White ball internationals staying behind a paywall and a reduction of Big Bash League's length are set to be headlines of a new TV rights deal, which Cricket Australia are reportedly set to announce tomorrow.
The deal will see Cricket Australia stick with Channel 7 and Fox Sports over a period of the next five years.
The move to stick with the current networks comes despite Channel 10 putting $1.5 billion on the table for the long-term rights to the sport.
Channel 9 were also interested, but ultimately couldn't come close on financials after lumping out an enormous sum of money for the next three Olympic Games, including the Brisbane 2032 event where cricket is hoping to be one of the sports on offer.
CODE Sports are reporting that the deal, to be announced tomorrow, is less than what was on offer from Paramount, but ultimately, Cricket Australia were unwilling to take the risk in linking up with their streaming service Paramount Plus.
Paramount have struggled with their coverage of the A-League, leaving fans regularly complaining about the quality of the streaming service.
Cricket Australia's decision keeps the sport with Foxtel and Kayo Sports, who have broadcasted cricket without incident since Seven and Fox first won the rights from Channel 9.
The five-year deal will see a home Ashes series and home Border-Gavaskar trophy in back-to-back summers during 2024-25 and 2025-26, with the series against India to be the first between the two sides to be played over five Tests. The 2026-27 summer will only see three Tests against New Zzealand before the Aussies head to India in January and February, then return to host Bangladesh in March.
The final two summers of the agreement are yet to be announced, although it's likely teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies and South Africa will feature prominently.
Between now and 2027, Australia will not play more than five Tests in a single home summer.
Despite that, and a report suggesting Cricket Australia were keen to have ODIs and T20Is back on free to air TV, the report suggests all limited overs cricket played by the Australian team will remain as a Fox Sports exclusive product.
The make up of the new deal is said to be roughly the same as the old one, although the BBL will be shortened in length in an attempt to continue to revitalise the product and bring better quality international players down under.
It's unclear if Fox will continue to have a number of exclusive games in the BBL each summer.
It has also been reported that Seven will drop their legal action against Cricket Australia with the signing of a TV rights extension, while 7Plus is also likely to gain some rights.
