The BBL will be reduced to a 43-game season under a new $AUS1.512 billion broadcast deal Cricket Australia has secured with existing partners Channel Seven and Foxtel, on a new seven-year term.
All Australia home men’s Test matches and Australia women’s internationals between 2024 and 2031 will be broadcast on Seven and Foxtel as has been the case since 2018. Foxtel’s streaming partner Kayo Sports and Seven’s streaming platform 7plus will also carry all of those matches.
Significantly, the white-ball internationals of Australia’s men’s team will remain behind a paywall on Foxtel and Kayo and with Tests the majority of the BBL being available free-to-air on Seven and 7plus.
All 43 matches of the new streamlined BBL and WBBL will be broadcast on Foxtel and Kayo, which includes 10 home and away matches for each team plus three finals. Foxtel will carry 10 of those games exclusively behind their paywall and intend to show them on a Super Saturday series. Seven will broadcast 33 of the 43 BBL matches each year including finals and 23 of the WBBL matches including finals.
The bidding process had also attracted interest from US company Paramount, which owns Channel 10, and former cricket broadcaster Nine.
Paramount’s streaming service Paramount Plus rolled out to Australia in August 2021 and is already in the local sporting market as broadcaster of the A-Leagues and Australian soccer internationals.
But it is understood CA felt neither Paramount Plus nor its struggling free-to-air affiliate Network 10 could match the reach of the current broadcast hosts. CA CEO Nick Hockley noted the reach of Seven and Foxtel in announcing the deal.
“We are delighted to be continuing our broadcast partnership with the Foxtel Group and Seven under an improved deal,” Hockley said.
“The quality and reach of the Foxtel Group and Seven’s cricket production is first class and the outstanding service they provide cricket fans was a strong consideration in our decision to continue with this successful partnership.
Foxtel has a base of 4.6 million subscribers, nearly 1.3 million of whom are signed up to streaming platform Kayo, while Seven’s Test coverage has continued to rate among the highest programs on free-to-air television this summer.
Paramount Plus has yet to disclose its own figures but August estimates from market research specialist Roy Morgan placed the platform’s local subscriber base at around 400,000.
CA’s decision to overlook Paramount comes after the AFL opted to reject the American company’s advances last year, despite it being the highest bidder on that occasion as well.