Seven plays hardball on TV deal with Cricket Australia

Seven has moved to snooker Cricket Australia ahead of negotiations for the next broadcast deal.

Seven and CA have endured a rocky marriage since the network acquired the rights to screen Tests and BBL games for six years from 2018 at the record price of $450m. Picture: Getty Images

Seven has moved to snooker Cricket Australia ahead of negotiations for the next broadcast deal, presenting the sport’s governing body with a range of options for a possible extension of the existing $450m contract – but at a significantly discounted price.

The Australian understands that while Seven would gladly sever ties with CA immediately if it meant it was relieved of having to pay the remaining $150m left on the current TV deal – which expires in March 2024 – the network is still interested in long-term broadcast rights to Test matches if it can snare them at a cut-price rate.

Seven and CA have endured a rocky marriage since the network acquired the rights to screen Tests and BBL games for six years from 2018 at the record price of $450m.

The relationship reached its nadir last week when the media company launched legal action in the Federal Court over an alleged breach of contract by the sporting administrator.

Seven, which currently shares the cricket broadcast rights with Foxtel, alleges CA breached its contract relating to the quality and standards of the BBL – most notably, by failing to address the absence of top Australian players — and short-changed the network by scheduling international matches during the domestic Twenty20 tournament.

However, The Australian has been told that despite the legal action afoot, the network is still interested in bidding for the cricket broadcast rights beyond 2024 for Tests, and perhaps BBL as well, “as long as there are heavy caveats in place”.

It is understood that in preliminary discussions about the next broadcast deal, Seven has offered three clear options to CA.

Option one is a ‘‘blend and extend’’ deal, which would see the network drop the legal case in the Federal Court, fulfil the remaining two years of the current deal, and sign on for a further three or four seasons of Test cricket at a reduced rate while offering a “baseline” figure for the BBL, thus giving CA the opportunity to shop the Twenty20 tournament to a rival bidder should they wish.

Option two is to offer an all-encompassing deal for both Tests and the BBL, but at just over half the price of the current contract, which sees Seven pay CA $75m in cash and $7m in contra (free advertising) each year.

Option three is just to “shake hands and walk away”, according to the source. That would see Seven drop its legal action against CA and abandon its push for damages, on the condition that it be released from the remaining two years of the current deal.

Of these three alternatives, option three seems the least likely, as CA would be reluctant to abandon a free-to-air partner just four months before the scheduled start of the Test season.

Seven may well be in the box seat to be awarded the next free-to-air TV broadcast deal simply because its main commercial rivals, Nine and Ten, may not be in the market for the cricket rights.

It is understood Nine, which held the cricket for four decades before ceding them to Seven in 2018, is more focused on renewing its rights to the Australian Open tennis. A spokesman for Nine said: “We’re always open to having discussions about premium content.”

Ten has never held the broadcast rights to Test cricket, but the network did enjoy ratings success when it was home to the BBL from 2013 to 2017. A Ten spokesperson declined to comment.

Foxtel, which is 65 per cent owned by News Corp (publisher of The Australian), is likely to seek to extend its cricket rights deal.

A Cricket Australia spokesperson said: “We are in daily ­discussion with both Seven and Fox Sports about scheduling and production.”