Omari Gates
Australians have been debating whether the Women's World Cup should be free-to-air. SBS was the exclusive free-to-air broadcaster for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and will be again for the 2026 World Cup. However, Optus Sport had the rights to every game of the 2023 Women's World Cup, with only 15 matches broadcast on free-to-air TV in Australia. This has led to criticism, with some calling for the entire tournament to be listed under anti-siphoning law, which gives free-to-air companies first option to purchase rights ahead of subscription services.
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What You'll Learn
The 2023 Women's World Cup
The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. This is a significant event, being the biggest sporting event in Australia since the 2000 Olympics and the first World Cup to be held on Australian soil. The tournament features 32 nations and 64 matches in total.
Despite this, the 2023 Women's World Cup has not been added to Australia's anti-siphoning list. This list gives free-to-air broadcasters the initial opportunity to buy television rights to major events. The list includes the men's FIFA World Cup, Australian Rules Football, rugby league, rugby union, horse racing, cricket, tennis, netball, and the Olympic Games. The federal government deemed that the tournament was not "nationally important" or "culturally significant" for the Australian public.
Optus Sport has the complete broadcast rights to the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia. It costs $24.99 per month to subscribe to Optus Sport, or $6.99 for eligible Optus customers. The platform is accessible on laptops, mobiles, tablets, gaming consoles, and TV streaming devices.
Channel Seven has the free-to-air rights to 15 of the 64 matches, including all Matildas games, the opening game, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final. The Seven Network will broadcast these matches live and free on television via Channel 7 and their streaming platform 7plus.
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The 2023 Rugby World Cup
Channel 9 and Stan Sport will broadcast RWC matches live in Australia, with kick-off times ranging between 9:00 pm and 5:00 am AEST. Channel 9 has free-to-air rights and will broadcast every Wallabies game and the World Cup final live. Australian viewers will not be able to access any other games free-to-air. Every game of this year's Rugby World Cup will be available to stream via Stan Sport, a subscription-based streaming service owned by Nine Digital.
The 2023 tournament sees a stiff field featuring the titans of world rugby, South Africa and New Zealand, tournament favourites and hosts France, alongside fellow northern hemisphere threats Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. The unpredictable Fiji team and the flamboyant style of Argentina will also be ones to watch.
Australia will play their four group stage games at a range of different times, with their next clash against Fiji in the early hours of Monday morning. All of the Wallabies matches and the RWC Final will be broadcast on Channel 9 free-to-air.
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The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup
The teams will be divided into four groups of five, with each team facing the others in their group. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super 8 stage, with the top two teams from each Super 8 group progressing to the semi-finals. The final will be held at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on 29 June.
The Australian men's cricket team will be looking to defend their title, having won their maiden T20 World Cup in 2021. Led by captain Mitchell Marsh, Australia will face Oman, reigning champions England, Namibia, and Scotland in the group stage.
In Australia, the tournament will be streamed live on Amazon Prime Video. However, there will be no live broadcast of the matches on any TV channels in the country. Cricket fans in Australia will need a Prime subscription to tune in and watch their team in action.
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The 2026 FIFA World Cup
The 2026 edition will introduce an expanded format, featuring 48 teams instead of 32, divided into 12 groups of four teams each. A total of 16 cities will serve as venues, with the U.S. hosting 11, Mexico three, and Canada two.
In Australia, the SBS network will be the exclusive free-to-air broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup 2026. SBS has secured the rights to all 104 matches, which will be broadcast live, free, and exclusively on SBS, SBS VICELAND, and SBS On Demand. SBS will also provide live coverage of 54 qualifying matches from the South American confederation.
For those who want to watch on their own time, SBS On Demand will offer condensed 30-minute highlights packages for every match of the tournament. Extended 12-minute highlights will also be available, as well as bite-sized three-minute video wraps and compilations of the best goals. The SBS Sport website will feature interviews, news, features, opinions, and talking points from the World Cup.
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Anti-siphoning legislation
Australia's anti-siphoning laws regulate media companies' access to significant sporting events. The laws are designed to prevent pay television broadcasters from buying monopoly rights to televise important and culturally significant events before free-to-air television has a chance to bid on them. The theory is that if such a monopoly was allowed, then those unable or unwilling to obtain access to the pay-TV service would be unable to view the important and culturally significant events.
In 1992, Australia experienced a growth in paid-subscription media, and the Parliament of Australia enacted the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. This gave free-to-air broadcasters the first refusal to certain sporting event broadcasting rights. The anti-siphoning list is a list of events that, in the opinion of the relevant Minister, should be available free to the general public. The Minister can choose to add or remove events from the list at any time. To effect this 'freedom', the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 includes a licence condition on pay-TV providers that prohibits them from acquiring anti-siphoning events unless a national broadcaster or a network of commercial television broadcasters have the right to televise the events. This prohibition drops away a certain period before the event starts. The list came into effect in 2006 and is currently under review to ensure it operates effectively in a contemporary media environment.
Sports included on the anti-siphoning list are the AFL, the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open, Test cricket, the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, and the Rugby League World Cup finals.
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Frequently asked questions
Only 15 of the 64 matches in the 2023 Women's World Cup will be broadcast on free-to-air TV in Australia. All Matildas games, major quarter-finals, the two semi-finals, and the World Cup final are being broadcast live on the Seven Network and their streaming platform 7plus.
Only the games featuring the Wallabies and the World Cup final will be broadcast on free-to-air TV in Australia. The Nine Network, primarily Channel 9, will host these games.
No, the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup will only be available to stream online in Australia, exclusively on Prime Video.
Yes, SBS will be the exclusive free-to-air broadcaster for all 104 matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Australia.
The 2028 Men's T20 World Cup will fall under the anti-siphoning legislation, which gives free-to-air networks the first opportunity to buy the TV rights to events on the list before pay TV providers. However, it is not guaranteed to be broadcast on free-to-air TV.
