Cricket news: Cricket Australia‘s$200 million choice between status quo and the unknown
Will Cricket Australia stick with what they know - the Channel 7 and Foxtel bid or partner with Channel 10 and Paramount risking a significant drop in audience?
Channel 7 has promised to drop court action against Cricket Australia if it wins the TV rights as cricket bosses face a crunch decision between stability and a $200 million windfall.
The deadline has passed for media companies to submit final offers and a five-year, $1.5 billion offer from Channel 10/Paramount is believed to be $40 million a year more than the joint bid by Seven, Fox Sports and News Corp.
Industry insiders have confirmed that as part of Channel 7’s bid, it would cease its Federal Court action to terminate its current deal.
Cricket Australia powerbrokers have told Seven that the looming court case over the quality of the Big Bash would have no bearing over the rights decision, but the promise from Seven provides an assurance that peace can return to cricket if the status quo remains.
Paramount has boasted of its ability to revolutionise cricket broadcasting, but privately Channel 7, Fox Sports and News Corp have scoffed at those suggestions, pointing to the year-on-year ratings free-fall the Melbourne Cup and A-League have suffered since moving to Channel 10.
The A-League audience has halved in its second year on Channel 10 and TV ratings for the soccer competition is even lower this year than when it aired on the ABC in 2020-21.
Dubbed “Paramount Island”, insiders warn that cricket risks consigning itself — at least the Big Bash — to becoming the new A-League if it links with a network not known for producing successful sports products.
CA bosses are aware of the risk in jumping ship, but $200 million is a lot of money to leave on the table.
So concerned was the AFL when negotiating with Paramount earlier this year, that it’s understood it told the US giant that it required an additional 15 per cent above the rights offer to dedicate to Ten’s marketing and promotion of the AFL.
If CA requested a similar guarantee from Ten, it could equate to Paramount shelling out $100 million on top of what it has already promised for the rights, which doesn’t take into account the huge production costs of broadcasting cricket.
Ultimately, the AFL decided it could not risk walking away from Seven, Australia’s No. 1 free-to-air broadcaster and Fox Sports, part of Australia’s biggest media company, to link with Channel 10, which is at risk of dropping below a 20 per cent free-to-air ratings share.
In the AFL’s case, Seven and Foxtel were desperate to keep the winter game and weren’t going to let it slip.
The problem for cricket is that while Seven and Fox want to retain the cricket rights — they aren’t desperate enough that they’re willing to blow their budgets to compete with Paramount, not when the Big Bash League is in a constant decline.
Big Bash ratings to start the new season this week have been underwhelming, and that’s on the back of a low-key Test series against the West Indies, who are also coming back again next summer for a rematch that broadcasters would rather avoid.
Seven’s offer is understood to be under the current deal and Fox Sports and News Corp’s is at a similar mark to what it was for the last deal signed off in 2018.
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