Cricket Australia can further slump into a deeper financial crisis. Channel 7 network has reportedly initiated proceedings to terminate the A$ 450 million media rights deal with the cricket governing body.
The development comes as a big blow to Cricket Australia ahead of the Summer season Down Under, which will also include India’s tour between November and January.
Channel 7 had acquired the free-to-air broadcast rights from the CA in 2018, ending the Channel 9 Network reign of over four decades. The broadcaster has reportedly also informed Cricket Australia that it will also not clear the payment of A$ 25 million, which will become due on Tuesday, September 14.
The broadcaster, according to the Daily Telegraph, has already given enough hints that will be terminating the deal abruptly. The contract still has four more years to go.
A CA spokesman has reportedly told the Sydney Morning Herald that it “remains in ongoing discussions with the Seven Network about delivering a compelling summer of cricket” and “is committed to fulfilling its contractual obligations to all its partners this season”.
The broadcaster has earlier raised concerns about the upcoming Big Bash League season, which will clash directly with India’s tour of Australia. Since the top Australia players will be engaged in the home series against India, Big Bash will be deprived of quality talent.
“We are forced to consider all our options including terminating the contract, and we have put them on notice,” Warburton had told The Daily Telegraph last month. “This is not an acceptable product, and we will not support the season. Cricket Australia has an obligation to deliver a competition of no lesser standard than the past.
“‘Don’t worry,’ they say. ‘We will deliver a full BBL season. We’ve got good news. We can one hundred percent tell you who can’t play because we know they are in a hub we’ve created for our international white-ball games. The only problem is we actually have no idea who will play the BBL’.
“How stupid to schedule international cricket against the BBL and drain the resources of competition already under pressure. It’s a joke, and it rips off the fans. We paid a huge price and were promised the world. There is an obligation to deliver the best quality to the broadcasters.
“It’s the most incompetent administration I’ve ever worked with, with no appointed full time chief executive officer at a time when the sport needs strong leadership to steer through these extraordinary times.”
Seven West Media, owners of Channel 7, have reportedly issued a notice to the CA on Wednesday that it was in breach of its contract with the network over its proposed schedule for the Summer Down Under.
Holding back the payment due on Tuesday will be the next significant step towards ending the contract.
“Cricket Australia remains in ongoing discussions with the Seven Network about delivering a compelling summer of cricket,” a CA spokesman is quoted as saying in Australian media. “CA is committed to fulfilling its contractual obligations to all its partners this season.”