The 36-year relationship between Australian cricket and Nine is in danger of splitting after the sport's ruling body launched legal action against the network.

Fairfax Media has learnt that Cricket Australia, which derives an estimated 80 per cent of its income from television rights to cricket coverage, has filed a writ against Nine, the rights holder to broadcast the sport on TV in Australia.

On the brink: Channel Nine could lose international cricket. Credit:AP

While the dispute centres on the broadcast of domestic cricket on free-to-air TV, at stake is the rights to Test cricket, including future Ashes series between Australia and England.

International cricket is the bedrock on which Kerry Packer famously built his Nine television empire in the 1970s and 1980s. One of the major shareholders of Ten, which is challenging Nine for the rights to the sport, is Packer's son, billionaire James Packer.