Test Match Special "will broadcast from India" during England’s Test series there, after reaching an agreement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India about access to the grounds, according to Patrick Kidd of the LONDON TIMES. The BBC's "ball-by-ball radio commentary service," which began in '57, had threatened not to cover the series after "unreasonable demands" of £50,000 ($81,000) were made by the BCCI for access to facilities in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Nagpur and Calcutta. It is "believed that the BBC has paid the demanded" amount, but it has "refused to make any comment on the negotiations." The tour begins on Nov. 15. (LONDON TIMES, 11/1). In London, Andy Wilson noted the BBC's cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew "became embroiled in a Twitter row" with The Cricketer magazine over the resolved broadcast dispute. Agnew "reacted angrily to the comments" made by The Cricketer Editor Andrew Miller Thursday morning. Agnew tweeted: "I've never read such hypocrisy & assumed knowledge as that spouted by the once great Cricketer magazine today. I won't be reading it again." In the article, Miller had wondered how the BBC got themselves into such an "extraordinary situation...having paid for the rights without checking they would be allowed in...It makes you wonder what they are paying licence-fee payers' money for" (GUARDIAN, 11/1).
