Australia's pay-TV lobby group ASTRA is using Cricket Australia's £80M ($125M) rights deal with BT Sports "to renew calls to scrap anti-siphoning laws," according to Mason & White of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. On Monday, Rupert Murdoch's media empire "took another blow with British rival BT Sports securing a deal with Cricket Australia as its overseas broadcast partner." The five-year deal "is believed to be worth" £80M. ASTRA, whose most prominent member is Foxtel, which is 50% owned by News Corp., "is pushing to have the government reconsider the anti-siphoning list, which effectively keeps many major sporting events on free-to-air television." ASTRA CEO Andrew Maiden said, "This deal is evidence that technology has overtaken Australia's antiquated anti-siphoning rules. In a world of technology platforms, subscription television is now the only entity singled out and banned from buying key sports rights. 2015 would be a good time to reform the rules, with the major football codes having locked in deals for years to come" (SMH, 8/25).
