Seven hails new $450m Cricket deal
Free to Air deal includes 43 Big Bash games, home international Tests & 2021 home Ashes series.
- Published by David Knox
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Seven has confirmed a six-year agreement with Cricket Australia from 2018 through to 2024.
The Free to Air rights costing $75 million per annum includes:
- 43 of the 59 Big Bash League matches, including all marquee matches and finals
- All home international tests, including the 2021-22 home Ashes series
- Key Women’s Big Bash League and International matches
- The most prestigious individual prizes in Australian cricket; the Allan Border Medal and Belinda Clark Award.
FOX Cricket channel to launch in new Pay TV deal
6PR radio this morning speculated that broadcast production would be produced from Foxtel, possibly with an introduction from Seven.
Chairman of Seven West Media, Kerry Stokes, said: “I am excited about having Australia’s only truly national game back on Seven. Cricket has and will always be Australia’s premier summer sport and Seven now is in the enviable position as being the first and only Free to Air broadcaster covering both it and the AFL.
“We are the premier producers of sports content in Australia, as evidenced by this year’s Winter Olympics, Australian Open, AFL and Commonwealth Games, and look forward to setting new standards for cricket coverage in the next six years.”
.@Channel7 is the new home of cricket. "This is a great deal" – Tim Worner – Seven West Media. "It gives us over 400 hours of premium sport…we're getting about 70 days/night of cricket…we're looking forward to giving cricket the Seven treatment." https://t.co/h23G1KZy2a
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) April 13, 2018
Seven West Media chief executive Tim Worner added: “This is a great deal – for Seven, for our viewers, our advertisers, our shareholders and for the game itself.
“For Seven it means that for the first time in history, a single free-to-air network will be delivering the number one summer and winter sports – Cricket and AFL. This will underpin our transformational business strategy for years to come.
“The deal gives Seven over 400 hours of premium sport across the summer – more than double that of the Australian Open, at a significantly less hourly cost.
“For viewers it means the best produced Cricket, live and free on Australia’s number one Network. Seven has always been the innovator in sports coverage in Australia – from RaceCam in the 70s, to setting the standard in how AFL is covered, televising more Olympic Games than any other TV station, and introducing cutting-edge technologies and multi-channel coverage before anyone else.
“For advertisers it means one call will connect them with the mass audiences that Big Bash and Tests attract throughout the summer.
“For our shareholders, the agreement ensures we retain all FTA cricket revenues, with significantly lower costs, delivering the best return on investment.
“And for Cricket Australia, it means the unbridled support of Australia’s number one Network and the best sports partners bar none. We will be unrelenting in our efforts to lift cricket to new levels.”
The deal ends Nine’s long reign as the home of Cricket, however it still has current deals covering the next ashes series from England in 2019, the ODI World Cup in the UK in the same year and in 2020 the T20 World Cups to be held in Australia.
Nine’s Director of Sport, Tom Malone told staff in an email, “The decision not to increase our initial bid for Test matches was not taken lightly given Nine’s strong connection to cricket, however when viewed through the prism of what’s the best decision for our business, it was straight forward. This is one of the situations we anticipated when we made the bid for Tennis and one we are comfortable with as a business. As I said a couple of weeks ago, we must secure sports rights at the right price and terms.
“Nine is immensely proud of our decades long association between Wide World of Sports and the game of cricket in this country. Nearly every broadcast innovation in cricket was first implemented by Wide World of Sports. We wish Cricket Australia and its new broadcast partners well for the future success of the game.”
35 Responses
Don’t you just love it how the media put a spin on something that’s so negative for itself seven and the fans .most of the cricket is behind a pay tV wall in fact the majority that fans want to watch is behind a pay tV wall see gets what doesn’t rate .test matches rated poorly in nine women’s cricket seriously I cannot see this as a ratings winner for seven .the fans are screwed in this deal .CA will regret this just like in England when cricket went to pay tV the fans deserted the game there in droves the same will happen here .we the fans have been screwed by CA .
I feel very sorry for TEN, losing the Big Bash. What are they going to do for summer sport now?
It’s a terrible deal for cricket fans honestly. Sure they have the big bash and tests but Seven haven’t got streaming rights (IMO the most important going forward) so you won’t be able to watch on their streaming app. As for no ODIs for cricket fans it’s a huge loss. Be interesting how they cover both tennis (last year of the old deal) and cricket this summer.
You might find that this conflict is the reason SWM didn’t take the ODI’s and t20’s. Maybe next year, when they hove nothing to show in January, they’ll simulcast them.
If l was at Ten l would chase Australian Baseball and build that up in Australia. Have a few international invitationals to USA teams to generate interest.
