How to watch The Ashes this summer
It's shaping up to be a fantastic summer of cricket as England take on Australia in the Ashes series, and TechRadar will tell you exactly how you can watch this most thrilling of sport rivalries.
With the normally noisy neighbours in football having a relatively quiet few months without a men's World Cup or European Championships, England fans can concentrate on the traditional summer sport.
The bookies have Australia as odds on favourites, but with the likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes producing some fine individual displays against New Zealand this year, there is a glimmer of hope for England.
Sky, Channel 5 and the BBC will all feature England and Australia's five match series in July and August, plus there are five one-day internationals in September sandwiching a T20 match on August 31.
The first test kicks off on Wednesday July 8 in Cardiff, and the final ODI takes place at Old Trafford on Sunday September 13.
Watch it on Sky Sports
Sky's satellite broadcasts on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2 HD are perhaps the most obvious way of watching the Ashes tour this summer.
Sky's tried-and-definitely-tested team of pundits have become a familiar sight and sound through England cricket fixtures, and will continue to provide expert analysis and, of course, all of the latest gadgets and gimmicks to keep abreast of what's going.
Sky Sports is a subscription service and can be added to an existing package for £25.50 a month. A new subscription, with the Sports package, will set you back £45.50 a month (with some extras thrown in).
Watch on Sky Go
If you are a Sky Sports subscriber you can also take advantage of the Sky Go app to make sure that being away from your Sky box does not mean missing the action. The Sky Go app on Android and iOS means that you can watch from your tablet or phone, or you can watch through your browser on an approved device.
However, a word of warning: you are only allowed a small number of registered devices so make sure you've planned in advance if you need to switch things around.
Buy a NOW TV box and a subscription
If you aren't looking for a permanent subscription, but you do want to watch on your main television, then you could pick up a NOW TV box and a Sky Sports pass. The NOW TV box is a low-cost streaming option (it's heavily subsidised by Sky and is built by Roku) with an HDMI cable that connects to your network and streams, so you should definitely be sure that your internet speed is up to the task.
You can buy day passes for £6.99, but Sky has also brought in a week pass now for Sports that would make a lot of sense for the Tests.
Subscribe to NOW TV and buy a NOW TV box
Watch it live
Yep - it's the most expensive option but watching the Ashes live should definitely be on your sporting bucket list.
There are still tickets available, but expect to pay a significant chunk of money to be able to witness the event live - and make sure you take that most critical of things for any event in the English summer - a brolly.
Buy a NOW TV package
If you already have a device that you want to watch the Ashes on and don't need another streaming box then you can simply get a NOW TV Sky Sports pass and use your own device.
Chromecast, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Roku, LG Smart TV, PC or Mac, some Android and most iOS devices are supported - but not Amazon Fire TV at this stage.
Sky Sport iPad App
One of the more novel ways to watch the cricket is through the Sky Sports app on iPad. For those with the requisite subscription, the app (and iPad of course), you can keep in touch with the Ashes Event Centre.
That means a cool timeline so you can see clips of the key events, a Hawkeye analysis tool and, for the first time, a choice of 17 cameras to watch things unfold.
Channel 5 highlights
If you just want to watch the best bits then Channel 5 will be broadcasting the highlights from each day's play. We're just checking with them exactly what time it will be on.
The channel is available on terrestrial digital, Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, YouView. First highlights for the Ashes are on July 8 at 19:00 BST
The pub
For those of you who don't want to subscribe to Sky, pay for a NOW TV pass, want more than the highlights and won't attend live there's always the option of finding the nearest local boozer and bagging a stool with a good view of the screen.
Matchpint.co.uk has a list of pubs showing the Ashes, but be ready to fork out for beer and nuts. And also be ready for a bunch of rowdy Aussies slating you when you're ordering them.
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