Basically, Cricket Australia wants some ODI games removed from the anti-siphoning list so they can be available to pay-tv.
Now nine might not want test cricket if the rights go up.
AFL and NRL donât have a problem simulcasting etc because they have that much product.
Cricket is only in a small window of the year and being on free to air as Australiaâs one and only truly national sport makes it a big deal not to be on pay tv.
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Donât think Kerry Packer/Richie Benaud/Tony Greig would be too impressed by this if they were still alive. Nine has had the Australian international cricket rights since the 1979-80 summer and it would be quite sad (even though I think and many others think their commentary is not as good as 10âs) to see them go to another network.
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Once that kind of news isnât in a news.ltd paper I might start to look at it in a different light. Murdoch is interested in Murdoch before anything else.
In regards to what you have stated. Cricket went all out on free tv for the last rights because they lost crowds, they lost a bit of room to soccer. BBL was average and once it went to ten it has boomed. Cricket has now taken off in Australia again cause people from all walks of life can watch it.
The afl/NRL comparison is interesting, those two sports are massive; dreamteam, football tip, football programs from Monday to Monday on all networks, sport during summer still has preseason work outs mentioned. These sports are able to be placed on a tv deal like they are cause the sport industry is based around them. Who on any tv network who reads sport comes from cricket these days? Adelaide, itâs all ex-footballers for instance.
Cricket/Supercars/netball/soccer all need Ftv but the boards who control the sport are after that quick buck via a deal with Foxtel. Cricket yes took a hit last tv rights but gained a new generation of fans, I never to my wildest dreams, think that the Adelaide oval would have 50k plus for a domestic game of cricket. It wouldnât have happened whist on exclusive rights to fox, cause the masses would have seen it.
Supercars are a perfect example of how numbers have called backwards.
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Packer/Benaud/Greig would be rolling in their graves if they see the current Nine commentary team
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Probably not Greigy and Richie because they left quite recently but Packer definitely would have hated the way the coverage has been like for the past few years. But it has been better with the new director and no JB.
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Gee, that article sounds very worrying.
This could be one of the most interesting sports broadcast rights negotiations ever!
I wonder how serious Seven are?
More so, could Ten the lot? If that reported $500m offer is to be believed.
well Ten could join Fox, as Fox do have a pit of money. I think Seven are there to drive up the price like they did last time.
Realistically, I canât see Seven making a serious bid for the cricket rights since they already have substantial commitments to tennis and golf (heck, the tail end of the Spring Racing Carnival kind of overlapped with the start of the 1st cricket test this year) during that time of year.
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Seven might not make a serious bid but I am sure they wouldnât knock back the rights if they got them. Their summer programming would be more valuable than their regular programming. Ten need to go hard for Cricket and try and get all forms of the game, even if it is a joint partnership with Foxtel.
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BBL & Tennis would boom for Seven.
But they overlap too much & it wouldnât work.
Despite the network being cashed-up
Seven have four channels. I think they could make it work. Especially if some of the games are allowed on multichannels (Big Bash and One Day Games)
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This is a grid of the sessions of the test matches last season and which ones had no play (about 20%) which helps explain why it is harder for the networks to make money out of unpredictable international games. I read somewhere that Nine would like the next contract to include some sort of compensation for lost play, that might even include extra matches.
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We have to remember, that test cricket is a day game (well primarily anyway) & networks want as much prime-time rating content as possible.
Hence, sports like BBL & Tennis over summer.
So that in itsself warrents questioning over the price for international cricket + which networks would get involved or want what?
That was for the last deal.
For this upcoming deal, CA are asking for $1 billion (if itâs another 5 year deal) for all rights.
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I donât think that is true⌠Daytime sports can make just as much money, sometimes more, than primetime sports. Just because it is in daytime doesnât mean that networks canât get the most $$$ from advertisers.
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I know that, revenue - yes.
(e.g.)
AFL Grand Final
But day telecasts donât always attract ratings & ratings more or less attract advertisers.
Whereas BBL is in prime-time & attracts big advertisers.
Delivering consistent solid ratings & key demographics
But often day time sporting events attract exact demographics. And that is what the advertisers want. It doesnât really matter whether it is daytime or prime time. Obviously primetime would add an extra 100-200k but delivering daytime and primetime sporting events arenât that much difference as advertisers will pay the same sorts of ad dollars that they would for primetime sporting matches, as long as the match is worth it. For example they might pay more for an Essendon v Collingwood match during the day rather than a Gold Coast v GWS match in primetime. Same with cricket Australia v England will attract more $$$ than Australia v West Indies.
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But thereâs a difference with Cricket.
Advertisers have seen a number of AFL Grand Finals pull over 3 million metro on a Saturday afternoon before.
So that doesnât matter what time (day or night) for ratings & revenue.
But cricket performs better during prime-time (as seen with BBL & day/night tests), as many sessions of test cricket are held on weekday afternoons when nobody can watch & therefore it affects ad revenue.
Insightful.
Fact is there is no better other major sport apart from Tennis which can be a launching pad for the new yearsâ programming over the summer, hence why I think Nine and Ten will be interested. They might lose money on the $500m of rights initially, but Iâm sure there are ways for accounting to calculate how much exposure and thus ratings that initial exposure leads to in the months after.
Ten launched Celebrity last year thanks to BBL. Each year Seven launches MKR to bumper ratings merely because they saturate their tennis coverage with promos. Another historical precedent is Ten losing the AFL - ratings mightnât have been bad for a while afterwards, but the consistency of viewership ultimately means them losing the rights is generally seen as a net loss. Point is: it is ultimately short sighted to say the rights arenât worth it. They might be worth far more than the networks realise when flow-on benefits are factored in.
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