Will Sky Ever Broadcast A Freeview Sports Channel?
Yesterday, Sky held the rights to both the Cricket World Cup Final and The British Grand Prix.
But in the end Sky shared the coverage of both events with Channel 4!
Now that both events have successfully concluded, Sky will have the details of the following.
- Number of viewers.
- Advertising revenue on both Sky and Channel 4.
- Reaction from politicians, some of whom are not very pleased with Sky.
This will enable the company to decide, whether it is in the company’s interest to do it again.
- I can also see a scenario, where if a Sky Freeview channel exists, that sports would want to do promotional deals to get their sport in front of viewers, by perhaps having the top level on satellite and lower levels on Freeview.
- Sky uses a lot of repeats on its Sports Channels at Off Peak times.
- Freeview technology will also be allowing more channels.
- Sky must be a bit worried about competition from other broadcasters woth bottomless pockets.
I don’t think we can rule anything out, as Sky are an innovative and ambitious broadcaster.
Wliford Bridge On The Nottingham Express Transit
Wilford Bridge opened over a hundred years ago as a toll bridge and parts of it are Listed.
The Nottingham Express Transit (NET) needed to cross the River Trent and instead of building a new bridge this bridge was widened and strengthened to accept trams.
I think that the architects and engineers have done a splendid job to create a very good crossing for trams, pedestrians and cyclists. As I walked across it, there was a lot of cyclists and pedestrians crossing the river.
I do wonder if the Meadows Embankment tram stop on the north side of the bridge will become one of the better ways to get to the cricket and football grounds. You would park at Clifton South or another convenient Park-and-Ride and after getting off the tram, would walk along the river. The Google Map shows the Trent from Wilford Bridge to Trent Bridge.
River Trent
I don’t know how good the walking route is at present, but surely signs and information on the river route and a possibly more direct one cutting out the bend in the River Trent should be provided. I suspect that the route is shorter than it first appears, as there is the Wilford Suspension bridge on the other side of the bend.
A Pantomime Horse At The Cricket
There are several reports of a pantomime horse being spotted at Edgbaston in the cricket yesterday.
Surprisingly, I can’t find a picture in the papers.
Should Irish Cricket Be Given Test Status?
Jason Gillespie thinks this according to a report on SkySports.
I am old enough to remember, when Test cricket didn’t include Sri Lanka, and none would say that admitting them hasn’t been a success.
At least admitting the Irish would probably raise the fun level.
Why Is It Not Planned To Take The Nottingham Tram To Trent Bridge?
From my limited knowledge of Nottingham, I find the Nottingham tram, a bit of a conundrum, in the way it doesn’t serve the football and cricket grounds.
England has four major cities; Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle and Nottingham, that use tram or light rail to move passengers around the city. In addition, Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol have heavy rail networks that do a similar job.
Most major sports ground and arenas in larger cities are located on these networks. In fact, some clubs have the tram stop or train station named to connect it to the stadium or club.
There is Arsenal, Upton Park and White Hart Lane in London, St. James in Newcastle, Hawthorns in Birmingham and Hillsborough in Sheffield.
Nottingham has three stadia in the Trent Bridge area of the city; Trent Bridge cricket ground, Forest’s City Ground and County’s Meadow Lane, but surprisingly the Nottingham tram doesn’t go or isn’t even planned to go to the area.
However this lack of connection to the City Ground, didn’t stop the tram advertising in the stadium.
I am totally surprised that Nottingham are spending all these millions on constructing a tram system, that doesn’t go near the area, where a lot of visitors to the city want to go.
Today for instance, after arriving from London, I took the tram up the hill to a restaurant I like in King Street. After my lunch, it would have been so easy to walk to the tram line and then get a tram to the ground! I’d have also probably taken a tram back to the station. So instead of probably a day ticket for £3.70, I bought just one single ticket at £2.20.
And did a lot of walking!
An Unusual Letter In The Times
On Friday this letter appeared in The Times under the title of Maiden Over.
It is well known that the Almighty is a spin bowler …
Sir, Patrick Kidd concludes that if successive days of rain in the cricket match between the Lord’s XI and a Vatican XI (Aug 27) stop play “it’s probably proof that God is more of a rugby man”. I think he needs to get out more, for we all know that She is an avid follower of lacrosse.
