Cricket fans will be able to watch the BBC's Ashes highlights online within minutes of the close of play each morning when the first Test begins next Thursday in Australia.
The BBC is promising a mix of the old and the new with its Ashes coverage: online highlights, on-demand TV coverage and podcasts - and the return to TV of the Test Match Special theme, Soul Limbo.
A 10-minute online video highlights package will be available at the end of each day's play from Australia, as well as a daily morning podcast featuring audio highlights.
This free video highlights could prove a hit with cricket fans arriving at the office each morning, given that the action from Australia will be exclusively live on Sky Sports overnight because of the time difference between the two countries.
The TV highlights programme, fronted by Football Focus presenter Manish Bhasin, will be available to digital TV viewers via the red button from 10pm onwards, the earliest time the BBC can show it under its deal with the live rights holder, BSkyB.
An extended version of the highlights show - which will also look forward to the following day's play with BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew - will be given a permanent slot after Newsnight on BBC2 at 11.15pm.
The Test Match Special theme, Soul Limbo by Booker T and the MGs - which disappeared from television when the BBC lost live rights to domestic cricket to Channel 4 in 1999 - will also be making a comeback.
BBC executives briefly entertained the possibility of dropping the tune but decided against it, partly because the Caribbean-flavoured theme would be ideal for its cricket World Cup coverage next spring from the West Indies.
"The BBC has always supported cricket - hence the success of Test Match Special - but this is our most ambitious offering yet on all our platforms," said the BBC director of sport, Roger Mosey.
Online highlights rights were secured by the BBC in a deal with Cricket Australia and its worldwide distribution agents, CSI Octagon.
Play in the first Test, which begins next Thursday in Brisbane, will run from midnight to 7am UK time live on Sky Sports.
Sky Mobile TV is also offering live Ashes coverage and daily highlights for the first time to customers with 3G phone who subscribe to Vodafone, Orange and 3.
Ashes highlights will also be available to Sky Digital subscribers via the skysports.com website.
Live radio coverage will be broadcast through the night on BBC Radio 4 long wave, Five Live Sports Extra and online.
The BBC will show between 60 and 70 hours of cricket during the Ashes and the cricket World Cup, highlights of which will be shown on BBC1.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
