Ten has held the rights to the BBL for the past five years and CBS, the network's new owner, is keen to hold on to the tournament.

"Obviously, we'd like to retain the rights or renew the rights," CBS Studios International president Armando Nuñez told The Australian Financial Review.

"We're in the midst of it right now, so really can't speak too much in any sort of detail. Cricket Australia has been, through this process, very complimentary of Ten in terms of the incredible way Ten's sport team has built the Big Bash League up over the last five years, and all the innovations and creativity and the way the sport is covered, covering the family aspect of the sport and the announcing crew, and the enthusiasm and passion that the Ten team have brought to that sport, they've been very complimentary to us, and it's ongoing and we hope to retain those rights."

Cricket Australia is said to be seeking at least $150 million annually for its next six-year rights deal, but first round bids fell below the sporting body's expectations as Nine and Ten sought to lock up the sport before their offer was rejected and the former turned its attention to Tennis.

Australia's free-to-air broadcasters are facing a challenging environment and executives have been making clear for a number of years they cannot continue to pay exponentially rising sports rights. Since the last multi-billion-dollar rights deals in 2015 for the NRL and AFL, free-to-air television has suffered major declines in advertising revenue and have been open about major sports being loss-leaders.

Cricket Australia now has the dilemma of how much content it should allow behind a paywall and how the public may react to that. Foxtel, for its part, needs better rating summer sport, but it needs to believe the amount of cricket it can get exclusively would justify the price tag.

It comes amidst one of the sport's biggest scandals in recent memory, with Test captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner banned by Cricket Australia for 12 months, along with batsman Cameron Bancroft being hit with a nine-month ban, for their roles in the ball-tampering incident in South Africa.

Major domestic Test sponsor Magellan Financial walked away from its three-year deal following the news of the cheating scandal.