Deadline pressure for CA
Seven turning up the heat over TV rights
CHANNEL 7 has dropped a bombshell on cricket’s TV rights by giving Cricket Australia until 5pm Tuesday night to accept a new TV rights contract.
If they fail to do so, it’s understood Seven has told CA they will reconsider whether they want to stay part of the bidding process.
The move came as Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley indicated on Monday morning that the new broadcast rights deal is not set to be signed off on now until the New Year. Cricket sources say that is due to the fact CA is attempting to negotiate a timeline to resolve the rights based around the consideration that it’s now holiday period for executives.
Leading directors from Seven, Nine and Paramount, including Seven chief executive James Warburton and Nine CEO Mike Sneesby are either overseas or have been away. 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.
It’s understood Seven submitted a contract proposal to CA and informed them of the deadline over Christmas.
Hockley remained tightlipped about the tense broadcast race, but suggested no resolution was imminent.
“I can’t talk about commercial in confidence discussions. Scheduling is a big part of those types of discussions,” Hockley said on Monday.
“What I will say is those discussions are progressing well and we will have more to say in the New Year.”
Channel 7 is already suing Cricket Australia in the Federal Court, attempting to terminate its current broadcasting contract based on a belief the Big Bash League hasn’t fulfilled its quality obligations as a competition.
It’s unknown how CA will react to having a deadline put on them with relations with Seven already tense.
Seven has told Cricket Australia that if their broadcasting offer is accepted, they would drop the Federal Court action.
Despite the deadline threat, cricket sources feel that current rights holders Channel 7 and Fox Sports are still the most likely to land the new rights.
Channel 7 has submitted a contract proposal to Cricket Australia which is essentially a rollover of its current broadcasting arrangement with Fox Sports.
Cricket Australia wants to stay with Fox Sports as its streaming and pay per view partner, but the question remains, who they will match with as a free-to-air partner.
The deadline may bring Paramount and Channel 10 back into the frame.
The US streaming giant has already put a massive $1.5 billion offer on the table, and although CA is hesitant about linking with a service not recognised for its reach in sport.
AUSTRALIAN cricket is leading a curious double life.
The pulsating shop window of a Boxing Day Test, with a buoyant Australia running rampant, gives no hint of the chaos happening in the corridors of power.
Cricket looked like the most important game in the world when the Australians were destroying South Africa before 60,000 fans at the MCG.
Yet about the same time as the fifth wicket was falling in the shambolic South African first innings News Corp revealed that Channel 7 had put a deadline of 5pm Tuesday for CA to accept their offer for the next round of television cricket rights.
For a network which currently has court action against CA – and wants to be a future partner – that is a big call.
Marriage proposals don’t normally come with a time deadline. Seven and CA officials have no love for each other but might just need each other in what has become the strangest and most intriguing rights talks in recent Australian sports history.
The deadline threat is a significant moment because it says everything about how the balance of power has changed between a cash-needy CA and interested but cash-conscious broadcasters in this very delicate negotiation.
The message for Cricket Australia from the deadline threat – one which they had already sensed – is that, for free to air networks, the cricket rights have lost their halo.
Back in the day Channel 9 executives would say “look we may have paid too much but the halo effect of having cricket just means so much.’’
Not any more. Dollars and cents have been replaced by dollars and sense.
The last time the television rights were handed out in 2018 there was a massive scramble among the networks and the savage bidding war ended in hugely dramatic circumstances.
Channel 10 officials thought they were given unofficial nod they had the rights and were just starting their celebrations when told that Channel 7 had swooped with a late offer at five minutes to midnight.
There is none of that tension this time.
CA officials have been forcefed the realisation that there is no perfect free to air partner. Channel 10-Paramount have come up with by far the biggest offer ($1.5 billion) but they are low rating station with a shallow recent record of televising live sport. That worries CA.
The bottom line for cricket is it may need to sacrifice big dollars and leave its product in the hands of broadcasters who will work to revitalise Big Bash and keep Test cricket strong.