It was thought the tender, sent out by the IMG agency earlier this summer, would attract interest from public-service broadcaster the BBC and commercial network Channel 5. Channel 5 currently broadcasts highlights from home Test matches in the early-evening.
Both broadcasters however said that scheduling restrictions on the highlights – programmes must not start before 10pm and must not overlap with BSkyB’s live coverage – meant that they were unable to make an offer.
The BBC screened an evening programme during the last Ashes in Australia in 2006/07.
