Australian Cricket Broadcast Rights 2018 - 2023

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Cleavy said:
www.theage.com.au

Cricket Australia’s attempts to do broadcast deal before Christmas sends media executives into chaos

Seven West Media reached out to Paramount to discuss the prospect of sharing Test matches after News Corp approached Nine about a similar deal.
www.theage.com.au www.theage.com.au

It’s getting messy…. (And lol at someone with the name Fraudenstein being involved. CA to a tea)
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In what bizarre parallel universe is this okay?


"Foxtel – the longstanding partner of the cricket – appears to be controlling most of the conversations about which free-to-air network will end up with the rights. Industry observers have pointed to this being evident by the fact former Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein has joined the CA board and is leading the advisory group on the rights deal. Freudenstein still works as a paid director of real-estate listings portal REA Group, a News Corp controlled, earning $242,000 last year per its annual report.

CA has not asked Freudenstein to recuse from rights discussions despite his financial link to News Corp."
 

Paramount has refused an approach from Channel 7 to join forces for cricket’s TV rights in a clear message to Cricket Australia that its record $1.5 billion offer was ‘all or nothing.’
The knock-back narrows down the options available to CA as its soft Christmas Day deadline passed with still no deal done.

Fox Sports is in the box seat to be retained as cricket’s pay per view and streaming partner, and link with either Channel 7 or Channel 9 — whoever the free-to-air victor might be — but CA appears to be desperately holding out for more money.

Paramount-Channel 10 cannot be discounted due to the magnitude of the offer it has put on the table (tens of millions of dollars more than the next best package over the five years).

But every indication from CA suggests it is nervous about linking exclusively with a streaming service that has so little sporting reach, and a free-to-air network, which is bottoming out.

Current rights holders Seven and Fox are the most compatible partners and a virtual rollover of their current deal has been all-but agreed upon between those two parties.

But whether CA accepts the offer may yet hinge on whether Channel 7 is willing to up its bid.

There are doubts about what Channel 9’s massive outlay on claiming the Olympic Games rights from Seven might have on its ability to bid for cricket, especially when it already pays upwards of $100 million a year for the other major summer sport, Australian Open tennis.

It’s understood Nine is yet to formally submit a bid.

Leading sports media right analyst Colin Smith, head of Global Media and Sports, believes Paramount may have saved Cricket Australia from embarrassment, even if the US streaming giant is once again consigned to being left at the altar as sports rights bridesmaids.

“I think Paramount’s offer has given Cricket Australia a get out of jail card,’’ Smith said.

“I saw where the chairman of Cricket Australia (Lachlan Henderson) said the cricket rights were undervalued, but I don’t believe that is correct.

“I actually felt that the rights may have significantly decreased in price this time.

“If it wasn’t for Paramount having to make such a large offer because Channel 10 is so keen for sports content, they may have fallen.”

Whatever happens, Cricket Australia appears destined to achieve an increase on the $1.182 billion broadcasting deal it signed back in 2018, which industry experts believe would be a mighty effort given the deflation of the Big Bash and the whims of a patchy Test schedule.
It’s understood the number of Big Bash games is set to be slashed by approximately 20 per season, a necessary revamp according to Smith, who was consulted when the competition was originally conceived.

Smith said it was obvious why CA was baulking at going with Paramount and Channel 10.

“The thing is that while Channel 7 and 9 have a great record as a sports broadcaster, Channel 10 doesn’t,” Smith said.

“The Melbourne Cup has halved its audience since it went to Ten and it has been a long time between drinks since they broadcast the Big Bash and the AFL.
“Whatever broadcaster gets the rights has to revamp the Big Bash. They expanded the Big Bash to the point where it has too much content. I was an advisor when the Big Bash was being set up and it is not doing what it was supposed to do.

“There are not enough big club rivalries. And there has to be a clause in Australian players contracts that they must play the Big Bash.’’
--------------------------------------------
how can you have a bidding/offer process when 1 of the parties involved who is likely to win has not submitted a formal offer? Sounds suss.
 

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Its amazing that this really has become all or nothing but its actually about foxtel and keeping news corp happy that is the all or nothing, the best deal for the health of the sport it most certainly is not about as CA are serving other masters.
 
Father Jack said:
The evidence against Ten being able to do the cricket justice looks very flimsy to me.
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If it was everything on channel 10 (or one of their multi channels), I’d agree.

The concerns about Paramount+ are genuine though, looking at the issues they’ve had covering the A-League.
 
Father Jack said:
The evidence against Ten being able to do the cricket justice looks very flimsy to me.
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it's not as much about doing it justice from a pure broadcasting perspective (previous issues with Paramount aside), it's more a case of "can the 3rd/4th rated network" deliver the eyeballs for the cricket given that it's a product with decreasing numbers, especially for the BBL since Ch9 will have the Aust Open and if Ch7 doesn't have the rights they would throw some reality show offerings up against it.
 
BigVic said:
Also issues with streaming provides like Optus Sport's 2018 World Cup failure
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If partnered with a FTA network with mutual interests I don't think this is that big of an issue.

Optus didn't gain anything with games on SBS. Paramount/10 wouldn't lose much if a game or two was moved from Paramount to 10, or a smaller 10 channel.

Gough said:
If the previous government hadn't deliberately nobbled the NBN as a favour to Murdoch we wouldn't be talking about any streaming problems.
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This x100
 

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010203 said:
Channel 7 reportedly told Cricket Australia they until 5pm Tuesday night to accept a new TV rights contract or they'll reconsider if they want to remain part of the bidding process.

