The days of live television coverage of cricket are long gone. Most of the televised live cricket is now done via satellite subscription channels, while free viewing is limited to featured packages. But while the tradeoffs include high-quality commentary and a wide range of high-tech analytics tools on TV, are you willing to pay for the privilege?

Some of these channels also broadcast live cricket over the Internet, radio and mobile devices and broadcast to much of the world. The greater variety of media and wide global coverage by major broadcasters is a growing trend, and it’s good news for cricket fans, as a healthy competition venue is sure to drive pay-per-view prices down.

Pay-per-view cricket is widely available, so here’s a bit of information on the biggest and best channels. Your global location dictates which live cricket channel your TV can receive, and whether this is via satellite, cable, or both.

British Sky Broadcasting (Sky Sports) provides excellent service to viewers in the UK and Ireland, but not elsewhere. There’s a high level of ex-test player commentary, live action and highlights, and plenty of high-tech analytics to drive discussion. Sky shows live cricket coverage from around the world.

If you subscribe to Sky Sports and Sky Multiroom, you can also receive the same live cricket coverage from Sky Sports as a live broadcast over the broadband internet on your PC. This is a new service and there are some technological problems. You will have to pay more for each cricket event, just like with other online streaming services. This is for cricket fans as Sky Multiroom means you can already watch cricket on at least two other screens around your home. The downside to Sky is cost and commitment, as only their most expensive contract packages include Sky Sports.

Channel Nine has historically broadcast live open cricket in Australia, but since 1995, Fox Sports satellite coverage has provided stiff competition. However, ESPN Star Sports now has exclusive rights to broadcast Cricket Australia’s local national and international matches for four years, via TV, Internet, mobile devices and radio covering the entire Asian region.

The last major breakthrough in live cricket broadcasting was in June 2007, when cable television network ESPN Star launched a 24-hour cricket channel called Star Cricket targeting Indian audiences. ESPN Star has a massive audience, broadcasting to 25 countries and 150 million households in Asia. Star Cricket is also available through satellite stations TataSky TV and Dish TV. Includes live cricket, highlights and cricket news updates, a real feast for cricket fans.

Ten Sports is also a major satellite sports channel for South Asian customers and broadcasts live international cricket to the subcontinent, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. It is available on digital television and cable.

Many live cricket broadcasts are also available on the Internet; check out my article on live cricket streaming. This is a breakthrough in recent years and I look forward to what will be available to us in a year or so. It seems certain that technological advancements and increased competition will give us more live coverage options, and hopefully at a lower cost.