I love how Aussie’s think it’s their God given right to watch sport for free on FTA stations… Sport is a business – why shouldn’t they go for an outcome that delivers them more money – like any other business. Australia is pretty unique with how much sport is available free – look at New Zealand – they can’t watch the All Blacks (their biggest sport) live without pay tv.
We’re upset over 8-10 Cricket games going to Fox Sports. I think you’ll find Channel 10 took most of Fox Sports’ innovations and commentators when they took over BBL – they won’t do it by halves and you’ll definitely get a product worth paying for.
Just because other countries do stupid things, doesn’t mean we have to.
If sport is a business they can abide by anti monopoly rules and give back all the taxpayer’s money spent on stadiums, centres of excellence etc. If not they can broadcast on FTA.
The more I think about it the sadder I get !
Interesting how people love the game but will not watch because it’s on a network they don’t like. Just like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
@Keegie, nope it is to do mostly with the fact that the ODI’s and t20’s which used to be shown live and free every summer, will now be behind a paywall, and if you want to watch the mens ODI series against whoever tours australia in December/January or the T20s, which niine covered, from 2020, you will have to pay for it.
Or on a service they don’t pay for. Foxtel which only 30% (and declining) pay.
Its not because it’s on a network they don’t like it’s because why do they Now have to pay for some content (foxtel games) when they didn’t have to before.
This is why the BBL on Channel 10 was a big hit because it was free. If you look back on the data of when the BBL was on foxtel to when the BBL was on channel 10 you will notice a Big change
I am refering to comments that people are making that they will not watch the cricket on the Seven network, not about pay tv. Who knows how much better or worst it will be compared to Nine or Ten. Only time will tell.
Well done CA for putting dollars before the fans .you can line up your pockets with loads of cash but the lack of FTA TV coverage will in the long run devalue the game.
I can just imagine, Basil, ‘Hammer’ and ‘BT’ doing the cricket. ha ha Nightmare.
Most who really like sport have Fox
From where does that ‘ statistic’ come?
Sorry Seven l wont be watching. Loved Tens BBL coverage but l just won’t watch it again. Lost me cricket Australia.
Wow, I may as well untune Channel 7 for those years.
Seven have paid too much.
ch10 BBL fans to CBS “show me the money”….. Does anyone get the feeling that CBS are not going to bankroll a brighter future for ch10?
Yes silence is deafening
Thought crossed my mind.
Well seven can’t technically be the home of cricket when they don’t have everything. I would be happy if they called themselves, the weekend getaway of cricket… now if I want to see all the cricket.. it makes sense to get fox… and if I have fox … why would I watch 7… so it’s a win win for fox… 7 have been duded… and I feel sorry for TEN
RIP One Day Cricket. Next to no one watching at the grounds and now no one watching on the TV!
One wonders what the shareholders of Seven West Media think after a 750 million loss last year . And so much for Tim Worner saying SWM will no longer overpay for sports TV rights! Guess what Tim and Kerry “you just have “
I’ve sent an email to my MP calling for adding ODIs and T20s to the anti siphoning list and a letter to my local paper saying this will do more damage to cricket in Australia than the ball tampering scandal.
Maybe for 2025, but deal is done until 2024. However the anti-siphoning list is more about who gets to negotiate first. If a FTA broadcaster doesn’t want them, others can bid.
If Fox are asked, “Would you like everything on the anti siphoning list or are you willing to give up the ODIs and international T20s?” and Cricket Australia is asked, “How fond are you of current government funding?” we wouldn’t have to wait until 2025.
So I have watched my last ODI and T20 match?
Bugger!
P.S. I could not care less about the Big Bash.
Agreed! Cricket Australia might be happy financially now but I wonder how they’ll feel in 5 years time once they’ve killed off 2 forms of international cricket in this country? The A league is a good example of a pay tv only national sport that is failing. For a lot of the general public who don’t have foxtel, it is simply out of sight, out of mind.
I thought the A League was in better shape than ever currently. Sure it’s not getting tv eyeballs but the games themselves are generally always well attended (at least in Melbourne) or is hat just a Melbourne thing?
Terrible deal for FTA fans- they lose the One Dayers and T20’s.
Then they shouldn’t have stopped watching them. Ratings have been declining for them, which is why no FTA network wants to broadcast them at the start of the ratings season when they are trying to establish their new schedules. CA, Seven and Foxtel can conspiring to allow Seven to buy the FTA rights, to keep them away from an FTA network who would air them, and CA removed the clause requiring Seven to broadcast them so that Foxtel can get exclusive rights in violation of the anti-syphoning law is going to cause a backlash. Demonstrates why allowing Foxtel and Ten to merge would have been a bad idea.