The crucial question about a coming sporting event used to be “When’s it on?” Now it’s “What’s it on?” – an inquiry once reserved for a racehorse posting an unexpectedly fast time.
Our Boys have been doing well in the T20 World Cup cricket, but there are several problematic aspects to this event (apart from the time difference, which has many matches starting after midnight here). First, the co-hosts are the West Indies and the USA. One may note that “USA” and “cricket” are rarely seen in the same sentence. Second, the only way to watch matches in Australia is on Prime Video. If a wicket falls on Prime, does anyone know?
Glenn Maxwell is bowled during the men’s T20 World Cup match between Australia and Scotland, at Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St. Lucia, on Saturday, June 15.Credit: AP
Cricket coverage has changed dramatically since the ABC supplemented its radio description of the 1934 Ashes Test series in England with imaginative special effects: a pencil tapping a coconut conjured the sound of bat on ball. Commentary giants like Alan McGilvray and Richie Benaud have departed the crease. And if the blokey banter of their successors grates, well, that’s what the “mute” button is for.
The days of all cricket (indeed, all sport) on free-to-air TV are long gone. The previous men’s T20 World Cup, held here in 2022, was covered by Foxtel. This one is the first of a package of International Cricket Council events for which Prime has bought the Australian rights until the end of 2027. Australia is the only major cricket-playing country not to have any free-TV coverage of ICC matches, including the women’s T20 World Cup starting in September.
Aside from cricket tragics, is anyone else even aware this event is on?
OK, Prime is just another streaming service. It’s easy to sign up. Already, coverage of cricket matches played in Australia is divvied up between Seven TV channels and pay platforms. But Prime is part of the Amazon empire. A subscription means making Jeff Bezos richer. For some, it’s the TV version of the Elon Effect – the reason some drivers contemplating going electric turn away from Teslas.
Aren’t there rules ensuring that major sporting events are accessible to all on TV? Yes: anti-siphoning laws, now under review – hence the ads in papers and (appropriately) also on TV suggesting that Albo wants to pull the plug on your favourite game. Impassioned debate has seen politicians as different as the Nationals’ Barnaby Joyce and the Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young batting for the same team. Hanson-Young has suggested that the idea of citizens having to pay to watch the sport they want is, well, just not cricket.
But technology and media moguls chasing revenue move much faster than politicians. One reason Prime made its Australian-rights deal with the ICC is that existing legislation didn’t adequately cover streaming services. Sport over the internet – who knew?
There are still plenty of cricket matches and big-ticket happenings (such as the AFL grand final) accessible on free TV for which a modem won’t be necessary. And there will always be arguments about what constitutes a “major” event. A case could be made that this men’s T20 carnival, which kicked off with a game between Canada and the USA in Dallas, is not compulsory viewing.