Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley has refused to confirm reports the Seven Network has given CA a 5:00pm deadline on Tuesday to accept a new TV rights contract.
News Corp’s Ben Horne reported late on Monday that if CA fails to accept the new deal by the deadline, Seven has informed they will reconsider if they will remain in the bidding process.
CA is in the midst of negotiating the broadcast rights beyond the current 2024 deal between Seven and Foxtel that was signed in 2018.
Channel 7 put 5pm Tuesday deadline on Cricket Australia over TV rights @NewsCorpCricket https://t.co/Dk5dsuz5Bo
— Ben Horne (@BenHorne8) December 26, 2022
The Ten Network and Paramount are understood to be leading the way financially, while Nine has also indicated it could take back the cricket TV rights.
Hockley spoke to SEN Test Cricket ahead of day two of the Boxing Day Test and was questioned about the report.
“I can’t talk about commercially confidential discussions but what I will say is discussions are progressing very well and hopefully we’ll have some announcements to be made in the not too distant future,” he replied.
When pressed again, the CA chief appeared to suggest there was no deadline for negotiations. Previous reports had indicated Cricket Australia was trying to secure the new deal before Christmas.
“Again, I can’t comment on confidential discussions. What I will say is we are working to the best deal we can in the best interests of Australian cricket,” he said.
“There’s a lot to work through. There’s no fixed timeline, but discussions are progressing well.”
Hockley was also questioned about the spirit of the discussions.
“We’ve had really strong interest throughout the process from all parties. I think what we saw yesterday we’ve seen over a million people come through the gates to watch international cricket this year and the interest we’ve seen and the spirit of the discussions is reflective of the fact cricket is our national sport and our only truly national and international spot,” the CEO stated.
“I think Boxing Day, there’s no better picture to demonstrate that. After play, we led straight into two fantastic last-over finishes with the Big Bash.
“The discussions have been really positive.”