SYDNEY: Cricket Australia announced on Friday new radio right deals, which will ensure that three entities namely ABC, Macquarie Media Limited (MML) and Crocmedia, will broadcast cricket for the next 6 years in Australia. It also confirmed that fans will continue to have the option of streaming all radio coverage through cricket.com.au and the Cricket Australia Live app.
ABC Radio, that has been responsible for covering international matches in Australia for 80 years, will be expanding its presence into all Rebel Women’s Big Bash matches via a mixture of AM, FM and digital channels, making it the radio home of Australian women’s cricket for the first time in history. The radio channel will also cover the Prime Minister’s XI and Governor General’s XI matches of the Australia summer through its digital channels.
CA’s official announcement ended speculation created by a Wide World of Sports report which alleged the board ending its association with ABC. The board’s CEO, James Sutherland blasted the report while expressing satisfaction with the deal.
“We are excited to announce our new radio rights deals with the ABC, Macquarie Media and Crocmedia, which will deliver comprehensive coverage of international and Big Bash cricket to fans across Australia,” Sutherland told cricket.com.au.
“We were very disappointed by inaccurate reporting this week suggesting that the ABC would no longer broadcast cricket. It undermined our commitment to the ABC and the ABC’s longstanding commitment to cricket.
“Never for a minute had it crossed our minds that the ABC was not a staple in the Australian cricketing summer.
“Radio has long been an important part of how people enjoy cricket in Australia over the summer, and the breadth and depth of these agreements ensures that people will be able to tune in to the cricket action regardless of where they are.
“In addition to continued commitments around the broadcast of Women’s International matches, it is pleasing to have secured radio coverage for all WBBL matches, a clear sign of the rapidly growing interest from fans for the competition.”
Alongside ABC, MML will also be covering all of Australia’s international matches besides the entire KFC Big Bash season. It is located in the cities of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Crocmedia on the other hand, will hold the exclusive regional commercial radio rights and will also cover all the men’s team’s Test matches and BBL matches.
“We are also excited to announce a new radio rights deal, which sees Macquarie Media return as a valued radio partner and Crocmedia also coming on board to complement cricket’s radio footprint via their extensive regional syndication network.
“We are now looking forward to working together with these partners to deliver fantastic coverage of our game and promote cricket to all Australians.”
