Cricket viewers in for a shock with Australia-South Africa ODIs behind paywall
Tomorrow will be a history-making day for Australian cricket.
For the first time ever, a one day international won't be shown on free-to-air TV in Australia, and there are predictions cricket fans will be angry.
"I think they're going to be furious, and the impact of that is you're going to lose more followers from the game," Brett Geeves, a former Australian and Sheffield Shield player, said.
Sunday's game is the first of 10 one-day and T20 internationals that will be shown exclusively on Fox Sports, and you can add to that 16 Big Bash games that you won't be able to watch on Channel 7.
"I think there will be a lot of people who will be upset by it," media analyst Peter Cox said.
Cricket Australia signed the new six-year $1.2 billion TV rights deal in April.
Mr Cox said the fact the Foxtel/Seven West rights deal was announced in the middle of the football season could mean the details were lost on some fans who will be turning on their television tomorrow expecting to watch the one-day international on free-to-air TV.
Fusion Strategy media analyst Steve Allen expects those fans will vent on social media.
"Yes, they'll get a bit of a shock. It will start plenty of social chatter on Twitter feeds," Mr Allen said.
And you could forgive the public for being surprised by the news. Even some Australian players like Chris Lynn have been caught off guard.
"Yeah, I only found that out yesterday," Lynn said.
"Obviously we'd love to have it on free-to-air TV, but the reality is the deal's been done and I think it's quite a good deal.
"If you can get to a pub and watch it and have a family outing, that'd be great, but yeah, we're going to have to wait until the Test matches for some free-to-air cricket."
Fox Sports will screen all cricket this year, while Channel 7 will simulcast the four Test matches against India, two against Sri Lanka and 43 Big Bash games. Both networks will screen all Australian women's internationals and 23 women's Big Bash games.
If you want it all, you'll have to pay for a Foxtel subscription — that's $58 per month to get the sport package or $68 if you want it in HD. The streaming service Foxtel Now costs $54 per month.
"Foxtel will be looking for a lift in subscribers and they are ploughing a lot of marketing dollars into this effort," Mr Allen said.
Foxtel has about 2.8 million subscribers in Australia, but a spokesman declined to tell the ABC how many of those pay extra for the sports package.
"The problem Foxtel has is to convert the popularity of cricket into new subscribers, and I think that will be very difficult to do in this day and age," Mr Cox said.
"The worrying thing, of course, is what is this going to do for the popularity of one day cricket?"
England offers cautionary tale
There is a precedent — England made the change in 2005 when Sky Sports won the exclusive rights to televise cricket.
"The result of doing that in England with cricket was pretty devastating," Mr Cox said.
"The number of people watching cricket, the number of people going to matches, the popularity of the sport has fallen … so that is a big warning sign."
For Geeves, the move is synonymous with a broader problem that has beset Australian cricket in recent years.
The Longstaff review into the culture of the game in this country said Cricket Australia rewarded winning above all else and tied financial rewards to success.
"The game's become like Australia's immigration policy — you can get in if you've got cash," Geeves said.
"What a joke, what a laugh."
One day internationals are on the Federal Government's anti-siphoning list, which requires major sports to be available on free-to-air TV.
When the deal was announced in April, Federal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said it wasn't a breach of those rules to show those games exclusively on pay TV.
"But what happens if there's an incredible outpouring of hostility and the Government is attacked on this?" Mr Allen said.
If that was the case, he said the Government might ask Channel 7 to simulcast the games.
"I certainly think there should be that pressure. I think legally probably the horse has bolted," Mr Cox said.
The ABC asked the Minister if he would be prepared to ask Channel 7 to simulcast the limited overs matches, but his office did not reply.
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