Why Cricket Australia REJECTED an incredible $1.5billion TV offer from the American giant to keep the game on Channel Seven
- Cricket Australia extends to current broadcasters Seven and Fox Sports
- The body rejected a $1.5billion rights offer from American giant Paramount
- The contract lasts for five years and will start when the current deal expires in 2024
Cricket Australia has shunned international interest and agreed a multi-million dollar contract extension with current broadcasters Seven Network and Fox Sports.
As part of the reported deal, the home Test summer and select Big Bash League matches will remain on Seven, while subscription broadcaster Fox is set to continue showing Tests and the BBL as well as white-ball internationals and other domestic competition.
News Corp reported that the new contract lasts for five years and will start when the current deal expires in 2024.
Cricket Australia has fended off international interest and agreed a multi-million dollar contract extension with current broadcasters Seven Network and Fox Sports (David Warner Pictured)
As part of the reported deal, the home Test summer and select Big Bash League matches will remain on Seven, while subscription broadcaster Fox is set to continue showing Tests and the BBL as well as white-ball internationals and other domestic competitions (Network Seven commentators Mel McLaughlin, Ricky Ponting and Michael Slater are pictured)
American media giant Paramount, which owns Network 10, has become a major suitor hoping to snap up cricket and made a reported $1.5 billion offer to Cricket Australia (CA) that was more lucrative than those tabled by the networks Australia.
Paramount’s streaming service Paramount Plus launched in Australia in August 2021 and is in the local sports market as the broadcaster of the A-Leagues and Australian soccer internationals.
But CA is understood to have felt that neither Paramount Plus nor its struggling free-to-air affiliate Network 10 could match the reach of current broadcast hosts.
Fox has a base of 4.4 million subscribers, nearly 1.3 million of whom are signed up to streaming platform Kayo, while Seven’s Test coverage continues to rate among the highest programs on free-to-air television this summer.
Paramount Plus has yet to disclose its own figures but an August estimate from market research specialist Roy Morgan put the platform’s local subscriber base at around 400,000.
Fox has a base of 4.4 million subscribers, nearly 1.3 million of whom are signed up to streaming platform Kayo, while Seven’s Test coverage continues to rate among the highest programs on free-to-air television this summer (Image from Big Bash League )
CA’s decision to bypass Paramount comes after the AFL chose to reject the American company’s advances last year, despite being the highest bidder on that occasion.
The new deal signals the burial of the hatchet for Cricket Australia and Seven after the network took CA to the Federal Court seeking to terminate the final two years of its current six-year contract over alleged breaches.
The seven are seeking documents to determine whether the CA has made ‘reasonable efforts’ to ensure the BBL matches the quality of rival leagues including the Indian Premier League but is understood to be prepared to drop the case if the existing deals have been extended.
The new deal signals the burial of the hatchet for Cricket Australia and Seven after the network took CA to the Federal Court seeking to terminate the final two years of its current six-year contract over alleged breaches (Image from in the Big Bash League)
The home Test summer concludes this week with the third Test against South Africa, which starts at the SCG on Wednesday.
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