The Aussie "summer tradition of long days spent watching cricket on TV is set for a massive shake-up, with Cricket Australia pushing to soften rules governing the game’s broadcasting rights in a bid for a bigger payday," according to Matthew Connors of the Brisbane COURIER-MAIL. Cricket’s governing body will negotiate new broadcasting rights next year to kick in after the '17-18 Ashes series and is "lobbying politicians to change anti-siphoning rules which restrict home international tests and one-day games to free-to-air networks." Cutting the restricted list would "allow pay-TV company Foxtel, telcoms Telstra and Optus and online streaming companies to bid for matches." Industry sources said that CA "wants to cut some one-day games from the restricted list to create a bidding war." While Test matches would remain on free-to-air, the "changing face of cricket is adding fuel to the fire." Industry analysts "expect a bidding war" for Big Bash could hit A$60M ($43M) a year. Ten Network now pays A$20M ($14.4M) a year to broadcast Big Bash (COURIER-MAIL, 12/25).
