Nine and Ten linked to new Cricket Australia bid as Foxtel walks away

Commercial broadcasters Nine and Ten have reportedly put a new and improved offer to Cricket Australia for its domestic rights, as pay-television operator Foxtel confirmed it had exited the process.

The Australian Financial Review newspaper said Nine and Ten are seeking to keep domestic cricket exclusively on free-to-air television over the next six years, through a deal that would run from 2018 to 2023.

The two broadcasters are said to have made an offer worth A$900m (€559m/$696m) in total after having a first bid worth A$130m per year (A$780m in total) rejected last month.

The Australian Financial Review said the new offer would see Ten retain rights to domestic T20 competition the Big Bash League, with Nine holding on to Australia’s home Test matches. However, international T20s and One-Day Internationals would move from Nine to Ten.

“Any negotiations with CA are confidential but we have always said we are committed to continuing our partnership with Cricket Australia, which may include cricket beyond the highly successful Big Bash League,” a Ten spokesman said.

On Friday, it was reported that Foxtel had made a sizeable offer for complete broadcast and digital rights to CA properties, only for multiple reports later that day to state the operator had exited the process.

A News Corp spokeswoman confirmed to the Australian Financial Review that Foxtel, which is 65-per-cent owned by the media conglomerate following the completion of its merger with Fox Sports, left talks with Cricket Australia.

“Fox Sports withdrew from negotiations with Cricket Australia on Friday morning due to a lack of material progress over the preceding week,” she said. “Fox Sports has continued discussions with Cricket Australia over the weekend, however there has been no re-engagement of negotiations.”