If you’ve been reading The Sun this week, you’ll be aware of the added difficulties facing Gordon Brown and the Labour party as they seek re-election next year. The Sun are, of course, going Conservative next summer and Rupert Murdoch does not like backing losers. ‘It was the Sun wot won it’, was the headline after their support helped Major into power in ’92, yet today newspapers have nothing like the sway of 17 years ago. So what does Murdoch do? He hammers Brown, again and again via his News Corporation empire, whether it be policy that is flawed or spelling.

An interesting subplot has emerged this week, with many believing that Labour’s decision today to add the Ashes to the so-called ‘crown jewels’ of British sport – meaning it must be available on free-to-air television – is little more than thinly disguised payback to Murdoch. The Evening Standard reported yesterday that Brown was ‘delighted’ David Davies’ report would take the Ashes away from Murdoch’s Sky, despite the PM’s recent efforts to patch-up faltering relations between the Government and News Corps.

Davies has sought to distance the report from any political point-scoring, saying his report ‘unashamedly put the viewing public first.’ Even if you believe that Labour are totally oblivious to the vote-winning implications of giving cricket back to the people so close to an election, questions remain. This is a row concerning an Ashes series on terrestrial TV in 2016, and, as Andrew Miller points out in his comprehensive take on the matter, who even knows what will constitute terrestrial television by then?

This is about more than cricket though, the changing face of the viewing media is set to become an increasing factor in all sporting-rights negotiations, with major implications for Murdoch. How long will it be, for example, before we are able to subscribe individually to whatever sports events we want via the internet? The technology is already there, and Murdoch’s Sky packages will begin to look a lot less enticing without their grip on Premier League football.

Back in the present, the big losers are the English Cricket Board, considerably poorer and hopelessly out of its depth as a pawn in a political power-struggle.

Sam Collins is website editor of thewisdencricketer.com