'A short-sighted decision'

I am an Australian living in Canada and have found no way possible of watching the cricket legally. In Canada the cricket is only offered on one channel and that channel is only offered by one provider and only via satellite. It is impossible to get satellite TV where I live. It is not showing in any bars. And even if it was, bars don't open at 6:30am anyway. Its money grabbing gone mad to the point that they are cutting off exposure of the game to a massive noth american population. Steve (Canada)

Cricket is being governed by fools. In the interests of protecting sponsors, they are demanding the removal of free publicity from YouTube. In no way is the divide between game and commodity made clearer than this. Swill your gin, boys, and top this clanger with something even more ridiculous. Russell Kirkpatrick (New Zealand)

It's obvious that the demand for video snippets is high, as time differences (among other things) make it near impossible for many people to see the CWC. If the ICC want to jump on the "YouTube is Evil" bandwagon, then they should be offering their own extensive range of clips from the official CWC website. Ian (Australia)

The ICC have again acted like the Vatican - they are completely out of date with the modern world. The clips on YouTube offer a great service - where else can you watch ANY clips of cricket, past or present? Let the ICC come up with an alternate service before destroying a fabulous offering which brings more people into contact with the game. Will they? Of course not, short-sighted fools. Jivaka (UK)

The ICC have got their priorities completely wrong (as usual.) If they want to protect their copyright holders then why not clamp down on the free streams that i have been using every day of the world cup. As a student living in Halls of residence the only way i could legally watch cricket would be to walk half a mile to the pub. Youtube was not streaming live games, nor showing comprehensive highlights. All they were doing, to use an analogy, was showing the trailer, they werent showing the film. Michael Haller (UK)

I am gutted with this decision. I am a New Zealand cricket fan living in Arctic Norway and this was my only source of up to date World Cup video coverage. I think it is a short sighted decision and only the fans will suffer. Gavin (Norway)

None of the offending clips are going to be more than one or two overs long. All that the clips could do is show a match highlight. I would not have a problem with this if these clips were available for free download somewhere else, but they are not. Instead of promoting the game, the ICC are screwing it by trying to crush an avenue for finding potential new fans. Ludicrous. Stephen (Australia)

It's the comical last snafu of a team of airheads who can't see the wood for the trees. Arjuna (Sri Lanka)

It was great to see Herschelle Gibbs' 6X6 video featured prominently on YouTube, alongside clips of NCAA basketball. That kind of publicity is akin to a full page ad for cricket in the New York Times, reaching a huge market who have never been exposed to cricket. I live in Canada and follow baseball too and it's incredible how many baseball fans are interested in cricket but have no way of watching any games. YouTube filled an important role in this respect. Lance (Canada)

I want to commend Andrew Miller for an excellent peice which expressed my point of view perfectly. When I was telling people about the tense final stages of the Ireland/Zimbabwe tie, I was able to show them some of it on YouTube to show just how good it was. Why deprive a potential new cricket lover from finding the game? Brad (Australia)

Right on, Mr. Miller. I had exactly the same thoughts when I first saw the article that the ICC was targeting YouTube. I really thought that the ICC was interested in spreading the cricket message world wide. We have a long, long, long way to go before the ICC can justifiably claim that the cricket World Cup is the third largest sporting event in the world. And YouTube can help us get there. Noel Kalicharan (Trinidad and Tobago)

I don't have access to any of the live games so have been checking in every evening to YouTube to get a quick run down on the days action - I cannot believe that the ICC would consider taking that away from the average cricket fan. I have no idea how I'll actually get to see the highlights now. Andrew (UK)

The ICC have finally destroyed my interest in international cricket. After the World Cup is finished I will no longer follow, watch or listen to any coverage of international cricket. Neither will I attend any international matches. Only if more people do this will the ICC take notice. The ICC is obsessed with money. No longer are they getting any of mine. Jamie Dowling (UK)

Working for TV channels in the past has given me a unique insight on the inner workings and money-making ways of TV channels. I'm not going to divulge any info here, but Youtube is not costing ICC or any TV company any rights. It is in fact, boosting the value of all the channels involved. Any captures from the TV screen automatically takes the channel logo with it and displays it on YouTube. Secondly, the quality of the video is below par, and those who want the real thing will in fact be encouraged to switch to the TV medium. Jawwad Riaz (Pakistan)

Maybe the ICC should remove clips of the tournament from the news channels as well - in fact they probably show longer clips than YouTube in most cases. Alan (UK)

