by Peter Lalor | August 26, 2009

THE Queen and Britain's Prime Minister have lined up to bestow congratulations upon Andrew Strauss and his merry men amid the usual excesses associated with an Ashes victory, but most of England was busy watching a religious program instead of the cricket on the final day.

Australians, too, found other ways to occupy their time.

In Britain, the last session of the fifth Test on Sunday night peaked at 1.9 million viewers, while Songs of Praise on another channel hit the high notes with 2.4 million.

In truth, the 2009 Ashes never reached the heights of the 2005 series, which attracted a peak of more than seven million.

A substantial reason for the rapid drop-off in viewers was the decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board before the 2009 series to sell its exclusive television rights to a pay-TV provider. Free-to-air viewers had to accept an hour's highlights each night on the BBC.

In Australia, the final night of cricket of the 2009 series attracted 444,000 viewers for the first session on SBS, while Midsomer Murders (ABC) and Bones (Seven) both attracted more than a million viewers. Viewers began the fifth Test with high expectations, with about 679,000 tuning in on day one but fell away as Australia's chances did the same.

SBS said the metropolitan audience was down from 7.4million people in 2005 to 6.5 million for this series, while rural areas dropped from 3.4million to 3million.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25982708-5013404,00. html