of the review when in opposition prior to the recent General Election, believes that sporting governing bodies should retain the freedom to sell their rights to the highest bidding broadcaster,

"The broadcasting context for this is increasingly unclear," Robertson told the BBC. "I fully support the principle of protecting major sports events for free-to-air coverage. But with digital switchover concluding in 2012, this will result in the widespread availability of a significantly-increased number of television channels, many of which will be free to air."

Robertson is expected to ask in return that those sports affected invest a full 30% of their TV revenue on their grassroots, instead of the current figure of 5%."While 30% may sound ambitious, I am optimistic that this can be achieved," Robertson told The Guardian "National governing bodies have a duty to ensure that they have the strongest community structure possible."

The new proposal is also intended to soften the blow that is likely to hit community sports through the proposed 25-40% reduction in public spending that the government has planning in the wake of last month's emergency budget.

The list of Crown Jewel events had also included the Olympic Games, football World Cup finals and European Championship finals, the FA Cup final, Grand National, the Epsom Derby, Wimbledon tennis finals, the Rugby League Challenge Cup final and rugby union World Cup final, but the ECB had been the most vociferous critics of the proposal, because of the impact it would have had on their ongoing deal with BskyB.

Despite being limited to 10m homes and a peak audience of around 1.5m viewers in 2009, compared to nearer 8m when Channel 4 hosted the 2005 Ashes, Sky bid £264m for exclusive rights to England internationals from 2010-13. According to figures from the ECB's consultants, Oliver & Ohlbaum, any subsequent deal from 2014-17 would have been worth 48% less, or £137.4m, had the Ashes been made free-to-air.