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Seven promises to drop court action if it wins Cricket deal

As part of Seven's bid for next Cricket rights, it would cease its Federal Court action to terminate its current deal.

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Seven network has agreed to drop court action against Cricket Australia is it wins the next set of broadcast rights it shares with FOX Sports.

News Corp publications report industry insiders have confirmed that as part of Seven’s bid, it would cease its Federal Court action to terminate its current deal.

Cricket Australia powerbrokers have told Seven that the looming court case over the quality of the Big Bash would have no bearing over the rights decision.

A five-year, $1.5 billion offer from Channel 10/Paramount is believed to be $40 million a year more than the joint bid by Seven, FOX Sports and News Corp.

But that hasn’t stopped news articles running down 10’s standing as a sports broadcaster, referring to a “ratings free-fall the Melbourne Cup and A-League have suffered since moving to Channel 10.”

Newsflash. The Melbourne Cup has been losing linear FTA viewers for a decade, as more viewers shift to Live streaming, but let’s not let that get in the way of editorial.

10 did a very good job of building up the Big Bash League into the brand it is today. Whether that means they can handle Test and ODIs is for smarter brains than me to determine.

The deadline has now passed for final offers.

28 Responses

  1. I think the real issue with cricket is not related to who broadcasts it, but related to a complete lack of consistency. Back in the 80’s there were the 5 tests from early Dec like we have now – but it was Australia vs the same country for all 5 tests, then a series of one day matches between Australia and two other countries, culminating in a final early Feb. Now, some years (like this year) the tests are Australia vs two different countries, while the one days all just seem random with no pattern or competition as such. Then add on random T20’s as well and its chaotic and different every year. As for BBL, I like the idea, but there’s way too many games, and too hard to follow if you only are following on free to air.

  3. If 7 retains the cricket rights, they need the ODI/T20 games on air. Not everyone likes ODIs. If you put the ODIs behind the paywall, cricket will suffer and so will fans. I think CA have too much power on the game and only cares of making money than fans. Having the game starting in first week of Nov is too early for fans. Fans are at school. This was similar to what happened back in November 2010 when Sri Lanka played ODIs in AUstralia. The crowds went down and same for ratings.

  4. I don’t like how News Corp are bagging 10. It is just plain bullying. And if 7 don’t want the BBL, just give it back to 10. And I really hope 10/Paramount Plus do get the cricket.

        2. “Soccer’s night of shame a warning for cricket. Saturday night’s harrowing incident at the A-League’s Melbourne derby should leave cricket executives wary of making any deals that promise big dollars but can’t deliver its targets, writes Robert Craddock.”

      2. Paramount drove out Fox and SBS who were doing a good job. Then they butchered the coverage on Paramount+ destroying any upside that may have resulted from the deal for everyone. Having destroyed the value of the soccer, Paramount then force a renegotiation where they moved the Men’s game to Bold and the Women’s game to 10 play and forced the APL to accept a deal where their payment was determined by the amount of money Paramount claimed they were getting in advertising and subscriptions to Paramount+ from the soccer. So as Ten and Paramount+ head for oblivion they are taking the APL and the FFA down with them. The APL facing bankrupty was forced to signed a sweat 3 year deal for hosting the grandfinal in Sydney triggering wide spread protests around the country including a supposed walkout, which was jsut cover for a pitch invasion and assaults. While Paramount wasn’t directly responsible for that it played a large part. SMH reported so too.

  5. See what Channel 7 did is put their eggs in the wrong basket. They gave up international ODIs and T20s and went with the minnow sport. BBL has its place but the fact is, people want to watch the Aussies play not the state teams. The Thunder match on Friday proved that. All out for 15. The BBL is on the decline. It worked early on but people are over it. What i will say though is this is blackmail on another level. Give us the rights and we will not sue you. Its kind of wrong. Seven messed up when they let the tennis go. Be interesting to see who ends up snagging the cricket but if it is Channel 7 and they are reading this, don’t give exclusive ODIs and T20s to Foxtel again. Thats where you messed up. In a way i hope they decide to throw it to Channel 10 and Paramount+ but we all know they won’t because NewsCorpse’s precious Foxtel has to be involved somehow.

  6. I think 10 would do a a great job, most of members from the commentary teams from 7 and Fox are from when 10 had cricket, Adam Gilchrist, Mark Howard, Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Mel to name a few.

