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“Network 10 and Paramount+ are keen to restore Cricket to its former prominence”

Final negotiations are underway with Cricket Australia for the next big sports deal.

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Paramount has offered Cricket Australiaabout $1.5 billion for Test matches and the Big Bash League for the next seven years, according to media reports.

The Sydney Morning Herald says the US owned network had deep financial resources and access to new technology that could improve sports broadcasts.

A 10 spokesperson said, “We have a commitment to deliver a premium product with greater visibility, consistency and flexibility across all forms of cricket, the network would provide blanket domestic coverage and take the sport to a new and freshly engaged audience.

“Network 10 and Paramount+ are keen to restore cricket to its former prominence, ignite the love affair between Australians and this great sport and provide the quality of coverage that television audiences and fans deserve.”

Cricket Australia is hoping to have a deal signed before Christmas and continues to talk with incumbent rights holders Seven and Foxtel, who are keen to continues, but want changes around the Big Bash League.

At the same time, Seven continues legal action in the Federal Court claiming CA breached its contract by reducing the quality and standards of the Big Bash League during the pandemic.

Meanwhile The Australian suggests some within the sporting body are anxious about entering a long-term deal with a broadcaster who has no history of covering Test matches, or international one-day cricket.

If Paramount was to win the rights to broadcast cricket, it is possible that it could house the full suite of the sport’s offerings, with Test matches to be shown on the free-to-air network, and the Big Bash League and the women’s BBL to screen on Paramount+.

An offer from Nine has reportedly fallen short of expectations.

21 Responses

  1. Cricket only goes for a few months, channel ten would be better off spending the money on better shows and hiring people who know how to run a tv station.

  2. Nine put in a non-serious bid just to meddle. They have the tennis. Paramount is the leading bid, but Seven and Foxtel are still in the running for some games. Ten needs a winter sport to try and get some viewers at weekends, but they can’t get one. The A-League was to return Winter, but it’s remained in Summer against the NBL, Tennis and declining cricket audiences. The IPL and broadcasting in India are where all the real money and power is now (and all the match fixing too).

  4. Mens ODIs and T20s involving Australia in Australia are on the anti-siphoning list. (Broadcasting Services (Events) Notice (No. 1) 2010). I believe it is the decision of C7 not to show those games hence they are only on Fox and Kayo.

    1. With the BBL on Ten every evening the ODIs and T20s audience declined and Nine, which created the White Ball games, let Foxtel have exclusive coverage and kept only the tests, which continued under the Seven deal. The anti-syphoning list has never done what it was claimed it did, it only complicates negotiations while Fox Sports, FTA and the sports owners manoeuvre to get what they all really want with bundling rights. Even Keating’s main aim, which was to destroy Optus and Foxtel’s cable businesses after they destroyed his Government controlled Satellite Pay TV system, only half succeeded, creating a more powerful Foxtel Sport monopoly. Only 8000, people a day were prepared to sit in the sun in Perth. The Adelaide Day Nighter and the Boxing Day Test do better. Though the fact that SA are here and not at home reflects declining attendances in SA. And Seven is suing to try and recover $235m they claim they lost on the BBL due to CA’s changes in the BBL schedule.

  5. Good luck to Paramount & Net10. They need a win but will the old boys network use them to up the price and then go to their usual suspects for a little more? Certainly what happened with the AFL so we’re stuck with that tired old white blokey coverage until 2031.

    10 did a great job with Big Bash, as they did with the AFL without prior experience, so not sure why that should be an issue. Otherwise, why bother asking them to bid?

  6. Having good, detailed coverage will help keep people engaged. Adding new technologies each year, as Nine did, sets the top leagues apart and leads to success. Improving the squad lineup and getting less familiar players into top leagues can help recover from a damaged reputation.

    Bringing class back to cricket, as the women’s leagues are doing, and using a memorable theme song and supplementary program like The Cricket Show can engage the youth. One could not forget the montages featuring songs like 10cc – Dreadlock Holiday, a quintessential cricket song, which could easily also be used as a theme song.

  7. I wish that the ODIs and T20Is should be played on FTA coverage. It was such a travesty to have Limited Overs matches put behind a paywall. As a cricket fan, I was bitterly disappointed with CA’s decision to force fans pay more to watch ODIs and T20s. CA only cares about making money than fans.
    This was similar to what happened in UK in 2006 when Cricket was shown exclusively on Sky Sports.

    1. I agree totally. I was disappointed too in regard to the T20’s and ODI’s going behind a paywall. Let us all enjoy all cricket matches on free to air. Some people can’t afford pay television or go to the game.

      1. I must really be out of the loop on this one but I never understood how legally CA were permitted to have ODIs behind a paywall. T20, yes as it was not around at the time the law was written. At the time CA announced the new broadcast deal, they said more cricket will be showed on FTA than was previously the case (ie more BBL and BBLW games) therefore, somehow, the fact ODI was not on FTA was ok. I’m stumped! More likely than not seven will let this go and keep cash for Olympics and Comm games. Foxtel on the other hand will fight tooth and nail.

  9. “provide the quality of coverage that television audiences and fans deserve.” – Fox show the tests in 4K, what ‘quality of coverage’ are they going to provide that’s better than that?

    1. Fox Cricket’s Test coverage is widely regarded in the industry as the best cricket coverage world wide.

      A majority of staff who work on it are full time with Fox with a Channel 9 cricket background. Channel 10 doesn’t have a sports department anymore so would have to start from scratch.

      Look at what they’ve done to the A League and Melbourne Cup since they’ve had it – Cricket Australia would have to have rocks in their heads to go with them.

  10. Cricket Australia would be mad not to take the Paramount offer. Look at what Ten did for Big Bash when it launched? In my opinion, the long term survival of free to air television depends on networks acquiring exclusive sports rights.Deals which allow matches to be simulcast on Foxtel are not in the interests of Seven, Nine or Ten. If they want to significantly build BVOD services, Stan or Paramount they would be mad not to bid only for exclusive rights. I realise working with Foxtel may be cheaper in the short term, but it just accelerates the fracturing of audiences and migration to another paid service competitor while at the same time Nine and Ten especially, are trying to build or maintain their own paid products.

  11. I’m not too sure channel 10/Paramount will be a good idea , if games are going to be starting 6pm will they keep The Project and other shows on and shunt the Cricket to one of their SD channels or 10 Play which is also SD ,to me no one has an interest in sport on Ten so it’ll be either 7 again in a reduced capacity along with 9 and Foxtel sharing various formats.

    1. In many markets, 10 BOLD is only in High Definition (I know it is owned & operated stations in metropolitian areas, and it is the same in some regional markets where the 10 station is a joint-venture, like MDV which is a joint venture between Seven and WIN for example). And just remember that 10 used to have a twenty-four hour sports channel that broadcasted in both standard definition and high definition on digital television (I wonder who remembers One HD).

      1. I remembered ONE HD as a sports channel. TEN used to show IPL T20 back in 2008-10, but they stopped it years ago. In early 2011, ONE HD altered its channel, to a mixture of sports/general entertainment programming.

  12. “A 10 spokesperson said, “We have a commitment to deliver a premium product with greater visibility,”
    Greater visibility? How does shoving the BBL behind a paywall that only Paramount+ subscribers can watch increase visibility? These guys can’t be trusted.

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