Of course. But as a cricket fan, I for one am glad there’s a change, and a truly new era (at least this summer) with a new CEO incoming, new skipper and Warner is also suspended (as sad as the whole event is).
In the same way I’m glad the Australian Open has a new broadcaster, a shame it couldn’t be this summer.
Not sure how huge it’ll be for Foxtel in terms of ratings (compared with numbers you see for AFL/NRL).
As Sydney and Brisbane don’t seem to rate that well with cricket anymore, just look at recent summers. Melbourne picking up all the slack, at times 100-150k ahead of Sydney.
Last night on 9Gem, only 20k in Sydney, more than doubled by Melbourne. My point here: Sydney are by far the biggest Foxtel market. Subscribers pay for NRL.
Not sure if Foxtel are expecting gangbuster subscriptions just for summer? I think it was @OnAir or one of the mods who made a valid point, how it’d be financially ridiculous just to get a subscription/satellite dish just for a couple of months of the year!
You do not need a cable or satellite anymore to access foxtel. Foxtel now is available via streaming. It is much more accessible,
Hopefully this strategy fails for CA. Foxtel need to not get success from this and Seven needs to be nattered into submission for their coverage. All of this is wrong in so many ways and the consumer will suffer.
I say this with a foxtel subscription. I just prefer cricket to be exclusive to free to air.
Foxtel have said, iirc, that they intend to allow you to subscribe to the sports channels without having to first subscribe to a basic package and that it will come in time for the cricket season. (Happy to be corrected if I have misremembered this). With a mobile phone or tablet and Chromecast or MHL HDMI to your television, and month to month payments it will be easy to subscribe to Fox Sports for just the Summer, as @cmo indicated.
Interesting.
And just on Foxtel Now, et al. Most would still use Foxtel via the classic way wouldn’t they? Would be good to see some data, I notice Seven often report in ratings how many live or VOD VPM were “connected to TV”.
RETURNING TO PROVIDE ANALYSIS FOR GAME TWO OF THE ENGLAND VS AUSTRALIA ONE-DAY SERIES – 7.30 PM SATURDAY ON NINE
Nine today announced its continuing relationship with former captain of the Australian cricket team and long-time Nine commentator, Mark Taylor, extending his contract by three years.
Taylor continues his affiliation with Nine which has stretched across 21 years of highly respected commentary, as well as lending his expert analysis across all facets of the network.
He will next be heard in the second game of the England Vs Australia One-Day Series this Saturday night at 7.30pm on Nine HD and 9Now.
A former Australian of the Year, a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, as well as an Officer of the Order of Australia, “Tubby” captained the Australian team from 1994 to 1999 and is considered a key element of Australia’s dominance in international cricket during that period.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to continue my association with the Nine family, a fantastic relationship which began over 20 years ago,” Taylor said.
“I look forward to calling all the biggest matches for the foreseeable future, including next year’s Ashes series and the cricket World Cups in the years to come.”
Nine’s Director of Sport, Tom Malone, said: “I’m so happy Mark has renewed his contract with Nine. Ian Chappell says Mark is the greatest captain he ever saw when it came to combining cricket tactics and leadership skills. He’s the perfect choice to be Wide World of Sports’ lead cricket expert over the next three years.
“Beyond that, Mark is one of the greatest people you will ever meet. Of course, he’s a former Australian of the Year and Father of the Year, and he’s been given those honours because he’s a kind and generous person -we love him here at Nine.”
Thank goodnesss that confirms he’s gone from our summers.
Looks like Seven and Foxtel avoiding the ex-Nine commentators (apart from Warne). Though some here have said rumours about Slater joining Seven?
Could Mark Taylor turn up on radio though?
Craig Hutchison would like to hear from him 
Mark Taylor wasn’t that bad, come on.
But we need Australia’s foremost air-conditioning salesman to keep us informed of developments.
They were all bad. I put them in a collective. Whole country overwhelmingly agrees.
Yeah, from Benaud, Lawry, Greig, Chappelli, Chappell G, to Warne, etc., all terrible. Not.
Okay, should’ve excluded Lawry and Richie, both legends. But talking about recent years, apart from those two, not a good team and country agrees
The point about today’s cricket commentary coverage is that without Benaud, Lawry, Greig it has turned into shit. I don’t give a complete shit about Ian Healy dribble out of his mouth.
Your proof of this? I think they were terrible, there was some columns written to that effect but given the ratings were still strong, what exactly are you basing that on? Twitter commentary 
?
Saying the entire country agrees is ludicrous.
There’s been a long culture and even tradition of tuning into Nine for the cricket despite the crap commentary. It’s why thousands of people also mute their TV straight away and put ABC Radio on. I don’t think ratings are an indication of quality here.
They’re not, but neither is the myriad of reality shows that top the ratings.
Just seems like a bold claim from Luke that the whole country is collectively relieved Nine has lost the rights.
Of course I’m basing it on public comments, many newspaper website and social media comments. It’s overwhelmingly negative.
Nine did a stellar job covering cricket production and advocacy wise, but the commentary became progressively worse and worse. On Air if you loved Slater, Warne, Healy and the like, good for you. But I became bored as hell many years ago by the constant mother’s group chatter, dad jokes during rain delays and hearing more about what they’re doing on their holidays then hearing the call!
No…
What I am saying is it’s dangerous to exaggerate and take those comments as how the entire country feels.