Cricket boards of Australia, England and South Africa push for pooled broadcast rights

A big financial change in world cricket may soon be on the cards as Cricket Australia, Cricket South Africa and the England Cricket Board are pushing for a pooled system of broadcast rights for matches that are a part of the bilateral series organised on their soil. Under a pooled system of broadcast, the rights to a particular bilateral series that is being held in England, Australia or South Africa would have to be bought from a common pool, thereby allowing all the broadcasters – from all over the world – an equal chance of getting the rights sealed, as opposed to the board providing it to a host broadcaster that in turn sells it to foreign parties, which is the status quo.

The main reason for such a move is touted to be the decreasing revenues from selling the rights to the Indian market, that, till date, remains the largest source of revenue for the home broadcasters for all of their matches.

At a workshop organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) this week – that saw the proposed two-tier Test structure being wiped off the table and the consensus for a league system in ODIs and T20Is as well as a playoff for determining a Test champion being built – this new way of selling bilateral rights was one of the main topics of discussion.

Bilateral series form a large chunk of revenue for all cricket boards with the exception of the BCCI

Indian market affecting broadcast rights

With the acquisition of Ten Sports by Sony, the number of major bidders in the Indian television market has been shortened by one-third, and both CA and the ECB are of the feeling that after their current deal with Star Sports – that has fetched them amounts to the tune of $8 million per international fixture – might not refurbish them with a similar contract once it expires. (Lesser number of bidders, lesser competition for the rights, lower the price)

“All countries are worried about the downturn in the Indian market and they feel a linked-together approach will be better,” ESPN Cricinfo was informed by a source.

“Otherwise they're out there on their own, two Indian broadcasters and 10 countries all with rights deals to sell - broadcasters can pick and choose. If you've got one rights package to sell with content they want included somewhere in it then you're in a much better position,” the source said.

The eagerness of the aforementioned cricket boards to put this plan into practice can be judged by the fact that they might go ahead with it without even asking for a consensus from other boards. For the ICC tournaments – such as the World T20, the Champions Trophy etc. – the apex body has the exclusive rights, but it has no control over those for the bilateral series.

“The decision to pool rights could be made by three, five, 10 countries, however many agree. It isn't all in or none in - it will take place regardless of how many sign up.” the source added.

The IPL remains the single largest source of revenue for the BCCI, even surpassing the international games

The plan to go ahead anyway

While the other boards would be pursued by the three in order to convince them that the new pooled system is for their best interests, irrespective of the outcome of such discussions, the proposal is likely to go ahead and at the same time, and independent governing body is also likely to be formed in order to ensure that the richer boards do not dominate the poorer ones using their cash muscles.

“Independence in decision-making in that group and also independence in terms of how the money is divided up is going to be really important. If big countries are seen to be muscling little countries then the concept weakens.

“But it's got (to have) independent management and potentially governance that will position it as a genuine media player, rather than countries pursuing their own individual interests.”

The BCCI, however, are hesitant in getting involved in this newly-formulated plan, which can be attributed to their television rights priorities. The Indian Premier League (IPL) rules the roost in the country and the revenue generated from the lucrative league is in a far greater proportion as compared to otherwise very rewarding international fixtures.

Whereas, for other countries, it is exactly the opposite. While the T20 leagues such as the Big Bash League (BBL), the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and other have come to the fore, none of them have been as rewarding, in terms of cash, for the home broadcasters or the boards. Hence, their revenue largely depends on the international fixtures.

“In the end, the boards are competing against themselves and pulling in three directions. They're the beneficiaries of ICC events, they're the rights holders for bilateral cricket and they own domestic T20 competitions,” the source added.

“It does come back to where they want to prioritise their energies and what balance of those three things they see their business running on in the future.”