Channel Seven abandons Olympics for first time since 1956 in bid to retain Australian cricket rights

Channel 7 withdrew from the Olympics after nearly 70 years of covering the event for Australian audiences in a bid to make a serious challenge to retain Australian cricket broadcast rights.

The lucrative rights to Test cricket, international limited overs and the Big Bash League looked set to return to Channel Nine with the broadcaster launching a record-breaking massive $1.5bn deal alongside Foxtel.

That would mean cricket would return to Channel Nine, which carried the sport for 40 years before Channel Seven went under in 2019.

The Tokyo Olympics reportedly cost Seven West Media $50 million with Channel Nine now in the box to claim the rights.

Cricket Australia is set for a big payday with Channel Nine, Seven West Media and Paramount vying for broadcast rights.

However, Seven West Media, owners of Channel 7, have now officially pulled out of the Olympics with the games set to go to Channel Nine.

The Herald Sun reported that Nine offered more than $300 million for the broadcast rights to the Olympics, $100 million more than Seven West Media.

However, the money saved by delivering the Olympics means Channel Seven can bolster its bid to retain cricket rights along with subscription and payment providers Foxtel and Kayo, both owned by News Corp.

Nine already owns the rights to the Australian Open and also pays around $100 million for free-to-air NRL rights, plus the network is likely to win the Olympics as well.

The Sun reported that Channel Seven lost around $50 million covering the Tokyo games, meaning Channel Nine will have to spend big to win cricket back after spending the money on other sports.

However, current broadcasters Channel 7 and Fox Sports are reportedly not happy with Big Bash in its current state, which could work against those networks getting the rights.

The Big Bash League could be a key part of the negotiations with Channel 7 unhappy with the current format and Channel Nine covering the Australian Open in January.

US streaming service Paramount, which owns Channel 10, has raised the bar for all networks after launching a whopping $1.5 billion bid for exclusive rights to all of cricket.

However, it is understood that Cricket Australia is hesitant to move all games to streaming-only services.

A decision was expected by Christmas but is likely to be delayed due to Seven West Media’s revised offer to retain the cricket rights.

A decision is likely to be made soon with Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson indicating that negotiations were coming to an end.

Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson said a decision would be made soon.

“Negotiations are trade in confidence … they are coming to a head as we speak,” Henderson said Friday.

“There is a lot of interest in cricket media rights and we are very pleased that all the major parties are interested.”