SKY. Why there’s anger
0More fool us.
Between the last T20 and last night’s first ODI there was the feeling that this was like the end of the Transfer Window. A lot of the noise was bluster, and a compromise will be reached in time. In the end there was no compromise, two stubborn parties refused to budge over a cost difference that, in the wider context, seems to be pretty trivial.
Two brothers fighting over who gets to sell the family blankets, and the losers were the New Zealand cricket fans
Late last night SKY finally spoke. Spokesman Richard Last laid all of the blame at the feet of “Sydney-based agent IMG”. Ah yes, same old Aussies. It is pretty disingenuous to lay all the blame in failed negotiations with one party; that rarely happens in any situation.
Then this “a low-key tour in winter, screened in the middle of the night, was factored into the calculation for their bid, but it didn’t play a huge part.” So it didn’t play a huge part, but he thought he’d put it out there anyway. You have really bad breath but that’s not why we’re breaking up.
The middle of the night angle ignores one of SKY’s key products; MySKY. This recording device is a great tool, but it does not come cheap. It is how most people watch sport from the middle of the night, which is a time of day when a fair proportion of the best sport is on.
And a tour of South Africa is never a low-key tour.
Of course cricket fans were going to complain. Coverage that we have expected over the last 12 years has been taken from us. And it has been taken from us at a time when the sport is experiencing a spike in following, and two and a half months before one of the most anticipated test series in NZ history.
Very few, if any, subscriptions will be cancelled but this, the attitude surrounding it, and other issues like SKYGo’s inability to cope with moderate demand, and the Daily Show fiasco means that there is a growing goodwill deficit.
As an aside, more Kabaddi is not the answer.