Seven West Media will become the free-to-air broadcaster for the next six years of cricket ending Nine’s four-decade stranglehold on the sport, but a large number of matches could be held back for pay TV in a $1 billion deal to be announced on Friday.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp-controlled Foxtel will pay for the majority of the rights in a deal that will reshape the broadcast landscape for Australia’s most popular summer sport.

The new deal will mean Nine is no longer the home of Test cricket, and Ten loses ownership of the Big Bash League rights.

Sources close to the discussions say Foxtel could broadcast One Day Internationals and International Twenty20 games on pay TV exclusively.