Channel Seven has left the Olympics for the first time since 1956 in a last-ditch bid to retain cricket rights in Australia, with Channel Nine in the box seat to claim the rights for both
Channel 7 has walked away from the Olympics after almost 70 years of covering the event for Australian audiences in a bid to mount a serious challenge to retain Australian cricket broadcast rights.
The lucrative rights to Test cricket, limited overs internationals and the Big Bash League look set to return to Channel Nine with the broadcaster launching a record-breaking $1.5 billion deal in conjunction with Foxtel.
That means cricket will return home to Channel Nine which broadcast the sport for 40 years before Channel Seven came on board in 2019.
The Tokyo Olympics reportedly cost Seven West Media $50million with Channel Nine now in the box seat to claim the rights.
Cricket Australia is set for a big payday with Channel Nine, Seven West Media and Paramount competing for broadcast rights
However, Seven West Media, owners of Channel 7, have now officially walked away from the Olympics with the games set to go on Channel Nine.
The Herald Sun reported that Nine had offered more than $300million for the rights to broadcast the Olympics, $100million more than Seven West Media.
However, the money saved from giving up the Olympics means Channel Seven can increase their offer to retain cricket rights with pay and subscription providers Foxtel and Kayo – both owned by News Corp.
Nine already owns the rights to the Australian Open and is also paying around $100million for free-to-air NRL rights, and the network is likely to land the Olympics.
The Sun reported that Channel Seven lost around $50million for the Tokyo games, which means Channel Nine will have to spend heavily to recover cricket after pouring money into other sports.
However, current broadcasters Channel 7 and Fox Sports are both reportedly unhappy with the Big Bash in its current state, which could work against those networks taking the rights.
The Big Bash League could be an important part of negotiations with Channel 7 unhappy with the current format and Channel Nine covering the Australian Open in January
US streaming service Paramount, which owns Channel 10, has raised the bar for all networks after launching a whopping $1.5billion bid for exclusive rights to all cricket.
However, Cricket Australia is understood to be reluctant to move all games to streaming-only services.
A decision is expected by Christmas, but that is likely to be delayed by Seven West Media’s revised bid to retain the cricket rights.
A decision is likely to come soon with Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson indicating negotiations are reaching their conclusion
Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson said a decision would be made soon.
‘Negotiations are commercial in confidence … it’s reaching the pointy-end as we speak,’ Henderson said on Friday.
‘There is a lot of interest in the cricket media rights and we are really pleased that we have interest from all the major parties.’
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