Future of cricket coverage under a cloud after Seven gets paltry discount

The future of cricket coverage on the Seven Network is under a cloud, after it was awarded a paltry discount in its bitter contract dispute with Cricket Australia.

Seven West Media boss James Warburton has not disguised his frustration with CA

The future of cricket coverage on the Seven Network is under a cloud, after it was awarded a paltry discount in its bitter contract dispute with Cricket Australia.

Seven had asked for a $70 million reduction from its annual $82 million cash and contra deal to cover the sport, due to the disruption to the summer’s Test schedule, the early-season timing of the one-day matches (to which Seven does not own the rights), and what the network perceived to be a diminished Big Bash tournament arising from coronavirus-enforced restrictions.

But the network’s demand for a significant contract knockdown has spectacularly backfired, after an independent expert — appointed by the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration — decided that the impact of changes to the 2020-21 cricket season warrants just a $5.3 million discount. A further $3 million reduction will be awarded if the rescheduled Test against Afghanistan does not go ahead later this year.

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The ruling was announced on Friday evening, after the sharemarket had closed. The money will be deducted from the next scheduled rights fee payment on Monday.

The meagre, one-off reduction in Seven’s multi-year rights deal with Cricket Australia will put further pressure on the already strained relationship between the warring parties.

Seven’s chief James Warburton has not disguised his frustration with Cricket Australia in recent months. In August, ahead of the cricket season, he threatened to walk away from the network’s contract with CA.

“We paid a huge price and were promised the world. There is an obligation to deliver the best quality to the broadcasters,” he told News Corp.

Warburton also labelled CA “a bumbling, stumbling administration” and described some of the summer’s scheduling decisions as “stupid”.

Last month, he continued the attack, saying he was still “dissatisfied” with the administration.

Adding to Warburton’s frustration will be the knowledge that prior to the involvement of the independent arbitrator, CA had offered Seven a 20 per cent discount for the rights to the 2020-21 season, which amounted to more than $15 million. That offer was rejected by Seven.

On Friday night, Seven declined to comment on whether it intends to honour the remainder of its contract with CA.

Another bone of contention for Seven was the appointment of Justin Jameson, the chief executive of Venture Consulting, as the independent arbitrator in the dispute.

It’s understood the network sent a legal letter to the Federal Court a fortnight ago, asking for Jameson to be removed from the role due to a potential conflict of interest. It is believed that claim relates to a report, published by his company, that scrutinised the relationship between free to air networks, streaming platforms, and sports rights.

In a statement on Friday night, a Seven spokesman said: “Seven West Media has to date reserved and continues to reserve all rights concerning the expert not having met fundamental contractual conditions of independence under the media rights agreement.”

The bitter fallout between CA and Seven follows one of the most-watched cricket seasons in recent times.

Seven, which shares the Test rights with Foxtel, enjoyed a 4 per cent year-on-year rise in its ratings. Foxtel’s coverage of the four Australia-India Test matches was the most-watched Test series ever on subscription television, with an average audience of 371,000 over 100 hours of live play, up 43 per cent on the 2018-19 Australia-India series.