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"Seven won’t necessarily withdraw from the bidding if the 5pm Tuesday deadline passes, but sources say the network will want answers on what the process entails from here before deciding whether or not to stay in the race – frustrated at a process they feel has been meandering."
 
brucetiki said:
If it was everything on channel 10 (or one of their multi channels), I’d agree.

The concerns about Paramount+ are genuine though, looking at the issues they’ve had covering the A-League.
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At this point, it really just needs to be all men’s Internationals, BBL and some WBBL, plus maybe some women’s white ball on the main channel, to be a significant upgrade. Paramount could claim overseas tours, remaining women’s and Shield final and cricket would be well ahead.
 
Slight tangent.
If by some miracle it turns out Nine & Foxtel get the deal, does that mean Howey can finally shut up about 'remember back on Channel 9 with Packer and Richie' etc when he's on air?
 
Cleavy said:

Paramount has refused an approach from Channel 7 to join forces for cricket’s TV rights in a clear message to Cricket Australia that its record $1.5 billion offer was ‘all or nothing.’
The knock-back narrows down the options available to CA as its soft Christmas Day deadline passed with still no deal done.

Fox Sports is in the box seat to be retained as cricket’s pay per view and streaming partner, and link with either Channel 7 or Channel 9 — whoever the free-to-air victor might be — but CA appears to be desperately holding out for more money.

Paramount-Channel 10 cannot be discounted due to the magnitude of the offer it has put on the table (tens of millions of dollars more than the next best package over the five years).

But every indication from CA suggests it is nervous about linking exclusively with a streaming service that has so little sporting reach, and a free-to-air network, which is bottoming out.

Current rights holders Seven and Fox are the most compatible partners and a virtual rollover of their current deal has been all-but agreed upon between those two parties.

But whether CA accepts the offer may yet hinge on whether Channel 7 is willing to up its bid.

There are doubts about what Channel 9’s massive outlay on claiming the Olympic Games rights from Seven might have on its ability to bid for cricket, especially when it already pays upwards of $100 million a year for the other major summer sport, Australian Open tennis.

It’s understood Nine is yet to formally submit a bid.

Leading sports media right analyst Colin Smith, head of Global Media and Sports, believes Paramount may have saved Cricket Australia from embarrassment, even if the US streaming giant is once again consigned to being left at the altar as sports rights bridesmaids.

“I think Paramount’s offer has given Cricket Australia a get out of jail card,’’ Smith said.

“I saw where the chairman of Cricket Australia (Lachlan Henderson) said the cricket rights were undervalued, but I don’t believe that is correct.

“I actually felt that the rights may have significantly decreased in price this time.

“If it wasn’t for Paramount having to make such a large offer because Channel 10 is so keen for sports content, they may have fallen.”

Whatever happens, Cricket Australia appears destined to achieve an increase on the $1.182 billion broadcasting deal it signed back in 2018, which industry experts believe would be a mighty effort given the deflation of the Big Bash and the whims of a patchy Test schedule.
It’s understood the number of Big Bash games is set to be slashed by approximately 20 per season, a necessary revamp according to Smith, who was consulted when the competition was originally conceived.

Smith said it was obvious why CA was baulking at going with Paramount and Channel 10.

“The thing is that while Channel 7 and 9 have a great record as a sports broadcaster, Channel 10 doesn’t,” Smith said.

“The Melbourne Cup has halved its audience since it went to Ten and it has been a long time between drinks since they broadcast the Big Bash and the AFL.
“Whatever broadcaster gets the rights has to revamp the Big Bash. They expanded the Big Bash to the point where it has too much content. I was an advisor when the Big Bash was being set up and it is not doing what it was supposed to do.

“There are not enough big club rivalries. And there has to be a clause in Australian players contracts that they must play the Big Bash.’’
--------------------------------------------
how can you have a bidding/offer process when 1 of the parties involved who is likely to win has not submitted a formal offer? Sounds suss.
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When did 9 get the Olympics?
 
Cleavy said:
last week.
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Disappointing as on the app it was great as you could avoid all the 7 commentators. Now it will probably be stuck behind a paywall on Stan

9 must be hoping Stan gets a lot subscribers out of all this. It is a lot of money they have put into sports
 
Cleavy said:
it's not as much about doing it justice from a pure broadcasting perspective (previous issues with Paramount aside), it's more a case of "can the 3rd/4th rated network" deliver the eyeballs for the cricket given that it's a product with decreasing numbers, especially for the BBL since Ch9 will have the Aust Open and if Ch7 doesn't have the rights they would throw some reality show offerings up against it.
Click to expand...

For test cricket this seems irrelevant though. It's not like people are turning on for Sunrise and sticking around all day, and for the BBL, I feel C10's position now doesn't seem that different to when they got the BBL first time around...? [C10 has been in trouble for what feels like a decade now].

The Paramount+ issue seems a genuine issue, but also, common sense dictates that CA and C10's owners could have an agreement that games can't be shifted onto Paramount+ until the service is of good quality. Like, it shouldn't be enough to quash a deal.
 
reubski23 said:
Sounds like 7 and fox is basically the same as last time.

Which is crazy that ODIs are not on FTA. Australian cricket belongs on FTA
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Cleavy said:
Yes, it’s a rollover of the current deal.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Fox have said exclusive mens white ball internationals are non-negotiable. Whether that's with 7 or 9.


I imagine Ten/Paramount might look at all (home) internationals on FTA, but moving more of the BBL and maybe WBBL to pay only. That might mean keeping the extended BBL, to get enough pay-exclusive content mixed with enough FTA to keep the league visible.

Paramount service for the A-League is better than it started out. There were no replay options, etc, to begin with. Its probably still not as slick as Kayo but now serviceable at least.
 

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Australian Cricket Broadcast Rights 2018 - 2023

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