Amazon doco 'cathartic' for CA after Sandpapergate

West Australian

10-06-2025

The door remains ajar for another season of the hit series, The Test, that Prime Video believes was "cathartic" for Cricket Australia following Sandpapergate.
Launching amid the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, The Test gave viewers a raw, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the Australian men's cricket team's road to redemption.
The previous season was released in 2024, focusing on the eventful 2023 Ashes showdown in England.
Prime Video have "nothing to announce" about a potential season four, but The Test remains a much-loved program of their stable of original content.
The first season was all about Australia attempting to recover from the 2018 ball-tampering scandal that rocked cricket.
Justin Langer was installed as the new coach, while star batters Steve Smith and David Warner served one-year bans until returning for the 2019 ODI World Cup.
"It was almost cathartic, I think, for Cricket Australia, and we were privileged to be able to capture that within the documentary, and offer it to the public," Prime Video Sport's managing director Alex Green told AAP.
"It was just one of those fortuitous moments when I think the sport (and CA), as well as we wanted to bring something that was a big change in the way cricket, and perhaps sport, generally, had been watched before."
Since launching The Test, Prime Video won the rights to broadcast all ICC events into Australia until 2027.
The World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa, starting at Lord's on Wednesday, will be shown exclusively on Prime Video in Australia.
When the deal was announced, it was a dramatic change to how viewers had experienced world cups and international tournaments.
"We've faced this multiple times," Green said of the public reaction to watching sport on a service that wasn't free-to-air or traditional pay-TV.
"For the very first Premier League (EPL) deal, we were then going to be the third broadcaster of Premier League in the UK.
"In reality, because the reach of Amazon Prime is so vast, it's on the way to being free-to-air.
"We don't see ourselves, and generally, the public don't see us as another sports subscription service, we're something much wider than that."
Amazon have also been linked to the NRL, with Australian Rugby League Commission Peter V'landys currently negotiating the next broadcast deal.
When the AFL's last TV contract was struck back in 2022, Prime Video were also reported as being interested in the rights.
"We don't speculate on specific future rights," Prime Video's Australia and New Zealand head of content Alexandra Gilbert told AAP.
"We're building that groundswell around cricket, and then NBA, so that's where we're focused now.
"We're always assessing opportunities to add value for Prime members.
"Absolutely we'd love to do another version of The Test, whether it's with a different sport, or something that resonates strongly, but what that is is sort of TBD (to-be-determined)."
The AFL documentary, Making Their Mark, which followed some players, coaches and administrators during the COVID-affected 2020 season was also a Prime Video original.
This AAP article was made possible by support from Amazon Prime Video, which is broadcasting the World Test Championship final.