Exciting news - Seven have secured broadcast rights for Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka.
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Will it be Seven’s coverage of Australia’s overseas tour for the first time since the 2001 Ashes series in England?
Bonus for Seven is that it won’t have to share the tour with Foxtel.
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Alright nerds, when’s the last time an overseas tour that isn’t the Ashes was on FTA?
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South African tour early 2000’s was on Seven.
And Nine had a tour of West Indies years before.
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Seven’s summer of cricket heats up with Australian tour of Sri Lanka
Exclusive, live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport
The Seven Network today announced it has secured the exclusive rights to Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka, set to air live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport from Wednesday, 29 January.
In a coup for Australian cricket fans, every ball of the Series, which includes two Test matches and two One Day Internationals, will be seen on Seven and 7plus Sport.
Seven Network Head of Cricket, Joel Starcevic, said: “What this summer has shown us is that Australians absolutely love their cricket, and we cannot wait to deliver even more action as Australia takes on Sri Lanka.
“Following an exhilarating Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series, two of the greatest WBBL and BBL seasons in recent history and the intensity of the current Women’s Ashes Series on home soil, the addition of Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka cements Seven and 7plus Sport as the undisputed home of cricket.
“Before we head to Sri Lanka to witness Steve Smith claim his 10,000th Test run as he captains the Aussie side, this weekend marks a thrilling conclusion to the BBL regular season, setting the stage for a nail-biting race to the Final on Monday, 27 January,” he said.
“But it doesn’t stop there. Adding to the smorgasbord of live and free cricket action, our nation’s most loved team, the Australian women’s cricket team, will face England in a historic Ashes Test at the hallowed MCG over four epic days from Thursday, 30 January, following today’s final ODI and three T20Is.
“There has never been a more exciting time to be a cricket fan in Australia, and you can catch every ball from every BBL Final, the Women’s Ashes and the Australian tour of Sri Lanka live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport – the only place to see it all,” Mr Starcevic said.
Cricket Australia Chief Executive Officer, Nick Hockley said: “The Border-Gavaskar Trophy series captivated the nation this summer with record crowds and viewership. It’s great that Australian fans will be able to watch the team again so soon in what is sure to be another compelling series in Sri Lanka.”
Seven Network Commercial Director – Sport, Renee Quirk, said: “As the Australian side takes on their final Test before the World Test Championship Final, Seven will be there to deliver every moment to passionate Australian fans at home.
“With the Women’s Ashes already off to a fiery start, Aussie viewers are in for an absolute treat when the Series culminates in a historic Ashes Test at the MCG, with every ball live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport.
“With multi-channel access across broadcast and digital on any device, Australian viewers can ensure they don’t miss a moment of the Women’s Ashes and men’s Australia v Sri Lanka Series as an epic Summer of Cricket draws to a close on Seven and 7plus Sport,” she said.
Australia v Sri Lanka Live, free and exclusive from Wednesday, 29 January on Seven and 7plus Sport
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Unexpected but REALLY GOOD. Usually Foxtel signs these. Good to see cricket (or what’s left of overseas series rights cricket anyway) going to FTA a bit more. Hopefully this shows 7s commitments and might try a simulcast with Amazon in some way shape or form (ambitious I know).
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Wow, this is a surprise. Thought Fox would grab the rights late for sure.
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Seven are now taking cricket series and very much adding to their portfolio.
February Sport will now take Golf and Cricket.
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Great get for 7. Genuinely exciting that an overseas tour is legally available for free.
Was this in the early 2000’s or the '97 tour? Quite a few videos of the latter, can’t find any 7 stuff of the former. Either way i think this was the last overseas test tour shown on FTA here (Ashes excluded)
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The 1st Test overlaps with WAshes Test.
SL v AUS - 29th Jan to 2nd Feb - 3:30pm AEDT start
WAshes test - 30th to 2nd Feb - 2:30pm AEDT start.
Which one will get main channel & which gets 7mate? What happens during the News & when will Idol start?
2nd Test is 6th to 10th Feb. I’m going to assume this will be on 7 for prime time (6-8th) & go to 7mate on 9th & 10th for Idol?
Will be interesting what 7 does.
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Just gauging this, is 7Flix going to be used at all in this - as weekends 7 might have golf, TWO cricket tests & horse racing and you know they have Sunrise and maybe Morning Show on?
Also Seven National Noon News might be off during the time here.
Maybe they could, you know - upgrade 7Two in metro & 7Flix across the board?
All I know is this is good counter programming for MAFS & such.
(yes - I keep editing this, I have questions and queries and thoughts 
)
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Yep that’s the one. Sorry I am still shocked that 2000 was 25 yrs ago!!
Thank you!!
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Ugh don’t remind me! 
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Something I find funny is that 7 will be broadcasting 2 overseas ODI’s but not Home ODI’s because they haven’t wanted them since 2018 
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My thoughts exactly how exactly do they expect to fit this in? Or do they just expect people to stream it on 7plus?
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As the game is from Sri Lanka, it would be an afternoon start time of approx 3pm AEST, so fits into evening prime time perfectly for the Free to Air networks.
The question is why FTA hasn’t been interested in the past with games from that part of the world with it falling at a good time slot.
As far as weekdays go, I wonder if Seven would consider something like this for AEDT time:
3.30pm Test Session 1
5.00pm The Chase Australia
6.00pm Seven News
7.00pm Home and Away
7.30pm Test Session 2
(8.10pm Tea Break)
8.30pm Test Session 3
Between 5.00pm and 7.30pm, the Test could move to 7mate.
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What about the WAshes test? that overlaps with Test 1. The overlap starts Thursday, so maybe they don’t show the Chase on Thursday & Friday. That way either the WAshes or SL test is on SD 7two for only 1 hour.
I guess the Womens Test moves to 7Two for times where there is overlap. Surely there will be more eyeballs on the mens team v Sri Lanka.
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Makes sense, assuming that they don’t just put it all on 7mate.
Yeah hopefully this rates well for 7 so they look at Pakistan and Bangladesh tours too. Ideally India as well but I’m assuming Fox is fine taking larger deals with the BCCI that don’t involve Australia.
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