Ahead of the first Ashes test in Perth on Friday (21 November), SVG Europe caught up with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe’s Scott Young to find out what he and the TNT Sports production team have planned for the highly anticipated 2025-26 England vs Australia series.
The Ashes is one of world sport’s most storied contests. First played in 1882, the Test rivalry between England and Australia holds an almost mythical status for millions of cricket fans. The prize is modest: a tiny terracotta urn. Yet the cultural weight attached to a sporting contest that transcends sport is substantial.
It’s a Test series, of course, so that means matches last up to five days, 6 to 7 hours per day, with the five-match series taking place every two years, alternating between the UK and Australia.
Because of the format and its history, the Ashes provides broadcasters with something relatively unique in contemporary sport: long-form, undulating drama, enduring heritage and a derby-like rivalry, with enough time and narrative space to explore storylines as they evolve.
In the UK, TNT Sports has the rights to show the series thanks to a wider deal with Cricket Australia. BT Sport showed England’s two previous “away” Ashes series before its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. The 2025-2026 series, beginning on 21 November in Perth and concluding in January in Sydney, will be the first Ashes series shown under the TNT Sports brand.
“We’re not going to be stale. We’re not going to be traditional; we’re not going to be stuck in one place and stuck on one story. We’re going to follow the story.”
Coverage will be made available live and on demand via a TNT Sports linear channel and its streaming platform, discovery+. And there will be significant social media content to accompany it.
Timing is challenging. Matches take place overnight. So, a lot of effort is being put into ‘catch-up’ elements.
At the same time, the channel has been reshaping its identity as being ‘right by the fans’ – a promise to stand with supporters and act in their best interests. It is an approach that, in real terms, means strong storytelling with a sometimes self-described ‘maverick’ tone. More of which later. The Ashes will test, pun intended, how that approach fits with a historic contest governed by deep-rooted tradition.
Editorial considerations
TNT Sports’ coverage will be unashamedly parochial. It is designed for a British audience (and England supporters) and will be shaped by their interests and mood.
Speaking to SVG Europe ahead of the series, Scott Young, group SVP of content, production and business operations for Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, describes his own unusual position here with a good dose of Aussie humour.
“I am slightly challenged because I am an Australian who loves cricket, who loves the Ashes, but I am running a UK sports broadcasting business. We had a fantastic call with the on-air team the other day, having a good old laugh about this conundrum.”
Young describes TNT Sports’ style as “a little bit maverick” and entrenched in the culture of Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Maverick is my favourite reference to TNT Sports,” he says, “because it can mean different things to different people. What it means is we’re not going to be stale. We’re not going to be traditional; we’re not going to be stuck in one place and stuck on one story. We’re going to follow the story.”
“We are not consciously trying to be different [from other cricket broadcasters]. That tone sits across all of our sports, irrespective of the sport or whether you’re a presenter, pundit, commentator or reporter, producer or director. We have that same conversation with everybody. We’re really starting to see that seamless integration between our teams now across all sports.”
This approach won’t be at the expense of the ‘old school’ cricket fan, however.
“You should never disconnect yourself from the cricket fan base. We’ve got loyal cricket fans who are there for one of the greatest sporting competitions, one that has been around for centuries. And you want to ensure that they get exactly what they came for. We can have fun around the edges of that. But when it comes down to the cricket itself, that’s going to be treated with all the respect that the Ashes deserve.”
Young is clear that the competitive context shapes the coverage. “I hope that we have a series that goes right down to the wire in Sydney. That would be fantastic.”
He says his ideal script sees England winning the first Test to spark interest in the UK, before the series reaches a tense finale. Ultimately, he admits, “of course, I want Australia to win,” but adds that the focus for TNT is giving UK fans a compelling winter narrative.
“If we can translate half of what I am reading in the talent WhatsApp group to air, I am confident this will be an engaging broadcast.”
This attitude reflects the core editorial stance behind the coverage: the Ashes will be framed through the eyes of a UK viewer who may be waking up in the early hours to follow it live ball-by-ball, but might equally just be checking the score over breakfast, looking back at the major incidents, or watching highlights coverage later in the day. The workflow has been engineered to support that reality, combining on-site presentation in Australia with centralised production operations in London, and ample opportunities to catch up.
For the latter, Young confirms that TNT will deploy timeline markers on discovery+. This will allow viewers who wake up mid-session to jump directly to wickets or pivotal moments without manually scrubbing through hours of action.
Going the distance
Fox Sports will handle the World Feed for the series, supported by NEP in Australia. This feed will form the backbone of TNT Sports’ match coverage. The broadcaster will then layer its own commentary, presentation and analysis on top of this.
TNT Sports will have a three-camera presentation setup at each venue, also supported by NEP, accompanied by on-site ENG crews gathering interviews, features and colour pieces.
Live feeds will travel from Australia back to London, where TNT’s production team will integrate them into a cohesive output alongside the world feed for both linear television and discovery+.
“It’s done as a remote production,” says Young. “In addition to the three cameras, there’s also the required audio, including return audio, as well as return vision lines, back and forward, so the team on the ground can see what we’re doing in the studio.
“There will be on-ground producers, on-ground coordinators. The feeds [get sent back] to the production control room here in London, where our main director, our main producer, and our executive producer are all based. So, it is very similar to how we do MotoGP currently. On the ground, you have your talent and you have the technology required to capture the images – and then you have the control centre back here in the UK.”
