If the Indian fans were deprived of Brendon McCullum’s farewell international series, it is their Australian counterparts who are set to be at the receiving end this time.
None of the Australian broadcasters have agreed to cover the ICC World T20 which starts from March 16 in India, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
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This would result in a blackout on television, and the Australian fans would not be able to watch their team try to win the only ICC tournament that they haven’t won since its inception.
The primary reason for such a predicament has been stated to be the exorbitant prices that have been charged by India’s host broadcaster, Star Sports, for the live coverage.
Price for the broadcast rights too high
The Nine Network had been covering the previous two editions of the ICC event – in 2012, and 2014 – for Australia, as well as the 2015 ICC World Cup.
This was after the enforcement of the anti-siphoning rule, which mandated necessary free-to-air broadcast for Australia’s matches in all ICC tournaments. But the network has failed to secure the rights this time.
Nine’s rivals, Network Seven, and Network Ten – the latter had broadcasted the Big Bash League – have also denied buying the rights for the marquee tournament.
The anti-siphoning rules also specify that if the free-to-air coverage rights are not bought by any of the broadcasters within 12 weeks of the event, then pay TV broadcasters can secure the rights. But even that hasn’t happened.
Fox Sports has confirmed that the rights have not been bought by them either. That suggests none of the local broadcasters have secured the rights, and the Australian fans are in for a huge setback.
In addition to the price being asked by Star, an extra fee of 30 percent of the purchase price has also been levied as a tax component for the deal.
Both Nine and Fox had contracts for the ICC tournaments including the World T20, but that contract expired after the culmination of the 50-over World Cup last year.
The way forward from here could include a late bid from the broadcasters for a contract, but that would also mean that they would be required to show the games on their primary channel instead of one of their additional channels.
This would act as a deterrent because then, they would be required to reschedule their first-choice programs.
This is highly disappointing as far as the global cricketing fraternity is concerned, as one of cricket’s biggest tournaments would not be witnessed by a large chunk of its followers.
The ICC must definitely step in and try and resolve the issue. What happened in India, when the final international series of one of New Zealand’s greats, Brendon McCullum, went unwitnessed because none of the broadcasters took the pains to broadcast games that begun at 3 AM, shouldn't happen again.
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