Reports: Star Sports bags Cricket Australia media rights for upcoming four-year cycle

Star Sports has regained control of Cricket Australia’s (CA) media rights for the ensuing four years. The parties are reported to have signed the contract, which includes a clause to extend the arrangement by an additional four years. The cricket rights for Australia are currently held by Sony.

The Star Group recently bagged the media rights for the Indian Premier League for the 2023-27 cycle and paid a whopping ₹23,575 crores. Star Sports got Package A for the aforementioned price, which includes Television rights of the tournament for five years. The Star India group has now expanded and gained the rights for broadcasting Cricket Australia’s games.

As per a report by Cricbuzz, the agreement for both TV and digital rights takes effect from the upcoming season, but a CA spokesman declined to comment, stating, “Nothing we can say on the record on that at the moment. I’ll let you know if that changes.”

World Cup 2023 and major WTC fixtures will be broadcasted by Star

Beginning with the upcoming season, Star will broadcast all India games played in Australia, the Ashes series, and the Big Bash League. Further, it will also telecast all of India’s home matches, T20 World Cup 2022, ODI World Cup 2023, Australia’s and South Africa’s international matches, The Ashes, Indian Premier League (IPL), and both men’s and women’s Big Bash League (BBL).

The 2023-25 cycle of the World Test Championship includes three home series for Australia, one each against India, West Indies, and Pakistan. On the other hand, India’s home matches will be against New Zealand, England, and Bangladesh. Having even the rights for South Africa, Star will also telecast the country’s WTC home games against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the Men’s Big Bash League is set to begin in December this year, whereas the Women’s Big Bash League will commence in October and will clash with the Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.