The shake-up of Australian cricket "continued apace after the country’s cricketing board handed the rights to games down under, including the next Ashes series, to BT Sport," according to Nic Fildes of the LONDON TIMES. The deal "has been signed after the conclusion of the Ashes with reports that BT has stumped its arch rival in the chase for the lucrative rights." BT is said to have paid £80M ($126M) to Cricket Australia "to show matches played in the country," including the next Ashes tour in '17-18. It "will be the first time Sky has not shown an England cricket overseas tour since 1990." The telecom "continued to chip away at Sky’s dominance in the pay-TV sport market, having landed an exclusive deal to show European football from this year on top of the slew of Premier League and rugby matches it shows on its sports channels." The loss of the cricket rights "is a blow for Sky, which had to dig deep to maintain its stranglehold on the best games in the Premier League at a rights auction in February" (LONDON TIMES, 8/24). In London, Henry Mance wrote mid-tier sports rights "have become a battleground for Sky, BT and other broadcasters such as Discovery Communications." Such events "cost much less than the Premier League and Champions League, and help fill out broadcasters’ schedules into attractive subscription packages." Analysts at Citi said that the deal with Cricket Australia is "the first time that BT appears to have made a meaningful effort to diversify beyond football,” and added that it could act as a “launch pad for a more concerted effort to get more cricket.” Raymond James analyst Stephane Beyazian said investors have been happy to give BT “a blank cheque” for sports rights, as long as the company continues to cut costs in other parts of its business. Some analysts "argued that the broadcaster will have to give up some secondary sports rights," after the cost of its Premier League football rights increased 83% in an auction earlier this year (FINANCIAL TIMES, 8/24). In London, Owen Gibson wrote the deal includes all one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches played in Australia "including other series against New Zealand, South Africa, India and Pakistan." It "also includes rights to the Big Bash League and the women’s Ashes." BT "has targeted premium cricket rights as a means to attract and keep subscribers in the summer months and already broadcasts the Caribbean Premier League T20." This deal "will be seen as a coup and a bloody nose for Sky Sports, which has marketed itself as the home of all international cricket" (GUARDIAN, 8/24). The BBC reported Cricket Australia Exec GM Ben Amarfio said that BT Sport's reach into more than 5 million U.K. homes "was a factor in signing the deal." He said, "BT Sport put forward a highly compelling bid for the rights to broadcast cricket from Australia to audiences throughout the United Kingdom." The new agreement "will start in October 2016 with Australia's home Test series against South Africa" (BBC, 8/24). In London, Clare Hutchison wrote it "could create a dilemma for cricket fans, however, as Sky owns the rights to show the 2019 Ashes series in England, as well as those for the cricket World Cup in the same year." Customers wanting to watch both of the next Ashes series "may have to sign up for both Sky and BT to do so" (INDEPENDENT, 8/24).
