***Official*** New Zealand in Zimbabwe and South Africa 2015

[Kippax]

Good to see Neesham getting them through at 144 clicks.

Take 10% off your yardage to the flag if you're playing golf on the Highveld, they say. Not sure what percentage bonus a fast bowler gets.

 

[Zinzan]

So much for this article 2 days ago about NZC coming to the rescue of Sky. NZ Cricket to come to the rescue over TV blackout | Stuff.co.nz

One day out from the first ODI & still no word. Looks like it's the grainy LQ stream once again.

 

[Zinzan]

Yup LQ stream it is. Although confirmed radio coverage. Cricket: Complete effort secures win for Black Caps - Sport - NZ Herald News

Sky should man-up and provide their own updated media release with details of what stopped the compromise taking place, unless they are still attempting last min negotiations that is. They owe subscribers that much.

 

[Kippax]

Following cricket 1956 style | Sportsfreak

Unhelpfully, SKY Sports spokesperson Kirsty Way popped up over the weekend saying “We’re huge cricket fans, we have funded the domestic game for 12 years and always followed the domestic game overseas and it’s really disappointing not to have these rights.”

That is an interesting interpretation of a TV deal. They agreed to purchase some of NZC’s commercial property (their broadcasting rights) for what they presumably regarded as a fair price. This not funding the game at all; you could argue they have profited from it; especially over the last year. Sport props up Sky; who would bother subscribing anymore if it wasn’t for sport?

This will probably get sorted out before the ODI series; the difference is rumoured to be around $50,000 which in the overall scheme of things does not appear to be a lot. But this is a needless hit to SKY’s already dwindling goodwill.

Their offerings are diminishing, in contrast to the direction of their subscription fee. And by not showing an event people can rightfully expect to see on their TV screens, it drives them to explore online options, regardless of their legality.

 

[Rattybot]

I'd like to add my thanks to Sky TV NZ .Lack of sleep is my choice, but the wobbly eyeballs from being forced to watch cricket on my lappy is all up to them.
Well done SKY

 

[Kippax]

Some very horticultural efforts in there.

Trust Williamson to immerse himself in the science and the botanical intricacies, when it comes to conducting agribusiness.

 

[Zinzan]

I can't even find an option to legitimately pay to watch from NZ. Willow TV covers it, but only allow subscribers from US/Canada.

 

[Prince EWS]

I can't even find an option to legitimately pay to watch from NZ.

Yeah there isn't one really. Your best option would be to subscribe to a VPN service and watch the live TenSports food through that VPN's Indian server. I still consider this method to be 'legit' but I'm sure there'd be arguments over that.

 

[Zinzan]

I tried using the Hola extension through Chrome, which is how I've always accessed my US Netflix membership from NZ, but that didn't work on Ten Sports. Can you recommend any good VPN's that work in India. I don't mind paying if there's a small fee involved provided it works..

 

[Kippax]

I can see a deal being struck before tomorrow night. The (frankly a bit silly) level of outrage and ridicule Sky is copping is going to push it over the line.

 

[Prince EWS]

I tried using the Hola extension through Chrome, which is how I've always accessed my US Netflix membership from NZ, but that didn't work on Ten Sports. Can you recommend any good VPN's that work in India. I don't mind paying if there's a small fee involved provided it works..

I use ExpressVPN. I pay AU$80 a year (I think - you should check though ) and the use the Indian server all the time to access TenSports and StarSports live cricket content, and I can fully recommend it. A worthy investment if you plan on watching a lot of non-Sky cricket this year but perhaps a questionable one for one series in the middle of the night.

 

[Zinzan]

If that article is correct about 50K being the differentiation, then it's a ****** joke & they should be ridiculed. 160M profit & they can't stretch 50K over budget when it's the difference between coming through for their loyal cricket fans or not. The future was always going to be challenging for a bully boy monopoly like Sky, but If they mess this up it will well & truly speed up the decline.

 

[Kippax]

These fans don't walk into a supermarket and demand they sell them some Coke as a loss leader though, do they. It's the supermarket's prerogative whether they do it one week and don't do it the next. After what I heard from Sommet Sports, it's not a stretch at all for me to imagine South African cricket administrators being a bit vain and wildly overestimating what an awesome experience it is to stay up through the night watching AB de Villiers in action.

 

[Zinzan]

I use ExpressVPN. I pay AU$80 a year (I think - you should check though ) and the use the Indian server all the time to access TenSports and StarSports live cricket content, and I can fully recommend it. A worthy investment if you plan on watching a lot of non-Sky cricket this year but perhaps a questionable one for one series in the middle of the night.

Cheers, I'll look into that. Incidentally, have there been any notable series in recent times that Tensports & Startsports haven't covered or do they carry pretty much all cricket?

 

[Hurricane]

Trust Williamson to immerse himself in the science and the botanical intricacies, when it comes to conducting agribusiness.

It looks like his slogging has really developed to a new level. That concerns me.

New team
Guptil
Brendon
Elliot
Munro
Anderson
Neesham
Ronchi
Bracewell
Nmac
Mcleakinruns ( my phone now auto corrects to that)
Milne

Batting down to number 9

By the way apparently Munro has expressed an interest in leadership roles in the blackcaps limited overs set up.

 

[Kippax]

Cheers, I'll look into that. Incidentally, have there been any notable series in recent times that Tensports & Startsports haven't covered or do they carry pretty much all cricket?

Sony Six has India's current tour of Sri Lanka, and seems generally interested in bidding over the top of Ten Sports for India's tours. They do live streaming via their YT channel as well though.

 

[Prince EWS]

Cheers, I'll look into that. Incidentally, have there been any notable series in recent times that Tensports & Startsports haven't covered or do they carry pretty much all cricket?

Between them they tend to cover everything. TenSports putting up live YouTube streams of the series it's covering is a pretty new development so I'm not sure if they intend to put everything they cover up, but StarSports put everything up on their own website.

 

[JediNudist]

It looks like his slogging has really developed to a new level. That concerns me.

New team
Guptil
Brendon
Elliot
Munro
Anderson
Neesham
Ronchi
Bracewell
Nmac
Mcleakinruns ( my phone now auto corrects to that)
Milne

Batting down to number 9

By the way apparently Munro has expressed an interest in leadership roles in the blackcaps limited overs set up.

hmmmm lest there is competition for places now in the bowling stocls

 

[Bahnz]

It looks like his slogging has really developed to a new level. That concerns me.

I think any concerns about Williamson's game is a bit premature given that his test output has gone through the roof at the same time as his SR's in ODI's and T20's have been rapidly rising.

 

[SteveNZ]

SKY are in the business of making money. A lot of people want to point to their profit margin as proof of why they should've bent over and paid whatever sum of money was asked...I'd suggest such a move would be indicative of a company who would regularly spend their time in the red.

SKY are not obligated to pay price X for everything that is out there. I find it impossible to believe they are the ones playing the 'we won't budge an inch and bugger what our subscribers think' card.