Ashes to Ashes: Inside TNT Sports' Hybrid and Maverick' Production Plan for Coverage of Cricket's Oldest Rivalry

Ashes to Ashes: Inside TNT Sports' hybrid and maverick' production plan for coverage of cricket's oldest rivalry By Will Strauss

Monday, November 17, 2025 - 14:15

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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.

WBD Sports Europe's Scott Young talking during the 2024 SVG Europe Summit in Amsterdam

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

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