Nine Network hit for six on $1.2bn Seven-Foxtel TV rights deal

Cricket has entered a new era, ­severing ties with the Nine Network, and signing a $1.182bn, six-year media broadcast deal.

Seven West chief executive Tim Worner says it was a great deal for viewers and shareholders, and the game itself. Picture: AAP

Cricket has entered a new era, ­severing ties with the Nine Network more than 40 years after Kerry Packer revolutionised the sport, and signing a $1.182 billion, six-year media broadcast deal.

After months of tough negotiations that were thrown off balance by the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, Cricket Australia clinched a record deal in partnership with Seven West Media and Foxtel that confirms the sport as one of the hottest commodities in broadcasting.

The sale of TV rights to Seven and Foxtel from this October, double the previous $600 million package with Nine and Ten, will bolster grassroots cricket and ­provide new funds for the women’s game. For Foxtel, the deal, which ­includes exclusive digital rights, vindicates the decision by shareholders News Corp (publisher of The Weekend Australian) and ­Telstra to merge the subscription-TV ­operator with Fox Sports, providing a summer franchise to underpin plans to launch streaming services to compete with Netflix.

Weeks after losing the tennis rights to Nine, Seven secured a significant victory with its foray into cricket.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said last night the ­arrangements were similar to those in place for AFL and rugby league, where all events are on the anti-­siphoning list but some are available exclusively to a subscription-based broadcaster.

“The government is pleased that all Test matches and the vast majority of an expanded schedule of Big Bash League matches will remain available free to the public,” Senator Fifield said. “The negotiation and allocation of broadcasting rights is entirely a matter for sporting bodies and commercial broadcasters.”

Among the winners are under-pressure Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, who has pulled off a coup as the organisation faces twin reviews into the ball-tampering incident.

The TV rights deal will reshape the media landscape and draw a line under the Packer era. The media mogul was responsible for World Series Cricket and the explosion of the one-day game but was also behind the damaging split from the Australian Cricket Board in the late 1970s in a fight over TV rights. When peace broke out, Nine’s coverage led the way in ­innovation.

The deal is a big blow to the CBS-backed Ten, which has lost the coveted rights to the Big Bash League. Tests and 43 of the 59 BBL matches will be simulcast ­between Seven and Foxtel’s Fox Sports. Fox Sports will air men’s home international one-day and Twenty20 matches, along with the remaining 16 games of the BBL, as part of a dedicated cricket channel during summer called Fox Cricket.

More cricket content will be available for free than ever before, with about 80 per cent of all international cricket on Seven.

Seven chairman Kerry Stokes praised Cricket Australia last night, saying the deal would herald a fresh dawn for cricket as it ­increased its reach with a vast increase in the amount of live hours. “I am excited about having Australia’s only truly national game back on Seven,” Mr Stokes told The Weekend Australian. “Cricket has and will always be Australia’s premier summer sport, and Seven now is in the enviable position as being the first and only free-to-air broadcaster covering both it and the AFL all year round. We are the premier producers of sports content in Australia, as evidenced by this year’s Winter Olympics, Australian Open, AFL and Commonwealth Games, and expect to set new standards for cricket coverage in the next six years.”

His son and Seven Group chief executive Ryan Stokes said: “It’s a great deal for Seven. I’m very happy to have a partnership with Foxtel. We work well together on the AFL and have built audience together. I’m very confident we can build audience in cricket, both Big Bash and Tests.”

Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany promised a “young and inclusive” commentary team. “Consumers will have choice under this deal,” he said.

While Fox Sports and Channel Seven will both televise home Tests and women’s internationals, the two networks will have different commentary teams and the subscription network’s broadcast will be ad-free.

“As for who they (the commentators) are, all I know is our team will look young and inclusive but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of grey hair in that. Never underestimate the power of wisdom.”

Seven West chief executive Tim Worner said it was a great deal for viewers and shareholders, and the game itself.

“Financially, this is a much better deal for Seven West Media than tennis,” Mr Worner said. “You just have got to look at how many hours (we will broadcast) — daytime hours — and you get to charge prime-time rates for it.”

Mr Worner said the deal guaranteed Seven’s audiences for the next 5 years.

“This deal is about certainty, it gives us 400 hours of premium sport. With tennis we had, say 14 nights versus 70 days and nights [with cricket].”