CA launches 24-7 streaming channel 'Cricket Gold'

A golden era of Australian cricket is being resurfaced for a modern audience with Cricket Australia this week launching a free 24-7 channel streaming some of the greatest moments seen Down Under.

CA has invested heavily in preserving, digitising, and cataloguing its vast archive from the past 40-odd years of cricket played in Australia with a goal to make the archive as accessible as possible.

With more than 12,000 hours of archival footage available to the channel at launch, it will be viewable on Cricket Gold, a new, free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel that will be available as part of the Samsung TV Plus service.

It will be the first ever cricket-focused FAST channel, a style of broadcasting that has seen rapid growth in popularity, with recent industry reports claiming around five million Australians already access this style of broadcast.

Initially it will only be available on Samsung TV Plus, a service that comes pre-installed on all smart TVs produced by the company since 2017 and will be rolled out in Australia and New Zealand this week, with other markets set to get a glimpse from later this year.

The channel is now available, and will screen documentaries from the CA Films vault – including Beyond the Boundary, The Record, Forged in Fire and 2 Nations, 1 Obsession – as well as full replays and extensive extended highlights packages (for example, 45 minutes for ODIs and 90 minutes for Tests) from international and domestic matches played in Australia.

The greats of yesteryear will be regulars on the channel, with epic performances from the likes of Aussie icons Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne, as well as international superstars Viv Richards, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Sachin Tendulkar, much of it featuring the iconic commentators including Richie Benaud, Bill Lawry and Tony Greig.

Early programming on the channel will feature a heavy dose of iconic 1980s and 90s action, with more recent content coming soon to the channel including the dominant men's side of the 2000s and the early careers of current women's greats like Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning.

CA's Head of Broadcast and Production, Richard Ostroff, said celebrating cricket's heritage and making the archive accessible was a key driver for the project.

"Our video archives provide a rich source of Australian Cricket history," Ostroff said. "We've invested heavily over the past few years digitising and cataloguing these precious assets so they can be made available to cricket fans around the world in the best possible condition.

"Cricket Gold on Samsung will provide a fantastic opportunity to showcase our archive on a platform that has a growing reach in established and new cricket markets.

"We're pleased to work with Samsung Electronics as the first distributor of Cricket Gold and look forward to providing an outstanding experience for viewers.

"Access to our video archives for cricket fans will continue to expand as we look to enhance access for fans and celebrate cricket's unique heritage."

Some of the content on Cricket Gold this week:

• 1985 World Championship of Cricket (including the first game under lights at the MCG)
• 1995-96 ODI tri-series with Australia, West Indies, Sri Lanka (including Michael Bevan's last-ball four)
• Australia v New Zealand Tests 1985-86 (including Richard Hadlee's 8-for at the Gabba)
• India's Test tour of Australia in 1991-92 (including Sachin Tendulkar's twin tons)
• Men's Ashes 1994-95 (including Shane Warne's hat-trick and Gabba demolition)
• Lillee, Chappell and Marsh saying goodbye in 1983-84
• Curtly Ambrose ripping the Aussies apart in 1992-93