It was signed by the Diosesan Secretary of the Diocese of Ely!
Is John Lewis A Lucky Company?
English cricket was in a bad way after the disastrous Australian tour last winter and it does seem that a change of sponsor to Waitrose has brought a change of luck!
You could argue the team would have improved anyway, but even if that is the case then John Lewis have shown superb timing to decide to sponsor the team.
It is said that you have to make your own luck.
John Lewis certainly do!
Especially this morning, with pictures of happy cricketers with Waitrose on their chests, all over the media.
Lord MacClaurin’s Unworkable View
Lord MacClaurin has just suggested that the solution to the woes of English cricket is to cut the number of counties to twelve. Alan Lamb agreed and they went on to suggest mergers like Kent with Sussex and Northants with Warwicks.
It may be right, but can you imagine those that run and occasionally support the counties will take this. I have lived in both the old counties of East Suffolk and West Suffolk, which were combined with the County Borough of Ipswich to form Suffolk. The only thing that those in the new county are agreed on, is that you support Ipswich Town, but those in the west, still resent that Ipswich was chosen as the county town.
So will merged counties ever happen? I doubt it!
Can This Christmas Get Any Worse?
Yesterday’s lunch with my son and his friends went well, but I had to come home, as I wasn’t feeling well! Nothing serious and I suspect it was just the effect of the cold dry weather, affecting my gut. I don’t think I ate any gluten, but it was as if I had. So it was alone and back to watching old Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise on BBC2.
To make matters worse, when I returned home, I did find that I’d left a window open, when I went out. The house had a temperature of eighteen. At least, the open window only let the cold in.
At least, I was able to use the air conditioning to take the chill off of the temperature. But of course, the humidifier I’d hired in to get the humidity up had failed. Although, I’m doubtful it was ever working properly.
Why does she hate me so much? You can understand, why I feel that religion and God, herself, is so much rubbish.
I went to bed at about ten last night, as bed was the one warm place in the house. The temperature was about 20 °C with a humidity somewhere in the low thirties.
I slept well as I always do and decided to get up at five, as I was fully awake. I thought there might be some good news on the cricket and with the air-conditioning on, I might get the temperature up to twenty-three or so.
But of course, the news from Melbourne was its usual load of old rubbish.
And then the letter R on my e-mail computer packed up. Try typing anything sensible without that letter. It could have been worse, as the E might have failed. So now, I’m using my other computer, which is not as easy for my one-handed typing. It also doesn’t run my preferred Windows Vista.
At six-thirty, I decided to have a hot bath. That was good, but the bathroom is stone cold, as the heating isn’t really working.
In an hour or so, I’m going to get my paper and see if I can find a nice warm cafe. Sadly, there isn’t a hotel near me with a restaurant I can trust. Carluccio’s don’t open until eleven.
At least though, I’ve got plenty of porridge and some bacon, eggs and beans for a fry-up. I’d love to have some sausages, but they’re all in my freezer. But would they freeze out before next weekend, if I got them out now? The nearest supplier is one of two Sainsbury stores, which open at ten. I’ll need to go to one, as I’m virtually out of gluten-free bread.
I still intend to get to Doncaster, and as I write this, I haven’t got a lift. I did think there’d be someone in the area going north with a space, so I didn’t make alternative provisions. This would have been to book a place on the coach from Newmarket. I can get there by taking a train to Stansted and then using a taxi. But it is now too late to book the coach.
So if I do go, it’ll be a 113 bus to Apex Corner and then hitching up the A1.
I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and the return to some degree of normality.
Next winter, I’ll book myself into a five-star hotel on Christmas Eve. Then when it all goes pear-shaped, I’ll at least ruin the Christmas of a lot of other people.
Another Letter In The Times
I had a letter published in The Times on Tuesday about the cricket, under a title of Spin Bowling.
Sir, If the Daylight Saving Bill had been passed into law, the farce of the fifth Test at the Oval would have been avoided (Aug 26). The match would have been coming to a conclusion at effectively 6pm, when the light was certainly good enough, as events showed, for nearly an hour of play.
Those MPs who opposed the Bill should hang their head in shame.
On Monday, I did talk to someone, who’d been at the Test, that I’d met at Welling. He said that the light at six, wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough to play cricket, as they in fact did.
The Anonymous Widower 