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Amazon Prime secures ICC broadcasting rights for Australia

In addition to the Men's World Cup, Amazon gains broadcasting rights for the Women's World Cup, Twenty20 World Cups, Champions Trophy, Under-19 World Cup

By Omar | Dec 4, 2023 | 2 Min Read

Amazon Prime Video has finalized an agreement with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to secure the broadcasting rights for the World Cup in the Australian region. This deal comes approximately two weeks after the Australian cricket team, led by Pat Cummins, clinched the World Cup in Ahmedabad on November 19. As part of this arrangement, Australians will exclusively access their country’s defence of the World Cup through digital platforms rather than traditional linear channels during the tournament in Southern Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia) in 2027.

In addition to the Men’s World Cup, Amazon gains broadcasting rights for the Women’s World Cup, Twenty20 World Cups, Champions Trophy, Under-19 World Cup (starting in South Africa next month), and the solitary World Test Championship match. This comprehensive deal spans four years, concluding in 2027, with the first major event being the Twenty20 World Cup in June 2024, set to take place in the Caribbean and the US.

Interestingly, despite Australia’s rich cricket broadcasting history, traditional sports outlets such as Channel 9, Fox, or Seven did not secure the rights. Fox and Seven currently hold the Cricket Australia rights jointly. As there is no law in Australia mandating broadcasters to share content with free-to-air channels, Amazon Prime is not obliged to distribute matches to national channels. Consequently, the public will need a subscription to Amazon Prime to watch these global games.

Described as a significant shift in the broadcasting landscape, this deal marks the most substantial sports agreement to be awarded to a streaming service without an associated free-to-air partner, as reported by The Age. This provision is seemingly applicable only to matches held in Australia and New Zealand, and during the current rights cycle, no ICC event is scheduled to take place in these countries. The next ICC event in Australia and New Zealand is slated for 2028 when they host the T20 World Cup.

With this agreement, the ICC has now sold the rights in all major territories for its global games, leaving only the Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh regions without coverage. Later, the ICC and Amazon Prime Video officially confirmed the deal. The statement from the ICC highlighted the success of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and emphasized that the new partnership, starting in January 2024, will provide Australian cricket fans exclusive access to all matches in every tournament of elite ICC competitions across all cricket formats, at no extra cost to a Prime membership.