Free-to-air for men's T20 World Cup but not women's ODI event

This story was updated when News Corp announced the 2023 Women's World Cup will be live streamed on Kayo Freebies

The Nine Network will again host international cricket this year with confirmation it will screen all Australia's matches at the next two men's World Cups.

But the women's ODI World Cup that begins in New Zealand in March will be exclusive to Foxtel and Kayo, with no traditional free-to-air broadcaster.

Nine has confirmed to cricket.com.au that it will broadcast every Australian men's match – and the finals – for this year's 2022 T20 World Cup to be hosted in Australia, and next year's ODI World Cup in India.

The current T20 World Cup champions, Australia will begin their defence on October 22 with a rematch of last year's final against New Zealand at the SCG. The match will be the first time the Australian men's T20 team can be seen on free-to-air television since mid-2018.

Nine lost the rights to show the Australian summer of cricket in April 2018 when Foxtel and Seven jointly signed a A$1.182 billion deal with Cricket Australia, which is currently in the fourth of its six-year term.

Nine and Foxtel have been in a separate joint venture arrangement to share broadcast rights for International Cricket Council events since 2008.

It sees Foxtel sub-licence the Australian broadcast rights from the ICC's global broadcast rights partner, India's Star Sports, and then on-sells to Nine certain matches to meet the conditions of Australia's anti-siphoning legislation.

Cricket Australia has no input into the broadcast rights dealings for ICC events.

Confirmation that this year's men's T20 World Cup will be broadcast on free-to-air will be welcomed after only fans with a Foxtel or Kayo subscription could watch the Australian men's side win their first global trophy in the format last November.

That tournament in the UAE was the first Australia men's World Cup campaign in more than a decade not to have a free-to-air broadcast. The event was originally scheduled to be a Champions Trophy 50-over tournament – a tournament Foxtel would have had exclusive rights to, a situation that did not change when the ICC converted it into a T20 World Cup in 2018.

However, the lack of a free-to-air broadcaster for this year's women's ODI World Cup is a blow to the growing legion of fans of the women's game that was supercharged by the successful women's T20 World Cup won by Meg Lanning's side in front of nearly 90,000 at the MCG in March 2020.

This year's ODI World Cup would appear to be protected under Australia's anti-siphoning laws, but Foxtel sources are confident it remains outside of the legislation.

Australia's anti-siphoning list – designed to ensure events of significant cultural interest are broadcast free-to-air – includes several cricket events, notably Test matches played in Australia and away Ashes tours.

The anti-siphoning list – officially known as the Broadcasting Services (Events) Notice – includes Australia's ODI World Cup matches that are played in Australia or New Zealand, and does not differentiate between men's and women's events.

Despite that, industry sources have confirmed Foxtel and Kayo have secured exclusive rights. News Corp then confirmed late on Sunday that the tournament will be available for free on their Kayo Freebies streaming platform, meaning fans won't have to pay to watch the tournament.

The situation is similar to that for men's ODI and T20 bilateral international cricket in Australia, which has been exclusive to Foxtel and Kayo subscribers since the 2018-19 summer.

It became clear in the wake of Foxtel and Seven securing CA's broadcast rights in 2018 that the anti-siphoning list does not mandate that events on it must be broadcast on free-to-air TV, but only that a free-to-air broadcaster has the right to enter negotiations.

"The anti-siphoning list gives the free-to-air broadcasters the first right to negotiate," former Federal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said at the time.

"It does not mandate that free-to-air broadcasters have to purchase events. It does not mandate that if they do purchase, that they have to show them. And it does not mandate that if they do purchase events that they can't then on-sell them to other platforms.

"What it does is give them the first opportunity and makes it more likely that these events will be on free-to-air TV."

The anti-siphoning scheme, begun in 1992, has been extended until April 2023 and the current Communications Minister, Paul Fletcher, has indicated it will be reviewed as part of wider television regulation reforms before then.

In a release, Nine’s Director of Sport Brent Williams welcomed the return of men's cricket to the network.

"Any cricket World Cup is a premium event on the international calendar and we’re excited to be the free-to-air home of the 2022 (men's) T20 World Cup in Australia and the 2023 (men's ODI) World Cup which will be held in India," Williams said.

"Nine has a long and proud history with cricket and we look forward to that continuing with all Australian and key matches of these prestigious events being broadcast across Nine's platforms."

Men's T20 World Cup 2022

First round

Group A: Sri Lanka, Namibia, two qualifiers

Group B: West Indies, Scotland, two qualifiers

Super 12 stage

Group 1: Australia, Afghanistan, England, New Zealand, A1, B2

Group 2: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, South Africa, B1, A2

Australia's T20 World Cup 2022 fixtures

Oct 22: v New Zealand, SCG, 6pm AEDT

Oct 25: v A1, Optus Stadium, 10pm AEDT

Oct 28: v England, MCG, 7pm AEDT

Oct 31: v B2, Gabba, 7pm AEDT

Nov 4: v Afghanistan, Adelaide Oval, 7pm AEDT

Semi-finals

Nov 9: SCG, 7pm AEDT

Nov 10: Adelaide Oval, 7pm AEDT

Final

Nov 13: MCG, 7pm AEDT