“We are utilising all the resources of our distribution network,” he continues. “We’re bringing individual ISO feeds back here, too. Commentators back in the UK can see any one of the multiple cameras we choose to put onto different screens. So they’re not just doing a single ‘off tube’ call with only what you can see at home. The team have a plethora of other data and images at their disposal in the commentary booth, as if they were there in Australia.
“We will also have ENG cameras so we can be out and about before and after the day’s play and gathering stories between tests. It’s a fully operational and autonomous production solely for what TNT Sports needs to deliver to this market. “
Talking cricket
One of the most distinctive aspects of TNT’s approach is the dual-location commentary and punditry team. For the early matches, Alastair Eykyn will be commentating from Australia while Rob Hatch will be calling from the UK.
Pundits for both presentation and commentary across the five Tests will include former England internationals Sir Alastair Cook, Graeme Swann and Steven Finn. They will be in Australia, while others, including former England women’s international Ebony Rainford-Brent, will be in London.
The talent mix within the commentary team during each day’s play will alternate between on-site and remote as required.
“We want viewers to wake up in the morning and turn on the television to find a bright sunny day. Hopefully, that inspires viewers to stay with us.”
To make this work, international connectivity, latency control and synchronisation of multiple signals from multiple cities must operate reliably. Young is confident, explaining that TNT’s long-standing experience in tennis has prepared them well.
“Latency is no longer really a challenge. Everybody is connected by video links. There is a lot of communication between teams. We are comfortable that with the mix of being on the ground and having the home base in London, the audience should be blissfully unaware where everybody is.”
On-site presentation matters
Although TNT Sports could have kept the entire presentation team in a studio in the UK, the broadcaster has made a deliberate decision to place host Becky Ives and the pundits on the ground for the full duration of the tour.
According to Young, this decision was straightforward. “We asked: are we going to go on site, take a full presentation team on site and be there? That did not take long for us to answer. We want viewers to wake up in the morning and turn on the television to find a bright sunny day. Hopefully, that inspires viewers to stay with us.”
This presence is also central to TNT Sport’s fan-first identity. Before, during, after and between tests, Ives will interact with local expats, with travelling independent England supporters, and with The Barmy Army, the England fan organisation with which TNT has developed a partnership.
Young says Ives, who will be more familiar to football fans, responded with zeal to the challenge of presenting cricket. “My first question to Becky was: What do you know about cricket? And her answer was: I used to do the scoring at school! If you can score cricket, then, as a presenter, you are most of the way there. What I want from Becky is the enthusiasm that she brings to our football and boxing coverage.”
Her role will go far beyond hosting, he says. She will serve as a conduit between the commentary team, the fans and the wider narrative that sits between and around the matches.
Young also notes that commentators such as Eykyn and Hatch will be welcomed by audiences despite not being cricket specialists. Their skill, he says, lies in “eventising” moments, recognising significance, and enabling specialist pundits to bring depth.
The talent WhatsApp group, he adds, is already active. “If we can translate half of what I am reading in the WhatsApp group to air, I am confident this will be an engaging broadcast.”
A key addition to TNT’s coverage is The Edge, a London-based studio review programme hosted by Craig Doyle with input from two guests, including former England fast bowler Sir James Anderson (pictured, above), who took 704 wickets in 188 Tests during an international career spanning 22 years. The show will review each Test in depth after its completion and sit alongside highlights on both linear and streaming platforms.
Young explains that The Edge will pull together all the standout moments, mishaps, behind-the-scenes features, analysis and contributions, including some from the digital team.
“The first point of difference is presenter Craig Doyle,” he states. “He is one of the most enthusiastic sports presenters I have ever worked with. He will get a very different take from the people who sit beside him, including Jimmy [James Anderson], England’s leading wicket taker in Tests.
“We’ve been working quite closely on the importance of Jimmy. I hope it will be the kind of programme viewers want to watch repeatedly as they go from one Test to the next.”
Finding the edge
Young is realistic about the impact that on-field performances will have on audience numbers. Recent Ashes tours to Australia have been heavily one-sided in the home team’s favour, as Young acknowledges. “We need England to win the first Test. That will drive the narrative. Then the thing just takes off.
“[Broadcasting] success is ultimately defined by our customers and the fans of the sport, and by us making sure that we’ve been true to the story of the Ashes, on our platforms. It will be everywhere. It will be discoverable, whether you want to watch it as a traditional linear broadcast, or you want to watch as a portable piece of content, anytime through the early morning, or through the day, whether you want to catch up on the highlights later on that night, whether you just want to watch The Edge, at the end of every test. There’ll be different ways in which you can engage.
“We need England to win the first Test. That will drive the narrative. Then the thing just takes off.”
“Success is also telling the right story. And it is a story through the lens of the UK population and the England cricket fan. We will have a sprinkling of Australian voices and opinions through the coverage, but we’re not going to try and create a fully balanced coverage because we’re not broadcasting in Australia. This is a UK lens on the coverage of the Ashes.”
Coverage of the first 2025-26 Ashes test will be available live and on-demand via TNT Sports and its streaming platform, discovery+, from 2 am UK time on Friday 21 November 2025.
James Anderson pic courtesy of Getty Images. Other cricket pics, C1 Media.
