Australia’s free-to-air Seven Network has struck a last-minute exclusive broadcast deal for the Australian men’s cricket team’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

Each of the tour’s four fixtures - two tests, and two one-day internationals - will be broadcast across Seven Network and its 7plus streaming service.

It becomes the first Australia overseas test series (not including the iconic biennial Ashes against England) broadcast free-to-air in Australia since Seven covered the team’s tour of South Africa in 1997.

The tour will begin on January 29 at Galle International Stadium, while the second test, also in Galle, will take place across February 6-10. Following that, the two ODI’s will be staged at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on February 12 and 14, respectively.

Seven also broadcasts the Australian men's team’s home tests, as well as women's home internationals, and also holds domestic rights to the country’s men’s and women’s Big Bash League (BBL) Twenty20 tournaments.

Speaking on the deal, Seven Network head of cricket Joel Starcevic stated: “Following an exhilarating Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series [five home tests against India], two of the greatest WBBL and BBL seasons in recent history and the intensity of the current women’s Ashes on home soil, the addition of Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka cements Seven and 7plus Sport as the undisputed home of cricket.”

Currently, the broadcaster is showing the women’s Ashes, played in Australia.

This is the second sports pickup this week unveiled by Seven Network, which on January 15 announced the rights to golf’s LIV Golf tour through its 2025 campaign, which will also be hosted on 7plus.

Seven Network revealed that across the 2024 LIV Golf Adelaide event’s three days (April 26-28), over 2.7 million viewers watched across Seven and 7Plus.