Federal Court directs Cricket Australia to hand Seven agreed documents

The Federal Court has directed Cricket Australia to deliver agreed documents to Seven as part of its preliminary discovery action.

Seven and Cricket Australia went to court over preliminary discovery action relating to what Seven believed is actionable Test Match and BBL quality failures by Cricket Australia.

In a statement Seven said, “Seven West Media has welcomes the order of the Federal Court giving it pre-action discovery against Cricket Australia and will pursue discovery as ordered.

“SWM is committed to working under its contract with Cricket Australia to deliver a big 2020- 21 summer of cricket for the fans and players.”

Cricket Australia said in a statement, “Cricket Australia (CA) respects today’s decision for CA to work with Seven West Media (SWM) to agree what access to documentation should be provided in relation to the successful 2020-21 season, which was delivered in full and captivated fans around the world.

“The 2020-21 season will be remembered for the spirit of cooperation, overcoming challenges and a sensational summer of cricket. We are extremely proud of how the Australian Cricket family and its partners worked together to make the season so special.

“There is a huge amount of work going on with all of our partners, including SWM, to make the upcoming summer of cricket one of the biggest yet, headlined by the men’s and women’s Ashes series.”

Seven was unhappy with audiences for the Big Bash League and questioned whether Cricket Australia delivered on its contract for quality matches. Seven had agreed to “Fast Start” BBL matches on the same day as Australia v India Test matches, but changes were made to the timing of the latter.

“We are spoilt for sport this year with not just the AFL, Supercars and Olympics, but an exciting horse racing line-up and the Ashes Test series,” CEO James Warburton recently noted in Seven’s annual report. “While we had a disagreement with Cricket Australia during 2020–21, this relationship is improving. We are working with them to improve the Big Bash, and we are very much look forward to this summer’s Ashes Test series.”

In March Seven was awarded a $5.3m reduction in its dispute with Cricket Australia over the 2020-21 cricket season.

This post updates.