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Loading ...I can’t quite decide on this IPL stuff. I guess I’m traditional in that way. I love nothing more than test match cricket but the county game needs some sort of shake up, so I’m confused about it all really!
Cricinfo banned from IPL
By Will 2 years ago, mid-April Add your comment below
I’ve been in Southampton covering Hampshire’s first game of the season against the champions, Sussex, so have a few things to get off my chest or note down here. Yes, The Rose Bowl – comfortably England’s most characterless cricket ground is a world away from the razamatazz of the Indian Premier League. It won’t have escaped your notice that we, Cricinfo, are effectively banned from the IPL. That is, the organisers won’t give us accreditation so none of our staff are permitted entry (I believe), and nor are we allowed to use any of the photos that come from the agencies (some of whom are boycotting the event).
This is baloney, and a ridiculous own goal by Lalit Modi that smacks of arrogance and a clueless understanding of what the public want and how they consume their cricket news. Cricinfo has upwards of 10 million users, a large portion of whom – for an event of this scale – would be logged in to follow our IPL scorecards. Cut Cricinfo out, and the IPL shoot themselves in the foot.
It won’t actually affect how we operate – we are still doing ball-by-ball commentary, whose traffic must have been extraordinary for tonight’s crazy opening one-dayer – as Cricinfo’s editor, Sambit Bal, explains:
Sambit Bal, the editor of Cricinfo, described the restrictions as discriminatory and unjust. “We are a legitimate cricket media organisation with unmatched global credibility and we are asking no special favours,” he said. “We cover cricket with journalistic rigour and integrity. We are being denied our basic rights to cover a cricket event in a professional manner.”
However, Bal said Cricinfo’s editorial commitment to the tournament would not be affected. “Boycotting the IPL is not an option for us. Our commitment to cover cricket is absolute, as is our obligation to the reader. We are not blind to the significance of the IPL, which could be a seminal event in cricket. We will try to cover every game with the same rigour and depth expected of us.”
Tags: cricinfo, cricket media, indian premier league, IPL, journalism, lalit modi, media |
5 Responses to “Cricinfo banned from IPL”
April 18th, 2008 at 11.11 pm
April 19th, 2008 at 12.12 am
Of course, the restrictions on the media are ridiculous, and Cricinfo’s rage is understandable. But I still logged in to Cricinfo all the same, along, no doubt, with many millions more, to check the score from my office, confident that there’d be an excellent text commentary available, as usual. And there was. Obviously, the IPL isn’t doing itself too many favours by offending what must be the biggest source of cricketing news in the world, but surely this will be sorted out.
Yesterday I bought the IPL package that became available on satellite TV here in the States *yesterday* (that’s right — the day before the tournament began). Something gone awry there, too, it seems (just think of all the South Asian cricket fans in this country — the two main US satellite platforms seem to be making plenty of money out them — and now the IPL has to do some catching up with them).
Today, before I left for work, I set the DVR to record the opening ceremony and first match — if you’ve paid $60 for the package, and it all starts when you’re at work, you want to get value for money after all. Since I got home, I’ve watched the striking opening ceremony (at least, the fun bits) and the first ten overs. No audio commentary yet, just what the background mircophones pick up. Not entirely unusual for an international, PPV, satellite sports event, but all the same, more signs of teething troubles.
Obviously, the IPL and its partners still have lots to get right.
And then, of course, there’s the cricket itself, which Will Luke, in sunny Hampshire, has very nicely summarized without having watched.
But there’s one thing in all that I’ve seen today that has really impressed me. In my office, after opening the Cricinfo text commentary, I also opened the home page of the IPL web site (that evil portal muscling out everyone else), and was astonished to find that, if I abandoned the work in front of me for a bit, I could watch McCullum slogging his way to his record _live, with a very decent picture, and, for the most of the time, with full audio commentary_. And it hasn’t made me regret buying the TV package either — the internet video was just a nice supplement to the much more comfortable and easily recorded TV coverage.
Now there, as far as I am concerned, is a marketing and promotional model that could be imitated, if the cricket world wants to spread its message. And it sure beats working, as I was yesterday, to the occasional commentary of Radio Essex from (ever sunny) Chelmsford…
April 19th, 2008 at 12.36 pm
They have all these media restrictions, yet they stream the event live on their website for free? Bizarre. Framerate’s awful mind.
April 19th, 2008 at 4.48 pm
But Cricinfo is covering the IPL. I have seen commentary on the site today, but it was sad to see that they could not get the images…
April 21st, 2008 at 6.23 am
Now “cricinfo” is going to teach lalit modi economics.LOL.
Hilarious.
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