Foxtel has last night held an event in Sydney to officially launch the Fox Cricket channel, signalling a new era for cricket broadcasting in Australia.
Australia’s only dedicated cricket channel is set to deliver the biggest cricket line-up ever offered in the one place including all men’s Test Matches, One-Day and T20 Internationals played in Australia plus every game of the Big Bash League.
Every women’s international in Australia, the ICC World Twenty20 and 23 WBBL games. The Sheffield Shield Final, the Prime Minister’s Xl and the Governor General’s Xl. All matches will be broadcast LIVE in HD and ad break free on Fox Cricket.
From November 4 fans will experience cricket like never before. For the first time, cricket will be broadcast in 4K when Australia takes on South Africa in the first ODI. Across summer, Foxtel has committed to broadcasting every men’s international Test, ODI and T20 match played in Australia plus 16 BBL matches in 4K on channel 444.
The impressive Fox Cricket commentary team will feature 31 commentators including 23 new faces and six female commentators boasting 1,371 Test appearances between them, 154,472 runs and six national captains will guide viewers through the action.
Headlined by Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne, Fox Cricket’s line-up includes Mark Waugh, Isa Guha, Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey, Brett Lee, Allan Border, Mel Jones, Kerry O’Keeffe, Michael Vaughan, Brendon Julian, Steve Smith, Jessica Yates, Mark Howard, Mitchell Johnson, Darren Lehmann, John Hastings, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Neroli Meadows, Sarah Jones, Katherine Loughnan, Alex Blackwell, Tom Morris and Megan Barnard.
International voices Graeme Smith, Harsha Bhogle and Russel Arnold will provide expert opinion on the visiting teams.
Foxtel will launch 13 entertainment programs including five pre and post shows to keep fans engaged between sessions.
Game day coverage will deliver opinion, analysis and commentary with Come in Spinner, Test Cricket Live on FOX, The Big Break, Tea for Two, Fox Cricket – Test Day and B4 The Bash complementing the live action.
Cricket 360 hosted by Gerard Whateley and Robert ‘Crash’ Craddock will provide the best debate and insight with Cricket AM providing all the breaking and big news stories each morning across summer. Cricket 360 will go to air during the Test matches with India, with 17 episodes of analysis, breaking news and no-holds-barred comment on the biggest issues in the game.
Crash also returns to host the award-winning Cricket Legends sitting down with the biggest names in the game with fans able to relive the matches that made legends on Fox Cricket Classics.
Cricket tragic, Gus Worland, will give his unique insights on what’s it’s like to be a fan on the all new The Cricket Tragic, while James ‘The Professor’ Rochford has been let loose on cricket with his own show The Night Watchman.
And there will be plenty of family fun with Nickelodeon’s Logie nominated kids’ program, Crash The Bash, joining Fox Cricket’s line-up.
The Australian men’s team will take on India, South Africa and Sri Lanka across the summer. After finishing their T20 series against New Zealand, the national women’s team’s focus turns to next month’s ICC World Twenty20.
After launching the Big Bash in 2011, summer’s most exciting sporting spectacle returns to Fox Sports in December with LIVE and ad break coverage of all 59 games.
The WBBL receives unprecedented coverage this season with Fox Cricket broadcasting 23 games LIVE.
Fox Cricket’s brand-new App, launching in time for the Australia v South Africa ODI Series, will bring fans closer to the action. Free to download, the App delivers a personalised experience for fans and features all the latest news, fixtures, scores, stats and video from across the world of cricket.
Plus, Foxtel sports customers can enjoy round-the-clock live streaming of the Fox Cricket channel to watch when they are on the go.
Foxtel CEO, Patrick Delany, said, “We won’t just broadcast cricket – we will revolutionise it.
“The biggest line up of cricket led by the best commentary team with the most in-depth opinion, analysis and entertainment, all in the one place.
“We also have plenty of innovations and tricks up our sleeve to enhance the experience while the others are taking ad breaks, as well as the way in which we will analyse and deliver the nuggets of insight viewers will only get with Fox Cricket.
“Then there’s 4K. Delivering 20 times better resolution than SD and 4 times better than HD, fans will experience cricket like never before.
“The arrival of Fox Cricket shows exactly what it means to be at the forefront of sports and home entertainment for Australian families.
“At Foxtel, we continue to set the gold standard in sports, movies, TV, lifestyle and more and we will keep surprising you with new additions.
“Fox Cricket, Foxtel in 4K, our new FOX Flicks service and FOX Showcase are just the start as we reinvigorate the Foxtel story for our customers,” Mr Delany said.
