Is more bad news on the way for New Zealand Cricket?
Already the subject of speculation about the state of its finances before announcing a television rights deal with Spark Sport, New Zealand Cricket has been unable to reach an agreement with the Indian pay-television broadcaster Star Sports.
Star Sports had a three-year deal with New Zealand Cricket from November 2017.
The deal was reportedly worth $US35million.
That is due to expire later this year.
Star Sports' contract was for all television and digital media rights in the Indian sub-continent and south-east Asia, a hugely lucrative market, for all of New Zealand's home matches involving both men's and women's teams.
Just how dominant Star Sports is in the television market is clear from its five-year deal with India Cricket's Board of Control. That is worth $US816 million for all international and domestic cricket played in India.
According to the Exchange4Media website, Star Sports and New Zealand Cricket had been unable to strike a deal due to what were described as 'valuation issues'.
New Zealand Cricket had wanted to avoid a reduction in the income it received from Star.
But sources quoted by Exchange4Media said the market and business implications resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic were behind Star's refusal to extend their contract.
New Zealand is not alone on the issues as Pakistan, the West Indies and Sri Lanka are facing similar issues.
Exchange4Media attempted to get a comment from Star but received no response.
However, a source reported privy to the conversations said: "India has become a very tough advertising market for sports media rights outside of IPL, and this has been further significantly impacted by Covid-19. In addition, the broadcasting industry is in the midst of the new tariff order from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which has also hurt broadcasters' subscription revenue.
"A few years ago, the Indian sports broadcasting market was very competitive with multiple players, but now it is left with two mainstream broadcasters, whose outlook on monetization is very modest.
"There will be a substantial downward trend in media rights values across the board.
"Rates from earlier deals cannot be used as a benchmark to negotiate current deals, as the entire ecosystem has changed and cricket boards need to come to terms with this," he said.