The influence of pay-to-view television on professional cricket : professional cricket player perceptions

Abstract

Professional cricket in England and Wales has undergone a significant period of transformation during the last 20 years. The aim of this study is to identify the role that pay-to-view television has played during this period of transformation from the perspective of professional cricket players. Specifically, this research seeks to identify the influence of pay-to-view television on cricket governance, economics and culture, from the perspective of professional cricket players in England and Wales.

Qualitative methods of research, in the form of five semi-structured interviews, are utilised to conduct an exemplifying case study. A grounded theory approach frames the data analysis.

The results suggest that pay-to-view television acts as a vehicle of change; through fuelling the process of globalisation, television provides insight into global cricket and subsequently influences cricket’s relationship with television in England and Wales. Players feel that pay-to-view television plays a significant role in influencing cricket from a cultural, economic and governance perspective.

The findings suggest that professional cricket in England and Wales is increasingly reliant on the substantial economic resource that pay-to-view television provides. Although players are acutely aware of the dependence and influence of television, they tend not to cite it as problematic — rather they see it as an inevitable and necessary consequence of cricket’s evolution.

Future research should seek to test, and further investigate, the influence of television on professional cricket in additional professional club settings in England and Wales. It should additionally seek to discover to what extent television’s influence exists, in global form, in fellow cricket playing nations such as Australia, South Africa, India, New Zealand and Pakistan.