Foxtel CEO promises cricket fans he will ‘revolutionise TV cricket’ like never before
FOXTEL’S CEO has promised cricket fans a new era in televised cricket that they’ve never experienced before, thanks to a $1.2 billion deal.
AUSTRALIAN cricket fans are set for a brave new world in cricket coverage after Foxtel’s CEO promised viewers he will “revolutionise TV cricket”.
In a landmark change to the Australian sporting media landscape, Foxtel and Channel 7 have seized the cricket from Channel 9 for the first time in more than 40 years in a mammoth $1.2 billion deal.
“This landmark partnership will allow cricket fans to have more access to cricket coverage than ever before,” Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland told media on Friday.
Channel Seven’s Tim Worner said his phone “has been going off the hook with people who see themselves as the next face of Australian cricket”.
“I can’t tell you what Married At First Sight or My Kitchen Rules will be rating in a few years but I do know what roughly Collingwood v Adelaide will tonight and I can tell you it will rate that well or better in five years. This deal is about certainty, foundation and transformation going on at Seven.”
All the key details from Cricket Australia's landmark broadcast agreement. MORE HERE: https://t.co/yQ2P9m5wOu pic.twitter.com/TYhXcFl10c
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) April 13, 2018
Foxtel’s CEO Patrick Delany said the Foxtel commentary team “will look young and inclusive” but said “there’s nothing wrong with a bit of grey hair”.
The deal will see a new dedicated channel, Fox Cricket, “which continues in the footsteps of code-dedicated channels Fox League and Fox Footy.
Fox Cricket will house Super Saturday each weekend and a stable of new shows will be developed,” an announcement published by Fox Sports read.
“It will be like nothing fans have experienced,” Mr Delany said on Friday.
“We know Australians love and respect cricket and so do we. No other sport has the special place in Australia’s heart like cricket does. We promise you reverence — and revolution.”
In the monumental announcement, the News Corp-owned Foxtel and the Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven network will also seize the top-rating Big Bash League from Channel 10 from 2020.
“Cricket has been through a tough couple of weeks but we know cricket is a resilient sport. “We’ve got some rebuilding to do,” Mr Sutherland said.
Welcome to your new home of cricket!
— FOX SPORTS Australia (@FOXSportsAUS) April 13, 2018
Foxtel's game-changing deal for cricket rights includes:
🔴 Every home Test and women's international;
ðŸ Every one-day and T20 men's international;
💥 Every @BBL match and 23 @WBBL matches.
Full details âž¡ï¸ https://t.co/pOmk915fU3 pic.twitter.com/ilPHUZzOLX
Under the deal, Foxtel will broadcast every cricket match Australia plays from the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
Every home Test and women’s international will also be simulcast on Fox Sports and on free-to-air on the Seven Network.
“Fox Sports understands the immense responsibility that comes with being the broadcaster of Australian Test cricket and we will take extraordinary care of this privilege, with the fan always at the heart of what we do,” Mr Delany said.
“In the same way we revolutionised television coverage of the AFL and NRL, we will do the same for cricket. It will be like nothing fans have experienced.
“We will treat the game with the respect it deserves while reinvigorating it across every form.”
The next Ashes series and ODI World Cup will still be shown on Nine.
After four decades as the home of cricket, Channel Nine will no longer broadcast the sport. #9News https://t.co/rVxCGMvlfi
— Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) April 13, 2018
Seven West Media released a statement saying it had been told by Cricket Australia it was the successful bidder, with Foxtel.
“Contracts are being finalised but are not yet signed. A full announcement will be made on signing this afternoon,” Seven said.
The Australian reported this morning Seven has committed to annual payments of $75 million or $450m over six years, with Foxtel stumping up $105 million a season or $630 million.
“You’ve seen how Fox Sports have revolutionised rugby league, you see the way that Fox League leads the agenda and I think we’re going to see a similar kind of move in cricket,” The Australian’s media editor Darren Davidson told Sky News on Friday.
“It probably needs it, an injection of real rigour. For fans it’s really exciting times ahead.”
Foxtel will share the rights with Seven because anti-siphoning laws require major international cricket matches to be shown on free-to-air television. But it is expected to have exclusive rights to some Big Bash League matches.
Meanwhile Channel Nine says it will be “concentrating on its tennis coverage after last month announcing it had secured the rights to the Australian Open for five years from 2020 to 2024”.
Nine has held the rights for matches played by Australia for the past 40 years under a deal struck by Kerry Packer, but its five-year deal worth $500 million with Cricket Australia ended with reports it was losing more than $30 million a year on international cricket.
“Nine is immensely proud of our decades long association between Wide World of Sports and the game of cricket in this country,” a Nine spokesman said.
“We wish Cricket Australia and its new broadcast partners well for the future success of the game.
“Cricket will continue to be a part of Nine’s schedule into the future with current deals in place covering the next Ashes series from England in 2019, the ODI World Cup in the UK in the same year and in 2020 the T20 World Cups to be held in Australia.”
.@Channel7 is the new home of cricket. "This is a great deal" - Tim Worner - Seven West Media. "It gives us over 400 hours of premium sport...we're getting about 70 days/night of cricket...we're looking forward to giving cricket the Seven treatment." https://t.co/h23G1KZy2a
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) April 13, 2018
A disappointed Network Ten chief executive Paul Anderson confirmed its offer had been rejected on Friday morning, after having televised the emergent Big Bash League for the past four summers.
“We are disappointed that our bid for the cricket television rights was rejected,” Anderson said in a statement.
“Network Ten turned the Big Bash League into the television phenomenon it is today and one of the most popular sports in Australia, a sport that all Australians were able enjoy for free.
“We had planned to extend that innovation to other forms of the game.
“Network Ten and our BBL team led by David Barham revolutionised the way cricket is broadcast in Australia and attracted new, younger viewers to the game.
“At the same time, we invested heavily in the Women’s Big Bash League, broadcasting matches in prime time for the first time and raising its profile significantly.”
- Foxtel is majority owned by News Corp, publisher of news.com.au
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