Many people in Australia woke up on November 20 rather bleary-eyed. Some possibly were feeling the effects of a nasty hangover.

Undoubtedly that led to a mass of people not rolling into work that day as a proud cricket nation celebrated arguably Australia’s greatest World Cup triumph. The Monday lethargy was due to fans staying up through the night to watch Australia’s upset of host India live on free-to-air broadcaster Channel Nine.

All the Australian matches were broadcast on the network, while the entirety of the tournament was shown on subscription channel Foxtel. While there certainly wasn’t mass hysteria over the event, for a myriad of reasons including cricket being usurped by the transactional shenanigans of the country’s football codes in October-November, free-to-air television ratings were strong.

The start of the final was played in prime time in Australia’s east coast and many decided to fight tiredness and power through the wee early as their heroes defied the odds.

But Australia’s title defence at the 2027 World Cup held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia won’t be shown on free-to-air television after the International Cricket Council’s major tournaments will be shown exclusively in Australia on Amazon’s
AMZN
 Prime Video for the next four years.

That means fans will have to buy a subscription to watch the national men’s and women’s teams compete at major international events during this timeframe. Starting in January, the deal incorporates 448 live international matches and it is the first time Amazon has secured cricket rights in Australia.

Amazon is cementing its status as the technology giant most enamoured with live sports having signed an 11-year, $13 billion deal with the NFL last year.

Cricket broadcast rights are big business. India has a mammoth $6 billion deal for the Indian Premier League, while fellow powers Australia and England also have billion dollar deals.

The ICC recently secured a $3 billion media rights deal for its marquee tournaments over the next four-year cycle.

“We are very excited to be entering a new four-year partnership with Prime Video for ICC cricket rights in Australia,” ICC boss Geoff Allardice said. “The recently concluded men’s World Cup has highlighted the interest and passion for ICC events across the globe, and especially in Australia where cricket fans have enjoyed the recent success of their men’s and women’s teams.”

But there are fears over what impact this will have on the development of cricket in the congested sports market of Australia. Cricket has lore in the country as a national pastime and while it lacks the devoted following evident in Australian rules football and rugby league, the bat and ball sport retains its standing as the most popular sport in the summer months.

But its foothold is more tenuous compared to the past and diminished visibility on television won’t help with the game’s growth even though Test matches and women’s internationals at home remain protected by federal government anti-siphoning laws.

The government recently updated measures that require free-to-air broadcasters be offered first refusal for events. But the laws don’t prevent subscription services being granted exclusive rights if free-to-air networks don’t bid for them and also don’t protect events from abroad.

It’s prompted calls to make the laws stronger. “We have been saying for years that streaming giants would be coming for our sports rights here in Australia and the acquisition of World Cup cricket by Amazon just proves the point,” Free TV Australia chief executive Bridget Fair said.

Australian cricket fans will likely have to get used to paying to watch their team play in a sign of the times.

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