Seven secures rights for Australia's tour of Sri Lanka

The Seven Network has stepped in to secure the rights for Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka, just 12 days before the first Test begins.

Australian cricket fans were at risk of being plunged into a television black hole for the two Tests and two ODIs after no network had acquired the rights.

But Seven, which broadcasts home Tests, women’s internationals, and the Big Bash League, will take on the entire tour through their free-to-air stations and on the 7plus app. The first Test in Galle, which starts on January 29, runs concurrently with the day-night Women’s Ashes Test at the MCG.

“What this summer has shown us is that Australians absolutely love their cricket, and we cannot wait to deliver even more action as Australia takes on Sri Lanka,” Seven’s head of cricket Joel Starcevic said.

Every men’s Test tour has been broadcast back to Australia for the past three decades. The last Test not shown in Australia was during the Pakistan tour in 1994.

But this will be the first non-Ashes full overseas men’s Test tour shown on free-to-air TV in Australia since Mark Taylor’s team played in South Africa back in 1997, when Seven also had the rights. In 2023 they broadcast the World Test Championship final between Australia and India at The Oval.

Foxtel has had a stranglehold on rights for Australia’s overseas matches since broadcasting tours of India and Pakistan back in 1998. They broadcast Australia’s most recent Test series in Sri Lanka in 2022.

However, Foxtel has not regularly broadcast Test series from Sri Lanka not involving Australia, and therefore do not have a long-running agreement with them.

Foxtel recently agreed to a sale to British-based sports streaming platform DAZN, but that is still to be finalised over the first six months of 2025.

Amazon has won the rights to ICC events in the 2024-2027 cycle, including this year’s WTC final, but the streaming giant’s Australian arm is yet to dip its toe into bilateral series.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo