Aussies will have to pay to watch World Cup defence in landmark TV deal
Australians will need to pay to watch the next World Cup under a landmark new TV deal set to shake up the cricketing landscape.
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Australians will need to pay to watch the men’s cricket team defend their title at the next ODI World Cup after a landmark TV rights decision.
Amazon Prime Video has secured the Australian TV and streaming rights for the 2027 men’s ODI World Cup, as well as several other ICC cricket tournaments.
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It’s a major coup for the streaming service, which also announced a third season of the fly-on-the-wall documentary The Test will be released in 2024, covering this year’s tumultuous Ashes series in England.
The recent ODI World Cup was shown on Channel 9 and Foxtel’s Kayo Sports, but the new Amazon deal means the 2027 tournament, to be jointly hosted by Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, won’t be available to watch on free-to-air TV.
The new deal also gives Amazon the rights to the Women’s ODI World Cup, T20 World Cups, Champions Trophy, Under 19s and the World Test Championship Final.
Australia and New Zealand will host the 2028 T20 World Cup, which isn’t included in Amazon’s rights agreement.
The deal gives Amazon the rights to 48 live games between 2024 and 2027.
Channel 9 broadcast cricket for more than 40 years before Channel 7 and Foxtel bought the rights in 2018 and Nine took the rights for the Australian Open tennis from Seven.
In February, Foxtel and Seven reportedly paid $1.5 billion to extend their rights deal, with 7Plus now able to stream Test matches.
Last year, Nine secured the rights for the 2024, 2028 and 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, taking the rights from Seven in a deal worth $305 million.
The federal government has recently reinstated its commitment anti-siphoning laws, which deem sporting events of national significance must be shown on free-to-air TV.
But if no free network bids for those rights, they can be purchased by a paid service.
The anti-siphoning list does not protect Australia’s World Cup matches that are played outside of Australia and New Zealand.
Earlier this year, Channel 7 was criticised for showing only a handful of games featuring the Matildas and some other teams, after Optus Sport bought out the entire rights and sold a smaller package to the free-to-air network.
Amazon has entered the sports broadcasting landscape in recent years, acquiring the rights for Thursday Night Football in the NFL and producing several sporting documentaries featuring the likes of Andy Murray, the All Blacks and European football teams.
Amazon has also broadcast the Australian swimming trials in recent years.
The NBA is about to negotiate a new TV broadcast deal that is expected to include a streamer along with incumbent networks such as ESPN.
Amazon Prime Video currently costs $9.99 per month in Australia.
Originally published as Aussies will have to pay to watch World Cup defence in landmark TV deal
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