Amazon Prime Video has secured the broadcasting rights for the World Cup in the Australian region. The deal was finalized with the streaming giant just two weeks after Pat Cummins’ team won the World Cup in Ahmedabad on November 19.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) reached an agreement with the streaming giant, diverging from traditional linear channels, allowing Australians to access the World Cup exclusively through digital platforms during the tournament in South Africa (including Zimbabwe and Namibia) in 2027.
Insider sources connected to the arrangement have confirmed the commercial deal with the cricketer. In addition to the Men’s World Cup, Amazon also holds the broadcasting rights for the Women’s World Cup, the Twenty20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, the Under-19 World Cup (starting next month in South Africa), and the broadcast rights for the final match of the ICC World Test Championship.
This deal spans four years until 2027, and the first major event under the rights package is the Twenty20 World Cup scheduled for June 2024 in the Caribbean and the United States. The Edge reported this groundbreaking information on Monday morning.
Despite the extensive history of cricket broadcasting in Australia, traditional television outlets such as Channel 9, Fox, or Seven were unsuccessful in securing the rights. Fox and Seven jointly own the cricket rights in Australia.
Given that Australian law does not compel broadcasters to share content with any free-to-air channels in the public interest, Amazon Prime is not obligated to distribute matches on any national channel. Consequently, viewers will need a subscription to watch these global games.
The Edge report highlights a significant shift in the landscape of broadcasting rights, stating, “The rights deal represents a major shift in the broadcasting landscape as it is the most significant sports deal for streaming services to date without a free-to-air partner.” There is no provision for the game to be shown on free-to-air television. This provision clearly applies only to matches hosted in Australia and New Zealand and, during the current four-year rights cycle, no ICC program is scheduled to be hosted in the country. The next ICC event in Australia and New Zealand is scheduled for 2028 when they will host the T20 World Cup.
With this signature, the ICC has sold its global game rights in all major regions, leaving only Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh untouched by this regional shift.