Report: Nine poised to retain cricket rights
Eleventh hour talks between Nine and Cricket Australia see the network is still in with a chance.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Nine is poised to retain international cricket broadcasting rights after eleventh hour talks with Cricket Australia yesterday.
US hedge fund representatives flew to Australia this week for talks with Nine management, ahead of the network’s plans to float on the ASX within the next 18 months. Both cricket and NRL are integral to plans for a successful float.
But Nine will need to match TEN’s audacious bid of $500m, if it is to secure the five-year deal. The deadline for its offer is 5pm Monday.
The Daily Telegraph reports none of the parties was prepared to comment.
TEN is still expected to secure the Big Bash League at a price of $100 million, but it will be comforted in the knowledge it has pushed Nine’s price to the brink.
Both networks are expected to see the events run at a loss, but provide valuable platforms to drive their other content.
30 Responses
Would have been nice for a change in broadcaster but good for nine. Feel a bit sorry for 10 though.
As much as I want TEN to get the cricket I really think Nine will snatch it at the last minute, I hope I’m wrong!
hey Sifter ICC Champions Trophy: only on Fox Sports
Nine Network covering the Australian cricket team in England against England (2013).
Whoever wins this arm wrestle is the biggest loser. Nine is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. What is appealing about a public offering of heritage media? The hedge guys got it wrong again. IMHO.
Booo! Ten should have bid 600 mil.
Oh poo. I wanted a change.
So Nine would have another $2M cheque to write every week to CA, on top of the $2M cheque every week to WB. Phew. That’s $208,000,000 every year. Double phew.
A memo to Mr Gyngell – ” the fat lady is getting ready to sing or more like bellow her final tune for Nine” Nine as we know it will be a distant memory.
@TheTvGuru – No dots on a WIN-O&O station is a Bruce Gordon thing. If 9 bought NWS and/or STW then obviously the dots would be back. Nine owns NBN.
I think the announcement is on Tuesday. Well done Ten for getting a slice of CA rights. I hope Bruce Gordon’s negotiatons with Nine breakdown.
Excellent! Now we get to suffer Ian Healy for another 5 years… :-/
Looks like nine will introduce new commentators to the team like Tom Waterhouse cause they will need the extra revenue!!
Cricket Australia also owns the Australian rights to The Champions Trophy and other ICC events, but sells them separately.
@shazz
Dramas and movies get timeshifted a lot. Sport and contest shows are recorded very little. Which is why the networks have been bidding up major sports and franchises for shows like The Voice.
You can see what has happened to Ten which found itself with only Masterchef and no major sports. Which is why McLennan is going after “event TV”.
Sports rights running at a loss on fta again!!!! This does not bode well for the future.
U.S. shows and other imports rarely perform these days as folk watch via other means, home produced drama is expensive and perceived to be high risk, leaving only news and home produced “reality (ha ha )” shows. Welcome to the new normal of fta TV
Nine are going to have sell a lot of ads to pay for that!
I think Fox has the rights to the Champions Trophy
*WIN readd the dots, not 9, lol
I agree that it would be reffreshing for another network to have the telecast rights.
David, if 9 does buy WIN in adelaide and perth, does that mean that 9 could re-add the 9 dots back into its logo? Like NBN?
Ten will help Nine go broke now.
So much money wasted on something that isn’t even really content. No wonder actual scripted programmes are rare with such obscene amounts of money being spent on something as worthless sport.
Personally, I’d be happy to see the rights stay on Nine as even though the coverage has its flaws, it’s such an institution there that it would be a pity to see it move on.
I would’ve like to have seen the cricket rights change. The coverage needs to be revived somehow. I will still watch because I like the cricket but the coverage does need improvement. I will be curious to see how ten broadcasts the big bash and what commentators they will use.
Interesting…part of me hoped TEN could steal it away, get some freshness in the coverage (plus Nine has worst reception as my house haha).
On a cricket related note, is Nine (or any FTA network..) going to be showing any of the Champions Trophy that starts this coming week? I thought the rule was that all Australian cricket games in England had to be televised on FTA – is this still the case? Couldn’t see it in any of the advance guides posted here. Cricket Australia website implies it’s only FOX covering the games, same for the ODIs following the Ashes Tests. Can anyone confirm that FTA only get the Test matches?