Cricket TV rights: Channel 9 gains upper hand over Paramount in fight to reclaim free-to-air rights

Paramount’s enormous war chest may not be enough to secure cricket’s broadcasting rights as Channel 9’s possible return from the cricketing wilderness gathers momentum.

Billion dollar bidders Paramount is now trailing Channel 9 and Fox Sports in the latest shock development in cricket’s great TV rights race.

Despite making the biggest offer in Australian cricket broadcasting history — a reported $1.5 billion — it has not been enough to convince Cricket Australia that Paramount should be given exclusive rights to Tests, white ball cricket and the Big Bash.

The US streaming giants who own Channel 10 are not completely out of the running to seize some part of the rights puzzle, but it is once again on the verge of being left at the altar like it was by the AFL earlier this year.

Channel 7 also cannot be ruled out of the picture, but as talks move forward at a rapid pace, Channel 9 is confident it can manage both summer sports, tennis and cricket on its books.

Cricket Australia has baulked on going all in on Paramount and have been working in the background to see if a partnership can be formed between Channel 9, Fox Sports and News Corp.

Cricket returning to Nine after five years on Seven would be extraordinary given the network has re-committed to the Australian Open Tennis rights over summer.

If Nine were to go into partnership with Fox Sports for the cricket, it’s felt the free-to-air broadcaster would be forfeiting streaming rights and accepting only the linear TV rights.

Nine and Fox Sports share the NRL rights under an arrangement where league matches are exclusively streamed on Fox Sports’ service Kayo, and Nine’s streaming service Stan does not have any rights.

Cricket Australia is desperately trying to get Nine’s bid to about $80 million a year, which combined with Fox Sports’ offer would close the gap on Paramount’s mega proposal.

Current rights holders Channel 7 and Fox Sports would be prepared to work together again, but their joint bid was an estimated $40 million short on Paramount’s annual offer.

Seven is only interested in Test rights, not the Big Bash, and therefore has so far refused to budge on its comparatively lower offer.

Paramount’s enormous war chest was almost enough to get everything, but it may again fail to hit the bullseye.

An alliance between Nine and Fox Sports is understood to be firming as the favourite to claim the rights.

Channel 9 was the 40-year home of cricket from the World Series revolution.

Despite the twists and turns that could still unfold, Cricket Australia is still hoping to get a deal done within days.

Nine is already spending upwards of $100 million a year on the Australian Open Tennis, but it’s understood the network has received financial advice to say they can manage cricket as well.

If they pull off the coup it could put the network in a powerful position which would take it back to the Kerry Packer halcyon days as the home of free-to-air sport.

To have cricket, tennis and NRL on its books would put Nine in an enviable position in the market.

However, it’s unknown how cricket, specifically the Big Bash, and tennis would coexist on the same free-to-air network.

How 9 could balance cricket and tennis TV rights clash

Channel 9 has emerged as a shock 11th hour contender to reclaim cricket’s TV rights as Channel 7’s hopes fade.

It’s understood Cricket Australia bosses remain nervous about taking the plunge on partnering with Channel 10 and their US owner Paramount, and have been working in the background to see if a partnership can be formed between Nine, Fox Sports and News Corp.

The talks with Nine – cricket’s former partners of 40 years – indicate CA has cooled on re-entering a new arrangement with existing free-to-air partner Channel 7, who is currently suing them in the Federal Court.

Paramount remain the leading bidder with a reported offer of $1.5 billion, but there are concerns about the ailing performance of Channel 10 as a network, compared to rivals Nine and Seven, and about Paramount’s reach as a streaming service compared to Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.

One of the main hitches in a deal being done with Paramount appears to be concerns about the reliability of the streaming app service, which has received complaints about its performance from A-League soccer fans.

Paramount and Ten are promising new technology, but at this point that remains untested.

However, reach is the other concern from CA executives about partnering with Paramount and Ten.

Channel 9 was the home of cricket for 40 years.

Channel 7 and Channel 9 are the leading free-to-air networks by a long way, compared to Channel 10 which numbers show is in danger of dropping below a 20 per cent ratings share.

Cricket Australia know that Nine and Seven are proven producers of top quality sport as the free-to-air broadcasters of the NRL and AFL respectively. In comparison, Ten has the A-League and Melbourne Cup horse racing which have dropped audiences year on year at an alarming rate.

As a streaming service, the only sports fans attached to Paramount as it stands are soccer supporters and from an A-League perspective those numbers haven’t reached the targets hoped when the deal was signed.

Fox Sports and Kayo on the other hand have a reputation as sports leaders, and have subscribers already locked in from the worlds of NRL, AFL and cricket, as the existing pay-per-view partner of Cricket Australia.

Channel 9 was the 40-year home of cricket from the World Series revolution, but a return to the network after five years on Seven would be extraordinary given Nine has re-committed to the Australian Open Tennis rights over summer.

Nine have committed upwards of $100 million a summer on the tennis so the idea of squeezing in Australia’s biggest summer sport in cricket as well is a fascinating concept.

To partner with Nine would mean Cricket Australia would have to be comfortable with the Australian Open being directly promoted against cricket season.

If Nine was to score Big Bash games Cricket Australia may need to be comfortable with games being broadcast on GEM, due to the fact the Australian Open and other lead-up tournaments will be on Nine’s main channel.

Fox Sports share a good working relationship with Channel 7 given their association with the AFL rights, however, Fox have shared the NRL broadcasting duties with Nine for many years.

There could be complications with how Nine, Fox Sports and News Corp could come to an arrangement given the competing interests of Stan, Kayo and their respective newspaper groups.

Following Kerry Packer’s death in 2005, the narrative changed on TV rights after Nine had held them for several decades.

Cricket Australia from that point welcomed rival bidders and as time went on the TV rights became more of a commercial transaction than a love affair from Nine’s point of view.

By the end, cricket and Nine were like a loveless marriage and Nine was one of the first networks eliminated in the last rights negotiations back in 2018.

Nine trumpeted the claiming of the Australian Open rights for the amount of money they would save on production.

Cricket Australia have indicated they would like to have a deal done by Christmas, but are not committed to a deadline.