  7. I hope 7 and Foxtel retain the rights. 10’s coverage of the A-league is nothing short of disasterous. And tbh Paramount+ is another service to subscribe to. Nearly everyone I know has kayo for something or the other

    1. Kayo for me is disastrous. I had to remove Kayo and just add the sports package to my Foxtel. Menu was clunky and tricky to Navigate, hard to find what I want. For Live sports, footage is delayed by a few seconds. Just not worth it.

      Regarding 10, 10 did very well to with BBL and the AFL. Since BBL went to 7 it went downhill from there. So I’m hoping and many others I know, that 10 get the cricket. T20’s, ODI need to be included on FTA.

  8. To me the Big Bash is dead and buried and even if they bring back the 35 games including finals I think it’s past it’s UBD. Also if 7 take the cricket they better include the ODIs and T20 International games here otherwise they are back right where they started. Also 9 has The Ashes next year in Prime Time so who knows if 7 will get a few Ashes tests thrown in.

  9. It really doesn’t matter who broadcasts the cricket. It’s all produced by NEP these days. Can’t see the logic for Ten. If they do nab the rights it, I hope P+ continue with an ad break free option like Foxtel offer now.

    For $40 million a year (2.6% difference), I hope Cricket Australia stick with Seven / Foxtel.

    Interesting to note that Spark Sport in NZ is shuting its doors at the end of summer. The only domestic sports they had rights too was cricket.

    2. NEP are the gear and facilities provider and not the producers. Fox provide the world coverage like any host broadcaster would and Seven produce their own content.

      Has nothing to do with who the gear provider is because essentially the coverage would be the same regardless.

      10 are known for the cheapest option to sport ie..A-League, and after the realisation that have paid too much for the cricket rights, they would do a stripped back coverage to recover costs. Basically just take the world feed with a few studio hostings that cost nothing to produce.

      1. On games where 7 are host broadcasters they are ment to supply the world feed and the same when fox are the host broadcasters they supply the world feed. However apparently “ the world” is taking fox’s coverage this year. Interesting isn’t it.

  10. I can see why CA would be worried about giving the cricket to Ten.
    A 60 year old movie on 9GEM rates better than the soccer on 10Bold and costs the station much less than what Paramount paid for the A-league per match.
    The Big Bash was a hit (literally) when it was exclusively on FoxSports and then on Ten, but has been on terminal decline for years, which is no fault of Ten of course.

  11. Yes interesting comments from News Ltd papers ( who are associated with Foxtel) to bag Network 10. 10 did a great job with AFL and Big Bash when they had the rights. And Big Bash ratings have sunk since Seven has had the cricket rights…so Seven/News Limited… don’t bag 10 about poor ratings!

    1. When 10 had the AFL they had 1 game a week and fairly generous couple of finals games, produced by Foxtel. Ten did do a good job with the BBL, but CA, Foxtel and Seven screwed it up. It is interesting that Seven think they can win the cricket while still being in denial of their role in the debarcle and are suing CA. The drop in pitch at Homebush has always been pretty poor which cost the Thunder when they used to have a good batting line-up. The drop in pitch the AFL forces on Brisbane is now going to have to be looked too, and I;m sure the ICC will get involved.

  12. Ahhhhh that old…”we will take you to court and stretch it for years until we bid for the next TV right and drop legals a week before decision time so we look like good guys” Trick. Well Maxwell Smart its a bit of a dirty trick. Isn’t this the same trick 7 played when they were taking the AFL and Foxtel to court regarding their C7 pay TV AFL rights on Optus Vision and then dropped all legal proceedings when they pitched for the AFL rights and got them away from Channel Nine?

    I hope 7 don’t get the Cricket right just on this alone.

  13. If the deadlines for the final offers has passed, I’m going to say that, if there is no announcement of the new deal until the end of the current test series (Aus v Sa) that probably means that it’s not going to the incumbents 7/Fox as that would be weird to announce someone else getting the rights while those who lost it are currently broadcasting a test series.

    If the offical announcement does happen this year or during the test series then it’s probably staying with 7/Fox

  15. That kind of sounds like corporate blackmail to be frank, and to the tune of benefiting them to a $40million a year discount.
    Big Bash was so much better in the early days on 10, corporate greed from the later networks pushing for a longer season and more games has eaten away at what ten had built up back in the day, will be interesting to see who wins the next rights.

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