Willow can work with CBS All Access to spread cricket coverage across America, provided Ten wins the domestic rights.
With Seven, what is more valuable I wonder?
Losing Australian Open exclusivity, which theyāve had since mid-1970s (even longer than Nineās had cricket)?
Or potentially losing / dropping that and going hard at cricket for the first time?
Something Iāve wondered for a while, as many here over the years, have mutually agreed itād be very hard to broadcast both (certainly when you think about it realistically).
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Also, Iād think Nine would be really worried, knowing theyāve dropped the last rights clause and that Ten are super cash splashed with CBS ownership now.
With the multichannels not impossible. If Seven and Nine made one of their multichannels HD as SBS has done, then it would certainly be doable and give viewers the picture quality they want for both sports. But I do agree it would be difficult and probably stretch resources. (Nine did cover AFL and NRL on Friday nights for a few years though).
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The AFL/NRL on Nine situation during the Early-Mid 2000s was a bit different though, since thereās some markets where the AFL is more popular than the NRL and visa versa.
Cricket & tennis are popular Summer sports nationally, if Iām not mistaken.
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However those without MPEG4 would not be able to receive the second HD channel as there is no SD simulcast. This would also be in violation of the anti-siphoning legislation. AFAIK sports on the list may not premiere on a multichannel. No sport is going to want to sign up with a broadcasters that relegates it to a channel that only part of the population can receive.
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India however will balk at more than 1 D/N test (and even that will take negotiating) as the BCCI are still more powerful than CA with their money and political clout (how else could they convince the ICC to set aside all of April-May and half of March for a window to the IPL when no other 20 over league has clear air? Plus only India could get away with rescheduling a proposed D/N test across the ditch last year as they did). Time zones wonāt matter as much for Indian fans either, theyād watch at all hours no matter what. Unless Sri Lanka agree to having both tests (Brisbane and Canberra) being under lights it will probably be Adelaide only using pink balls.
As for the future, the outline for the FTP which will encompass the next rights deal up to 2022/23 has been released pending final ICC approval. In a nutshell we have to play at least 3 teams out of the top 9 (basically excluding Zimbabwe and the newly elevated Ireland and Afghanistan) in tests over the 4 seasons starting 2019/20 (we can still schedule tests against anyone, but they wonāt count for rankings purposes), and 4 of the top 13 (the 12 test teams and the Netherlands who topped the WCL for the 2nd tier nations) in a 3 match series (and only a 3 match series) of 50 over games over 2 seasons from 2020/21 with the top 8 going to the 2023 World Cup (and we cannot schedule a bilateral series with anyone else in those 2 years). From 2019/20 the schedule will be according to the FTP for home test and ODIās (with 20 over games still bi lateral apart from regional qualifiers for the world T20 which nobody cares about)
2019/20: 3 Tests vs New Zealand, 3 Tests vs Pakistan. ODIās TBA
2020/21: 4 Tests vs India, ODIās vs India and Zimbabwe
2021/22: 5 Tests vs England, ODIās vs South Africa and New Zealand
2022/23: 3 Tests vs South Africa, 3 Tests vs West Indies, ODIās TBA with the World Cup to be held in February/March 2023
The only away series FTA will be interested in is an Ashes series in 2019/20. The Away schedule is supposed to be
2019/20: 2 Tests @ Bangladesh, 5 Tests @ England
2020/21: 3 Tests @ South Africa, ODIās @ England and Pakistan
2021/22: 3 Tests @ Pakistan, 3 Tests @ Sri Lanka, ODIās @ Afghanistan and West Indies
2022/23: 4 Tests @ India
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Given we see good ratings for home tests in prime time over recent years I donāt understand why no fta network would be interested in overseas tours on a multi channel. Only the Carribean is in an unfavourable overnight timeslot.
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Because in most cases, fta canāt buy individual tours (ie featuring Australia only) as the home cricket boards generally sell rights as a whole package of their home games over several years. Even Cricket Australia does this. BT Sport in England will not only broadcast The Ashes but all internationals from Australia for several years.
We saw what happened when Nine got exclusive rights to The Ashes in England a few years back when Fox Sports refused to broadcast other internationals from England for a while (and since that decision, they still donāt broadcast domestic cricket from England).
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It was also a case of Seven dropping their ball, big time, one Stokes & Co has severely regretted since.
No idea how Nine managed to stuff it up either, not getting rights to a single Grand Final.
Australian Open has worked for them all these years do I would say that. They werenāt even spotted at Adelaide ovsl so i dont think they will even bid
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I think South Africa is willing to sell individual tours but they jack up the price in doing so.
BCCI requires a long term deal for multiple seasons as do most other federations
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Ah ok, so I suppose a 20 year old sitcom or British whodunit on the umpteenth repeat will be cheaper and get more eyeballs than a test not involving Australia.
The Big Bash League is not on the anti-siphoning list.
ABCās 7.30 has a feature report on the new broadcast rights tonight, coinciding with the start of a new BBL season: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-19/cricket-broadcast-rights-are-up-for-grabs/9273274?section=sport
Why? Like theyāre getting it 
Itās a current affairs program. 7:30 has had stories about the commercial networks before.
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7.30 is a current affairs program. It reports on current affairs.
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I think itās weird tbh.
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Mr Stensholt believes even Facebook could soon become a contender for Australian sport, after recently placing a losing bid for the Indian Premier League.
Please god no. I donāt think anyone wants to watch a stream that drops in and out with SD quality.
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