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Report: Bruce Gordon said no to cricket bid

WIN was asked to tip in about $5 million a year to retain the Big Bash League, but declined.

WIN TV mogul Bruce Gordon reportedly rejected a request by TEN to back its bid for Cricket Australia broadcast rights.

Fairfax reports WIN was asked to tip in about $5 million a year for the deal to retain the Big Bash League, which it ultimately lost as part of a Foxtel / Seven deal for all Cricket at $1.3 billion for six years.

Fairfax speculates whether Gordon’s shareholder losses, and a failed bid to control TEN, were behind a decision not to back its affiliate as negotiations narrowed.

Gordon and Lachlan Murdoch lodged a $55 million bid for the network through their investment companies but a vote from creditors, which included employees, unanimously rejected the offer in favour of a rival bid from CBS.

The article follows previous intel that Cricket Australia chairman David Peever apologised to CBS Studios boss Armando Nunez after sending an email in which he referred to TEN as “bottom feeders.”

WIN chief executive Andrew Lancaster and TEN boss Paul Anderson declined to comment.

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