UK Ashes to be shown live into Australia
International TV rights explained
Fans lamenting the absence of the current England-Sri Lanka Test series from Australian television screens can take solace in the knowledge no such fate will befall next winter’s much-anticipated Ashes campaign.
With major sporting events such as the Ashes protected under the Federal Government’s anti-siphoning laws, Channel Nine secured the exclusive rights for the 2015 and 2019 Ashes series in the UK from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
It is the host cricket body of each series that own the telecast, broadcast and internet rights to their matches, and media organisations worldwide bid for the right to carry those games to their geographic audience.
In the case of the series that began at Lord’s last night and the subsequent four-Test series between England and India beginning July 9, the ECB would need to conclude an agreement with an Australian-based media group if the action was to be shown here.
Cricket Australia is not involved in securing agreements for matches played outside Australia (regardless of whether Australia is competing), but cricket.com.au is providing live scoring and match reports for the current England-Sri Lanka series.
Fox Sports, which has historically broadcast selected international series that don’t involve the Australian team as well as Australian matches offshore, does not hold the rights to these matches in England nor have they been picked up by an Australian free-to-air network or media outlet.
Cricket coverage featuring the Australian team continues to rate strongly, as shown by the audience that Fox Sport’s coverage of Australia’s tour of South Africa last February and March generated.
However, deals have yet to be struck for upcoming Australian matches overseas including Australia’s triangular one-day series with Zimbabwe and South Africa in Zimbabwe beginning in late-August, and the Test and limited-overs series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in October.
It is understood that negotiations surrounding these events are ongoing but a spokesperson for Fox Sports declined to comment on their progress or any prospective timetable for their finalisation.
In the meantime, some of the upcoming matches featuring Australia A, India A, South Africa A and a team of Australia’s best emerging talent in the National Performance Squad will be streamed live on cricket.com.au.
These four-day and one-day matches will be played in Brisbane, Townsville and Darwin with the first fixture – a four-day match between Australia A led by James Faulkner and India A featuring recent IPL star Robin Uthappa – to begin at Allan Border Field on July 16.
The live streaming of some of these matches (the four-day matches will be streamed live) follows the success of similar telecasts of the Southern Stars’ Ashes series against England and Bupa Sheffield Shield matches on cricket.com.au last summer.
With major sporting events such as the Ashes protected under the Federal Government’s anti-siphoning laws, Channel Nine secured the exclusive rights for the 2015 and 2019 Ashes series in the UK from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
It is the host cricket body of each series that own the telecast, broadcast and internet rights to their matches, and media organisations worldwide bid for the right to carry those games to their geographic audience.
In the case of the series that began at Lord’s last night and the subsequent four-Test series between England and India beginning July 9, the ECB would need to conclude an agreement with an Australian-based media group if the action was to be shown here.
Cricket Australia is not involved in securing agreements for matches played outside Australia (regardless of whether Australia is competing), but cricket.com.au is providing live scoring and match reports for the current England-Sri Lanka series.
Fox Sports, which has historically broadcast selected international series that don’t involve the Australian team as well as Australian matches offshore, does not hold the rights to these matches in England nor have they been picked up by an Australian free-to-air network or media outlet.
Cricket coverage featuring the Australian team continues to rate strongly, as shown by the audience that Fox Sport’s coverage of Australia’s tour of South Africa last February and March generated.
However, deals have yet to be struck for upcoming Australian matches overseas including Australia’s triangular one-day series with Zimbabwe and South Africa in Zimbabwe beginning in late-August, and the Test and limited-overs series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in October.
It is understood that negotiations surrounding these events are ongoing but a spokesperson for Fox Sports declined to comment on their progress or any prospective timetable for their finalisation.
In the meantime, some of the upcoming matches featuring Australia A, India A, South Africa A and a team of Australia’s best emerging talent in the National Performance Squad will be streamed live on cricket.com.au.
These four-day and one-day matches will be played in Brisbane, Townsville and Darwin with the first fixture – a four-day match between Australia A led by James Faulkner and India A featuring recent IPL star Robin Uthappa – to begin at Allan Border Field on July 16.
The live streaming of some of these matches (the four-day matches will be streamed live) follows the success of similar telecasts of the Southern Stars’ Ashes series against England and Bupa Sheffield Shield matches on cricket.com.au last summer.