From sportal.com.au

SBS secures Ashes rights
Sportal

SBS will broadcast the five-Test Ashes series live from England from July to September. SBS Managing Director Nigel Milan said the network has signed the agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board and aimed to provide the best possible coverage of the event. "SBS is a strong supporter of the anti-siphoning rules and believes that this Ashes series should be on free-to-air television in accordance with the spirit of those rules," he said. "With the commercial networks uninterested and the ABC unable to reach agreement, SBS felt that as a national public broadcaster we should respond to the public clamour for the series to be available on free-to-air television. We are doing this as a service to the community. If we had not acted, we believe only pay television audiences would get to see the series," he said. Milan said the network had adjusted its schedule to maximise coverage of the Ashes series and, at the same time, meet pre-existing sport commitments. He added coverage will commence at the beginning of the first session each day and only the middle sessions during the first test would be interrupted by SBS's long-standing commitment to broadcast the final stages of the Tour de France.