Astra, the Australian group of pay-television broadcasters, has renewed calls to reform the country’s anti-siphoning rules in the wake of UK pay-television broadcaster BT Sport’s acquisition of Cricket Australia rights.
BT Sport has acquired rights for all Australia home national team matches, including the next Ashes series against England and domestic tournaments in Australia, as part of a five-year deal, from 2016-17 to 2020-21.
In recent years, Astra has repeatedly urged the country’s Federal Communications Ministry to reform the anti-siphoning list of events reserved for free-to-air television.
“This deal is evidence that technology has overtaken Australia's antiquated anti-siphoning rules,” Astra chief executive Andrew Maiden told the Sydney Morning Herald. “There is no law preventing Netflix buying the Melbourne Cup, for instance, and making Australians pay to watch it.
"In a world of technology platforms, subscription television is now the only entity singled out and banned from buying key sports rights. 2015 would be a good time to reform the rules, with the major football codes having locked in deals for years to come.”