Cricket coverage faces major shakeup with Seven and Foxtel winning TV rights battle
Related Story: Nine signs $300m deal to wrestle Australian Open from Seven
Seven West Media has confirmed it has won the bidding war for Cricket Australia's television rights.
In a statement to the ASX, Seven said it had been informed its bid with pay-TV partner Foxtel to broadcast Australian international cricket games from the summer of 2018-2019 as well as the Big Bash League had been successful.
"Contracts are being finalised but are not yet signed. A full announcement will be made on signing this afternoon," Seven said.
Media speculation has valued the bid at more than $1 billion for the rights to broadcast Tests and the high-rating Twenty20 Big Bash League.
It is the first time that the Nine Network has lost the cricket rights in 40 years.
The News Corporation-Telstra-owned Foxtel put the deal together and is understood to be paying around $100 million a year for the rights, with Seven chipping in $80 million.
It is understood Seven will broadcast all Tests on home soil as well as the Big Bash.
Foxtel's Fox Sports will cover all games, taking exclusive rights to international one-day 50 overs matches and Twenty20 internationals, putting them behind a pay wall for the first time.
Cricket Australia had been under pressure to deliver a big pay day having asked all parties to re-submit tenders earlier this year after a disappointing first round of bids.
Musical chairs in summer sport broadcasting
Nine Entertainment, which owns the Nine Network, said it also bid for the broadcast rights but lost out.
The company said the decision will not affect its 2018 financial results but it cannot say what impact the loss of the broadcast rights will have on its bottom line for 2019.
However, Nine is not totally out of the game for the time being.
It still has deals in place to broadcast the next Ashes series from England, the ODI World Cup in the UK in 2019 and in 2020 the T20 World Cups to be held in Australia.
The Cricket Australia deal is the latest round of an increasingly expensive game of musical chairs in TV sports rights, with the CBS-owned Network Ten again missing out.
"We are disappointed that our bid for the cricket television rights was rejected," Network Ten chief executive officer Paul Anderson said.
"Network Ten turned the Big Bash League into the television phenomenon it is today and one of the most popular sports in Australia, a sport that all Australians were able enjoy for free."
The inflationary spiral in recent deal has been extraordinary.
The Cricket Australia deal represents about a 67 per cent increase on it previous five-year deal with Nine.
Nine's recent Tennis Australia $300 million deal was 50 per cent higher than Seven's five-year deal which just expired, while the consortium of Seven, Foxtel and Telstra's bid upped its AFL rights deal by 67 per cent to a table-topping $2.5 billion over six years.
Breakdown of sporting pay deals
| Code | Rights holders | Total deal | Annual value | Year stuck | Percentage change pervious deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFL | Seven, Foxtel, Telstra | $2.5bn, 6yrs | $418m | 2015 | +67pc |
| NRL | Nine, Foxtel, Telstra | $1.8bn, 5yrs | $360m | 2016 | +70pc |
| Cricket Australia* | Foxtel, Seven | $1bn, 6yr | $180m | 2018 | +67pc |
| Tennis Australia | Nine | $300m, 5yrs | $60m | 2018 | +50pc |
| Football Federation of Australia | Foxtel | $346m, 6yrs | $58m | 2016 | +45pc |
| Australian Rugby Union | Foxtel, Ten | $285m, 5yrs | $57m | 2016 | +148pc |
* The CA deal is yet to be signed
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