Twenty20 games' success may win Cricket Australia $100m TV deal

Melbourne, Feb 8(ANI): The stupendous success of Cricket Australia's Twenty20 matches may help it win the 100 million dollar TV rights deal and change the way fans watch the Big Bash League.

A leading sports media analyst said the Cricket Australia can expect to earn between 80 to 100 million dollars for a five-year deal after its contract with broadcast partners Channel Nine and Fox Sports expires next summer.

"If it keeps on going the way it's going it could even be north of that, significantly more," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted the analyst, as saying.

Channel Nine has paid 315 million dollars over seven years for the right to telecast Tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 internationals in Australia while Fox is the home of domestic competitions such as the BBL, the one-day competition and the Shield final.

CA refused to speculate on the value of its rights but spokesperson Peter Young said: "We are confident that it will be a lucrative tournament."

The analyst said BBL games could be split between different channels in a model similar to that of the AFL.

"You could even envisage things like simulcast between pay and free. Channel Nine will be there; it wouldn't surprise me if Channel Ten and Channel Seven were there as well.

This will be a 'must retain' for Fox Sports," he said.

The CA echoed the same view.

"We are interested in being as innovative as we can and the networks seem to be similarly inclined. This is new age, new era stuff in terms of what it looks like on the field and it will be the same off field in terms of how it is distributed via television and other distributed channels," Young said.

The analyst said the BBL had created a new market, which provides a fillip for CA to use Twenty20 to lure new fans. (ANI)