Don't the fools who run cricket realise that one of the things that keeps cricket as a topic of communication amongst today's generation of kids is the ability to swap links to clips, etc. of notable moments on YouTube? These clips are not, and never will be a substitute for watching the game on TV or at the stadium itself. I don't believe the ICC loses a penny in revenue from people posting clips. All they are doing by getting them removed is spoiling peoples' fun, and showing how out of touch they are with modern popular culture. Harvey Brant (UK)

For ICC, the game of cricket is a low priority. They are more worried about keeping the sponsors and advertisers happy. Clearly the motto is "Get the bucks now. Worry about Cricket later". Janak Ambalangodage (USA)

I agree that we must respect copyrights, but also we should take into consideration that there are hundreds of thousand may be millions of cricket fans who do not have the opportunity to watch the WC 07 since there is either no TV broadcast or Satellite companies that resell to certain regions. I'm in Sweden now and I am a big cricket fan, but I am deprived of watching the match since there is no TV or Sat coverage here. If I wanted to watch the match legally, I would have to get an address in UK, buy a SkyBox and then fix it in Sweden, the problem then, is that it would be an infringement of the agreement between Sky and myself. ICC should respect that even though it governs cricket it has no right to govern and deprive the fans who keep cricket alive. If the fans go away, then ICC goes down the drain and the so called executives will not get the thumping salaries they are paid. Hakim (Sweden)

If the ICC want to globalise the game, then YouTube TV clips are helping do just that. It is about the game and improving as well as spreading it which counts not placing idiot obstacles in the way of those new followers. Trevor Chesterfield (New Zealand)

I agree with you from the point of view that passionate viewers of cricket like myself would love to have clips of the World Cup on YouTube. But from a business perspective I understand what the ICC has to do. Warren (West Indies)

I have an Irish friend whose favourite sport is cricket at the moment, ahead of the many other sports he follows. Its helped that Ireland are doing well, but he got interested through YouTube videos amongst other influences. How are the Irish fans who want to see footage of Ireland's win over Pakistan going to do? And how will the ICC even lose money if they watch Trent Johnston hitting that six or Andre Botha's spell? Pete (Australia)

Friends of mine who only have a passing interest in the World Cup were loving me showing them the Leverock diving catch against India. A simple clip bringing joy to my friends whilst promoting the game in the process. Of course, my friends can no longer watch this clip because of a few idiots who cannot see how these YouTube clips are benefiting the game! PPP (UK)

I was under the impression that ICC wanted to promote cricket. How much money are they really losing if people watch a few clips from the tournament? If ICC continues its iron grip on cricket, we will need some way to liberate cricket from ICC. Andy (USA)

It would be interesting to see the ICC's cost-benefit analysis of its decision to stop You Tube airing cricket footage. The truth most likely is, they've not done one. Rather, they've seen something and fired off a letter without any consideration of anything. In other words they've followed a process rather than made a meaningful decision. Andrew McLean (New Zealand)

YouTbe is not infringing on the live coverage, it shows snippets of previous action! Seeing a clip of good action on YouTue excites a person to actually go and follow up on the action that is happening on TV. This proves that ICC only wants one thing - to keep its sponsors happy - a horribly short term goal that doesn't augur well for the future of the game. Abhinav (India)

Why wouldn't highlights of cricket posted on YouTube be anything other than a positive marketing force for the cricket in general and the ICC? But sadly, when the ICC squeeze someone a broadcaster for every last dime, surely those who paid a small fortune might expect exclusive coverage of all World Cup highlights - and I can't say I blame them. The point being, money talks and YouTube walks. Alex (USA)

Globalization of cricket and increasing its popularity worldwide is simply paper talk for ICC. The current ICC is blind due to the dangerous cricket market of India. This YouTube decision is really innovative to make the game more centered within eight nations. ICC will realize today's mistake but with huge cost. Khondaker M Rahman (UK)

With all this talk of the ICC trying to promote cricket, and them spending small fortunes on developing nations, was it worth losing this exposure? All my Canadian and American friends have been introduced to cricket through YouTube. They've been fascinated by the big hitting and the deadly yorkers delivered by Shoaib Akhtar. In fact Youtube has done more to expand cricket in the Amercas then any money the ICC has spent on development projects. Norman (Canada)

The infinite obsession of ICC with money is killing the essence of this game and so its promotion. Clips uploaded on You Tube are now being taken down for copyright infringement. Does ICC know how many people including myself use those clips to understand or practise this game? Masaood Yunus (USA)

Go into a sports bar and I promise you will see TV screens filled with mindless NBA, NHL and NFL trash sport, but never a game of cricket even during the World Cup. In Toronto last summer, traffic stopped as fans watch street TV screens showing World Cup soccer. Cricket is nowhere, and if I want to subscribe on Digital Cable, I have to pay Ted Rogers Can$180 for all 51 games. Tony Clark (Canada)