June 30, 2022
Seven West Media has attempted to blow up its $450 million media rights deal with Cricket Australia, arguing in fresh court proceedings that the sporting body breached its contract and undermined the success of the Big Bash League.In proceedings filed in the Federal Court, Seven claims that CA breached its contract relating to quality and standards of the BBL, which has struggled to generate high TV ratings.“Seven’s intention is to terminate the [media rights agreement], conditional on the Federal Court granting a declaration that Seven is entitled to do so,” a statement on the ASX, approved by the board, said.The Big Bash League is a point of contention in the dispute between Cricket Australia and broadcasters. CREDIT:CRICKET AUSTRALIAIn the statement of claim, obtained by this masthead, Seven alleges CA was required to use all “reasonable endeavours” to make sure BBL matches on Seven were of the highest quality and standard in the world.Seven alleges CA breached its agreement by scheduling One Day International Matches and International Twenty20 Matches (both which run on Foxtel), which affected the availability of high-profile players for the BBL and hurt its chances of maximising audiences.It also alleges that by imposing a salary cap - $1.77 million in 2018/2019, $1.82 million in 2019/2020 - CA prevented the BBL from attracting players of the “highest quality and standard in the world”. By comparison, the salary cap for the Indian Premier League’s 2019 season was $16.7 million. The cap was $17 million in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.Seven also alleges that by revising the summer schedule it was unable to leverage the big audiences of key Test matches to grow the BBL’s viewership. The network, controlled by billionaire Kerry Stokes, is seeking the deal to be terminated and damages for past breaches.It is basing these allegations on a series of meetings between Seven and CA executives and email exchanges between 2019 and 2021. In one email chain between Alistair Dobson, CA’s general manager for BBL and Peter Roach, CA’s head of cricket operations, the former warns that several scheduling changes would be “unmitigated disasters for the BBL”.Another email in the statement of claim, sent by CA chief executive Nick Hockley in October 2020, concedes BBL games in Tasmania would go against “commercial optimisation”. “We have already significantly compromised the entire BBL season by starting in Tas...the overall interests of the League would have been better served starting the season in Sydney given the opening nights are far and away the most important of the entire tournament.”AdvertisementSeven said in its ASX statement it had attempted to resolve the long-running dispute through a resolution process, but was unsuccessful. It said it will continue to perform its obligations under the agreement until it can terminate the deal.The federal court action is a dramatic escalation of a two-year dispute between the broadcaster and CA over scheduling changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and broader issues with the quality of the Big Bash League. Seven West Media boss James Warburton first publicly criticised the administrator in 2020 before an independent arbitrator ruled last February the broadcaster was entitled to a discount for scheduling changes.The relationship between Seven and CA appeared to improve under its new boss Hockley, but the former continued to pursue pre-discovery action, which it won last August. The action required CA to hand over documents agreed on by the two bodies.In a statement, CA said it was disappointed with Seven’s legal action, and defended the performance of the BBL during the COVID-19 pandemic. “CA is astonished that Seven has brought this unwarranted action which will be strenuously defended,” it said.“CA remains enormously proud of the efforts of the Australian Cricket family including players, match officials, sponsors, stadium operators, host governments, staff and volunteers whose hard work, dedication and expertise allowed us to deliver two exceptional cricket seasons in unprecedented circumstances.”The timing of the federal court comes ahead of another round of negotiations over cricket rights. The existing deal between CA, Foxtel and Seven expires in 2024, which means informal discussions could start by the end of this year. This could potentially affect the amount of money rival broadcasters would pay for the broadcast rights or cheapen a deal for Seven, which says it is still happy with Test matches.Nine boss Mike Sneesby said in February that he could afford to air both cricket and tennis during the summer months, while Paramount’s local broadcaster Network Ten has privately expressed enthusiasm for a return of the BBL. Nine owns this masthead.Warburton said in February he would aggressively bid to bring the tennis rights back to Seven and said at the time he could not afford to broadcast cricket if he was successful. A federal court stoush between Seven and CA is unlikely to appear in court before the end of the year, meaning it will likely coincide with broadcast negotiations. Seven’s effort to expose the flaws it sees with CA could be viewed as an attempt to weaken the administrator’s bargaining position as it enters talks.
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and Nine will not give the tennis up!!
(20min delay)