Cricket Australia, the sport’s national governing body, has rejected suggestions that it will seek to make an early entry into the market for its next set of domestic broadcast rights.
CA is currently halfway through five-year deals with commercial broadcasters Nine and Ten worth a combined A$590m (€375m/$419m). These agreements expire in 2018 and it has been reported that the organisation will seek to bring forward talks for the next five-year cycle in a bid to capitalise on the growing interest in domestic Twenty20 competition the Big Bash League.
However, CA's general manager of media rights and broadcasting, Stephanie Beltrame, told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper: “We were surprised to read about CA bringing rights negotiations forward, which suggests we have set a formal timetable for those discussions, which we haven't.
“These types of negotiations take a lot of time, a lot of planning and research and that's what we've been doing since the last renewal. We are very well aware that there is healthy interest from a number of parties in men's and women's cricket in Australia, and we certainly welcome that.
“We take a very thorough approach to rights negotiations and when the time comes we'll be fully prepared and will conduct discussions respectfully with the relevant parties.”