Termination, damages on the cards with Seven’s push for better broadcast deal with Cricket Australia

Seven Network’s legal push to secure a better broadcast deal with Cricket Australia will be heard in the Federal Court in mid-March.

Seven Network’s legal push to secure a better broadcast deal with Cricket Australia will be heard in the Federal Court in mid-March. Picture: Marty MELVILLE / AFP)

Seven Network’s legal push to secure a better broadcast deal with Cricket Australia will be heard in the Federal Court in mid-March, and could lead to damages or the termination of its $450m deal.

After a brief first case management hearing by Justice Paul Anastassiou on Tuesday morning, involving Seven and Cricket Australia lawyers, David Thomas SC and Jefferey Gleeson QC, respectively, the judge set down March 15 for pre discovery action to start.

Seven’s move to start proceedings under order 15A in the Federal Court is a first step but could – if successful – lead to the seeking of damages or even potentially result in the termination of Seven’s $450m deal.

It’s based on what Seven claims are “quality provisions” under its contract with Cricket Australia, which it says includes clauses that dictate that Cricket Australia must organise matches to a world benchmark, and of no less a quality to the previous year.

Cricket Australia’s original summer schedule had slated the season would launch with Test matches against Afghanistan and India, which are broadcast on Seven and Fox Sports.

But a change was made which flipped the formats around to instead kick off with a series between Australia and India in three One Day International matches, which was exclusively shown by Fox.

A separate process is also underway in an independent tribunal to have an expert assess the value of Seven’s broadcast rights based on the changes to the schedule. The independent arbitrator, reported to be Venture Consulting boss Justin Jameson, is expected to deliver his review findings next month.

James Warburton, the boss of Seven West Media, which owns the TV broadcaster, lashed out at Cricket Australia in August, saying it’s “ripping off its fans” and called for a “reasonable outcome” to satisfy broadcast partners.

Seven’s move to secure a better cricket broadcast deal comes after the network and Foxtel secured revised broadcast deals with the AFL in June after the coronavirus crisis hit this year’s competition and saw the bulk of the season delayed.

Its staunch rival Nine and Foxtel also struck new broadcast deals with the NRL at the end of May.