Australian pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports will allow commercial network Nine to take on rights for the Australian Twenty20 Big Bash League if the two broadcasters are able to finalise a new domestic rights deal with Cricket Australia, Australian cricket’s governing body, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The broadcasters, which hold domestic rights for Australian cricket in a cycle ending this year, are currently in an exclusive negotiating window with the governing body to renew them. The window expires on December 31, after which the rights can be offered to the market.
Nine and Fox are reported to have proposed a five-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2017-18. Fox currently has exclusive rights for the Big Bash. Under the proposed deal, Fox would retain rights to all matches, but Nine would be able to simulcast the competition’s semi-finals and final. It would be the first free-to-air coverage for the Big Bash.
As part of the same process, Nine is also in talks with Cricket Australia to renew its rights for national team Test, One-Day International and Twenty20 matches. It currently holds these rights under a seven-year contract, from 2007 to 2013.
Free-to-air channel Seven and commercial broadcaster Network Ten are expected to express an interest in the rights when they come on the market on January 1. Ten chief operating officer Jon Marquard told the Courier-Mail newspaper that the broadcaster was interested in acquiring all of Cricket Australia’s media rights.
But the Sydney Morning Herald reports that financial struggles mean it would be difficult for Ten to make a successful bid for the rights. According to the Financial Times newspaper, the broadcaster’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation have halved over the past year.
“We are very interested in all of the cricket rights and we will be engaging with Cricket Australia,” Marquard said. “One of the best things to happen to a code, cricket in this case, can be a change of broadcasters. We have always said we are interested in premium sport and we are very interested in the cricket rights.”