Lone clause at centre of cricket’s TV rights war

A LITTLE-KNOWN quality control contract clause could decide the fate of a $450-million television war between Cricket Australia and Channel 7.

It’s believed that Channel 7’s legal eagles have focused their attention on a clause that refers to an onus being on Cricket Australia to produce a season of competition that is equal to others around the world, and which cannot recede in quality from one summer to the next.

If the Big Bash League is stripped of more of its superstars than ever before due to the introduction of biosecurity hubs for international cricket, then Channel 7 feels it has a compelling case for a breach of contract.

Channel 7 chief executive James Warburton hinted at the clause in his explosive interview with News Corp on Friday, when he declared the network would not be supporting the upcoming season and was considering walking away from its contract altogether.

“Cricket Australia have an obligation to deliver a competition of no lesser standard than the past,” Warburton said on Friday. “Put simply, this is not an acceptable product and we will not support the season.”

Cricket Australia denies there is such a clause and is adamant there is nothing in the deal that refers to the quality of players, with interim CEO Nick Hockley reiterating cricket is committed to “delivering our side of the bargain which is a fantastic summer of cricket and (we will) work with all our partners to deliver the best possible summer”.

CA insiders claim Seven’s crusade for a rights reduction centred on quantity of matches, and believe the network only changed its tune to quality once it became apparent the full schedule was likely to happen. Every season the Big Bash League is robbed of some of its biggest Australian stars due to scheduling clashes.