The raging success of Cricket Australia's Twenty20 revolution this summer could deliver the game a $100million windfall for its next TV rights deal and change the way fans across the country watch the Big Bash League.
A leading sports media analyst has told Fairfax CA can expect to reap $80million-$100million for a five-year deal when its contract with broadcast partners Channel Nine and Fox Sports expires after next summer.
''If it keeps on going the way it's going it could even be north of that, significantly more,'' the analyst said.
That would still be well short of the $1.253billion five-year deal the AFL signed last year but slightly superior to the seven-year $120million agreement FFA signed with Fox Sports for the A-League in 2006 after one season.
Channel Nine currently pays $315million over seven years for the right to telecast Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals in Australia while Fox is the home of domestic competitions such as the BBL, Ryobi Cup and the Shield final.
CA refused to speculate on the value of its rights but spokesman Peter Young said last night: ''We are confident that it will be a lucrative tournament''. The analyst said BBL games could be split between different channels in a model similar to that of the AFL.
''You could even envisage things like simulcast between pay and free,'' the analyst said.
''Channel Nine will be there, it wouldn't surprise me if Channel Ten and Channel Seven were there as well.
''This will be a must retain for Fox Sports.''
CA has not ruled out such a scenario. ''We are interested in being as innovative as we can and the networks seem to be similarly inclined,'' Young said.
''This is new age, new era stuff in terms of what it looks like on the field and it will be the same off field in terms of how it is distributed via television and other distributed channels.''
Fox is set to come under fierce pressure from free-to-air channels to retain the rights beyond next summer after the BBL's ratings and crowd bonanza this season.
The average audience per game increased 82per cent on last season, up from 155,000 to 282,000. The 448,000 who tuned into last month's final, up 56per cent on the year before, was the competition's second most watched game this summer, behind only Shane Warne's debut for Melbourne Stars against David Warner's Sydney Thunder on December17. The BBL boasted 13 of the top 100 sporting events on pay TV last year, beating the AFL's eight but behind rugby, which had 19 thanks to the World Cup, and the NRL's 60.
With India keen to give their top three batsmen a rest at some point during the triangular series, either Tendulkar or Gautam Gambhir will be excused from playing duties in Perth.
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