A cricket fan who wished to remain anonymous said he was “happy to pay for access” but wanted “value back in return” and was unhappy about the price jump. “[Cricket Australia] at the moment is banking big Foxtel dollars and leaving the consumers to clean up their mess,” he said. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Foxtel and Seven West Media bought the rights to the cricket in a $1.2 billion deal in April, leaving Nine Entertainment Co without the rights for the first time in 40 years. Seven has the rights to show Tests and 43 Big Bash matches on television, though does not have digital rights so won't have them on catch-up app 7plus.

The sporting code receives some revenue from Kayo Sports for each person who subscribes to watch through the app and now prompts fans to get a subscription to the streaming platform. Loading The fan said he was offered a partial refund on a pro-rata basis when he contacted Cricket Australia. He said his subscription started in mid-January and he wanted a full refund. He watched five days of cricket at the end of last summer and had expected to watch much more this season with his subscription active until mid-January. “I should get back 95 per cent based on days of cricket elapsed rather than 10 per cent based on days of the year,” he said. He has reported his concerns to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Other fans took to social media and message boards to rail against the changes, with one suggesting Kayo Sports should provide a cheaper subscription option just for access to cricket games. Foxtel’s aggressive move to lure in new subscribers over the cricket season on its new “Netflix of sport” streaming platform has been warmly welcomed by other fans and industry members who see the ability to have multiple games streaming at once on one screen to be a “game changer” for sports and see value in accessing multiple sporting codes for the price. We understand our fans may be disappointed with this decision however we are in partnership with Fox Cricket and we believe that viewing habits will continue to evolve. Cricket Australia spokesman A Cricket Australia spokesman said subscribers were being refunded on a pro-rata basis, with the sport stopping new sign ups early with a “minimal number of people affected” though declined to disclose figures. The most recent Cricket Australia annual report said 1.2 million people used the app over summer, though did not specify how many were paid subscribers.

“We understand our fans may be disappointed with this decision however we are in partnership with Fox Cricket and we believe that viewing habits will continue to evolve,” the spokesman said. Domestic games will be available for free on Cricket Live app, including the JLT Cup and Sheffield Shield Final. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video “This decision was not taken lightly but, like other sports, we have had to look at improving the commercial viability to continue to invest in grassroots for the long term good of the game,” he said. Cricket is affected by anti-siphoning rules, which provide free-to-air networks the ability to buy broadcast rights ahead of pay providers though do not require the sport be shown on free-to-air television. Digital broadcast rights are not regulated by the anti-siphoning rules.