Cricket Australia Pays $755K To Channel Nine To Save One-Day Coverage

Cricket Australia splashed out A$800,000 ($755,000) to Channel Nine "to ensure the one-day Ryobi Cup, to be played entirely in Sydney from Sunday week, was not lost to the small screen," according to Chris Barrett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Ordinarily, a broadcaster "would pay a sporting body for the rights to a particular match," the most prominent recent example the record A$590M "domestic cricket deal struck in June between CA and Channel Nine and Network Ten." The fact the local one-day tournament, however, was left out of those lucrative five-year agreements for int'l matches and the Big Bash League meant the reverse "was required to salvage the Ryobi Cup from television oblivion." CA "has underwritten Nine's production costs" to the tune of A$800,000 to get coverage over the line. The figure "was convincing enough for the game's primary broadcaster in Australia to agree to screen the 20 matches of the month-long event on its high-definition channel Gem" (SMH, 9/20).