Legal stoush over cricket rights
Cricket Australia has filed a writ against the Nine Network after talks reportedly broke down with the broadcaster.
- Published by David Knox
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Cricket Australia has filed a writ against the Nine Network after talks broke down with the broadcaster, according to Fairfax Media today.
At the centre of the stoush is Nine’s refusal to broadcast domestic cricket other than the ratings performers Twenty20 Big Bash League. But under the terms of the existing agreement, Cricket Australia cannot force a broadcaster to screen live coverage of its domestic one-day competition, the Ryobi Cup, or the Sheffield Shield final.
But at stake are the rights to Test cricket, including the Ashes series between Australia and England.
TEN s believed to have put forward an offer that is significantly higher than Nine’s last deal but Cricket Australia intends to argue in court that Nine has not actually matched the offer made by TEN, due to the different stance on domestic cricket.
The legal file has been sealed by order of a Supreme Court judge because of the commercially sensitive material it contains.
TEN is believed to have secured Big Bash rights from FOX Sports, but the network won’t comment on speculation.
Cricket Australia hopes to finalise its rights deal in June.
21 Responses
More accurate details were published yesterday afternoon.
Ten’s final bid was $500m over 5 years. With average figures of $80m/year for the internationals and $20m/year for all domestic competitions including the BBL.
The court case is to clarify whether Nine has to match the $80m or the $100m including domestic competitions since CA and NIne couldn’t agree.
Nine has 4 weeks to finalise its offer.
The absolute rise is not as much as it appears, you have to factor in growth in revenue and inflation and the installments are calculated to reflect this. But Ten’s bid is a lot higher than the average $45m/year Nine has paid for the international matches and $60m revenue that they currently generate.
Ten is the best suit to the cricket than 9 as they are awfully bad. They don’t broadcast games in HD all it is in SD or near HD is not good enough. Ten broadcasts sport in HD. This money deal should make Ten the clear winner
As an aside, is there any truth to the main channel taking over the HD at the end of this year?
If so, wouldn’t Ten be playing the Big bash on what would be their HD channel??
The plan is to make main channels HD yes, but it may not be immediate. It’s a bit unknown.
Yes I totally agree we need a fresh commentary team. Would love bbl to be on FTA. I love it on fox but the opportunity to give it the FTA touch would be great. I really hope Ten get it.
The NRL were going to go with Ten until Fox and Nine agreed to give up their first and last rights options they would have had in the next deal.
They ended up getting good money and can have a bidding war for the next TV deal.
It was a smart move by the NRL in the long run.
It will be great to have the big bash league on free to air. I will be watching. I will be interested in the commentary team on channel ten will be. It sometimes feels nine doesn’t care about sport anymore just their bottom line. I remember how badly they treated Wimbledon tennis coverage before channel seven purchased the rights. Also no foot classified on Monday night because a rerun of a movie and the block are more important. I know there is a game but there is nothing to stop them from airing footy classified after the siren.
@kimbeth – No, Mark Howard (Ch 10). But concede comment probably equal for Mark Nicholas! 🙂
@ Maverick, i’m with you. I would love to see a complete overhaul of cricket commentators and 10 could offer us a fresh take at least. I can’t sit and watch test matches like I used to be able to. That in part is also due to the lame acting attempts by the commentators between balls to talk up the latest channel 9 show. It’s just not cricket!
I think you mean Mark Nicholas:)
If Ch9 do retain the rights then I predict Billy Birmingham to release new CD aptly titled Tired World of Sports.
Tend to agree @Jason. That said, I can’t remember the last time Shield was televised ever. To it’s credit, at least Fox have been streaming games (via the local ‘club’ coverage?) and televising the Final Live.
Would be interesting to get Fox Sports’ view of the world on cricket coverage, given the chatter of moving networks. Could they do a deal with Ten?
Agree @kimbeth. I imagine your lineup of commentators would be a viable option. Just hoping Mark Howard doesn’t get a gig. Even though he knows his stuff, his voice gets annoying after time. Roy has also been a refreshing voice making a ‘splash’ (lol) last cricket season… With NZ touring this season (I think), Chris Cairns woudl be OK too, and also was valuable in the BBL.
RE Kimbeth: I hear Ten’s commentary team will be led by Matt Preston, Carrie Bickmore and Michelle Bridges, with guest international commentator Sofia Vergara 😉
Emurray- Totally agree the NRL really sold out in letting ch 9 delay 2 of 3 games a week. It’s such a piss weak deal compared to the AFL.
The BBL is possibly the saviour for ch10. It will likely pull 1 mil viewers per night. I too am getting tired of most of the ch 9 commentary. But who will 10 hire ? Greg Rust as captain? They will need the likes of Flemo, border, Huss, slats is ok but definitely not Healy, Tubs or Bing.
Apart from the BBL, the domestic competition won’t be profitable. There are so many tests, ODs and Twenty20s that the top players are rarely available for the games. And there is alway international cricket from somewhere on cable during the season.
They are a better fit for One, which is still a part sports channel, than for Go! or Gem. An being prepared to show some matches on One could end up winning Ten the rights.
“Sheffield Shield”. I haven’t heard any mention of that for years. Is it still played?
This is interesting, read in conjunction with the Nine cost-cutting story. Is Nine cutting costs to bid outlandishly for the cricket, or just to make more money for their new owners. The latter is strongly suspected.
I’d love to see another network pick up the rights purely to hear some new commentators.
Watching the classic matches from the 80’s on Foxtel and hearing the exact same commentary team makes you realise just how tired they are.
Richie even looked old then!
Nine are refusing to broadcast domestic cricket because nobody wants to watch domestic cricket.
Well good on cricket australia for taking a strong position on this … The value of the rights can’t just be quantified in money but also in terms of where your coverage will end up, what they will show etc. as I’ve posted before I think the nrl did themselves a huge disservice staying with nine with pretty much only one live game a week and two replays especially compared to the afl deal. But to same degree ca would need to be wary of tens shabby treatment of other sports over the last couple of years
“TEN is believed to have secured Big Bash rights from FOX Sports”
Adios to high definition coverage of the Big Bash *sigh*
Screw the Cricket I want the WRC back on FTA and not be forced to pay extra on top of the high Foxtel prices to watch a couple of hours of TV coverage a month. I refuse to add the sports package!
Sorry for the OT rant David…
I think I mentioned in a related article post, Nine’s assertion that they are the “Home of Cricket” is severely tested, not least of which in the environment it is now in. They buried the ODD format long ago, and it’s been rediscovered and respected by Fox. We saw with the AFL that being the 40-odd “Home of Footy” did not help Ch 7 at one stage. Also heard the Big Bash rumour, another format Fox (again not Nine who initially saw no value in it when it was incepted) has embraced. Ten is the obvious choice on FTA given 7’s commitment to tennis, but I hope Fox are able to dovetail the deal somehow.