Australia went 1-0 up in the four-test series in South Africa after Mitchell Starc cleaned up the home lower order.

Cricket Australia's digital arm has stepped into the New Zealand sports broadcasting market after Sky TV opted out of pursuing the rights to the fiery South Africa test series.

Cricket Network, the overseas-facing brand of the cricket.com.au website, has launched a digital subscription for New Zealand viewers for the remaining three tests for $25.

It is understood Sky didn't enter a bid for the four-test series, which opened the door for Cricket Network to secure the rights in New Zealand.

GALLO IMAGES David Warner became the central figure in post-test controversy after his vocal displays on and off the field in Durban.

Cricket Network live streamed the first test free of charge to New Zealand as a trial offer and will now charge $25 for the remaining three. The second test in Port Elizabeth starts on Friday at 9pm (NZT), where some cricket will finally resume after the ugly stoush between Australia's David Warner and South Africa's Quinton de Kock dominated the aftermath of the tourists' first test win in Durban.

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The Cricket Australia (CA) move sums up the changing face of sports broadcasting in New Zealand where other providers can either outbid Sky for offshore content, or step in when Sky opts out of pursuing the rights.

CA's executive general manager of broadcasting, digital media and commercial, Ben Amarfio, said: "We are continually looking for opportunities to expand the service Cricket Network offers the cricket community around the world, from news and video updates to broadcasting domestic and international cricket matches.

"It is very exciting for us to have this chance to broadcast the Qantas tour of South Africa in New Zealand, and we look forward to cricket fans taking up the opportunity to watch the final three tests of this highly-anticipated series."

Sky holds the rights for all Black Caps matches in New Zealand until the end of the 2019-20 season but still has to bid for some overseas internationals.

It has contracts with cricketing bodies from England, Australia and India, and for all of the ICC tournaments, but has history with Cricket South Africa (CSA) and has rarely screened its matches in recent years.

There was ill feeling between the parties in 2015 after Sky failed to secure the rights to the Black Caps ODI series in the republic, the first time since 2003 it hadn't shown the New Zealand team's offshore internationals.

A standoff over the rights fee with CSA's Sydney-based agent IMG led to Sky's director of sport Richard Last saying at the time they were "too aggressive" in negotiations. CSA then live streamed the matches to New Zealand free of charge on its website.

Sky spokeswoman Melodie Robinson said of the South Africa-Australia series: "Over the course of the year a huge amount of cricket gets played around the world. Unfortunately we can't buy every match."

She said the network's first priority was always matches involving New Zealand, and pointed out its contracts with England, Australia and India for matches hosted by those countries.

"We'd love to have everything else, but we have to prioritise how we spend our sport budget."

New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said: "It's a commercial world and they [Cricket Australia] have got every right to do that. No issues with it at all."

New Zealand viewers can purchase the $25 digital subscription for the current series on any device from www.cricketnetwork.com, or from the Cricket Network app.