Seven to cover one-dayers

John Howard: 'The vast majority of the Australian viewing public will be able to watch this important sporting event free of charge' © Cricinfo

Two days after SBS announced that it would be covering the Ashes in Australia, the Seven Network has confirmed that it would broadcast all the one-day matches from the series.

But while the announcements ended weeks of speculation that the games would not be able to be viewed from Australia, the government was under pressure to review anti-siphoning laws designed to ensure major sporting events are shown on free-to-air television.

"Seven and SBS have stepped up on this occasion and will deliver the Ashes Test series and one-day series to all Australians, not only the 23 % of people who subscribe to pay television," Seven's chief executive David Leckie, said. "This obvious defect in the anti-siphoning regulations must be fixed immediately. The government in Australia needs to urgently close this loophole to ensure that coverage of future sports events are not at risk of being siphoned off exclusively to pay television."

John Howard, the prime minister, welcomed the SBS decision which, he said, would mean the "vast majority of the Australian viewing public will be able to watch this important sporting event free of charge". Howard had put pressure on free-to-air broadcasters to bid for the series in the light of speculation that pay-TV channel Fox Sports would win the rights.

Proposed changes to anti-siphoning laws currently before federal parliament would allow pay-TV operators to buy the rights to an event 12 weeks before it takes place, compared to the six weeks which is the case now.