I asked every county if they will paywall live streams – here’s what they said

Lancashire’s announcement this week that they will start charging for access to live streams has led to much anger from supporters and questions about whether other counties will follow suit.

From next month, those who want to watch Lancashire men’s home matches remotely will have to pay £20 for a season pass to access the club’s new LancsTV+ app.

The package, free to club members, is a high-quality one, with multi-camera live coverage and commentary from well-known figures such as David “Bumble” Lloyd. Other bespoke content will also be available.

Unsurprisingly, it has gone down badly with fans of all counties, who since the pandemic have become used to free streams of pretty much all matches that are not broadcast by rights holders Sky Sports via various platforms, most popularly YouTube.

Even Lloyd posted on X this week he was “saddened” by Lancashire’s announcement.

Many suspect others will follow suit if Lancashire’s trial is a success, even though failed paywall trials by Kent and Leicestershire in the recent past are cautionary tales.

So, where does this leave the other 17 first-class clubs and the future of the county live streams?

To that end, The i Paper contacted each one to ask two questions:

• 1.  Would you consider putting your men’s matches behind a paywall in the near future?
• 2.  Would you be open to discussions with the ECB over a collective paid streaming option involving all 18 teams (like a season pass for the men’s county game)?

The response was good. Out of the 17 counties contacted, 14 replied. Of those, four wished to remain anonymous.

Of the 14 who responded, none answered yes to the first question, while eight indicated they were open to discussions about an ECB-led collective paid-for streaming platform.

Yet it wasn’t completely cut and dried. Most were completely against taking County Championship matches off free-to-air platforms. This response from Durham chief executive Tim Bostock was typical.

He told The i Paper: “I think it’s important to distinguish between free access to the County Championship, as we want to grow interest in the red-ball domestic game, and the potential for charging for Blast fixtures which feels a more likely model in my opinion as we want fans to turn up and watch live as this is our biggest revenue opportunity. There is a feeling that as the quality of streaming has improved this may have affected crowds.”

Another county chief executive who asked to remain anonymous said of charging for streams: “Probably not in the near future, but we would consider it at some point dependent on the level of revenue we think could be achieved, and the quality of service we could offer.”

Others were more forthcoming. Gloucestershire chief executive Neil Priscott said the club would not charge for streams this year but added: “We have invested more in our stream for 2026 and we believe it’s an important area for commercialisation. Our product is not at the Lancs level as yet so there’s a bit of a way for us to travel, but we absolutely will be reviewing our options on a regular basis.”

Some were blunter. Kent, who trialled charging for Blast streams in 2023 and 2024, said: “We currently have no plans for going back behind a paywall for any competition.”

Surrey chief executive Steve Elworthy told The i Paper: “We will not be putting our men’s or women’s stream behind a paywall and we would also not be keen to have a paid collective streaming option.”

Sussex’s interim chief executive Mark West said: “We would not put the streaming behind a paywall at this time.  I’m supportive of a wider discussion led by the ECB connected to the next round of media rights negotiations.”

The current domestic media deal runs to 2028. One former county chief executive believes this should be when the ECB seriously considers introducing a collective paid-for streaming platform, similar to what Major League Baseball introduced in 2017.

Sean Jarvis, who left Leicestershire last year, was at the helm when they introduced a paywall at the end of the 2024 summer. “The trial lasted a couple of months and we came to the conclusion it wasn’t worth it,” he told The i Paper.

Charging up to £5.99 to watch the stream of one One-Day Cup match plus a £7.99 monthly fee to cover the final two home Championship games of that season, Jarvis says the club only attracted around 500 subscribers. To put that into context, the streaming audience across all platforms for county games that summer was 30 million.

Yet he backs the collective paid-for model, believing there would be a significant overseas audience for such a product that would attract global sponsors. The ECB currently show all county matches free of charge on their own website, although live coverage of Lancashire’s will be taken off next month.

Jarvis says: “I remain surprised and critical of the ECB they’ve not done this because the clubs need help. They need someone to hold their hand through the process.

“There’s got to be a steady shift now to a more commercial model that can help the clubs and that needs a lot of work, a lot of detail.

“If they can collectively get all the clubs together and deliver this service, the numbers behind that can be absolutely huge. I was crying out for that when I was at Leicestershire trying to get the ECB to switch onto it. If I’m honest I think there was a lack of commercial drive to really push it at that time. I think that was a missed opportunity. It’s been on the agenda for at least five years. It’s time to do it.”

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It seems a long shot right now.

Hampshire chief executive David Mann told The i Paper: “I don’t think there is a market for that model at the moment,” while his Essex counterpart Dan Feist added: “There is a lot of ongoing conversation around the future of streaming but the idea of a pass hasn’t been raised yet.”

Whether that changes may rest on how Lancashire’s trial fares.