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Sydney - Cricket Australia (CA) has threatened to ban News Ltd journalists from covering the third Ashes test in Perth in a dispute over on-line video highlights.
The news came as a row erupted this week over highlights being broadcast on the Fox Sports website, owned by News Ltd.
CA warned News Ltd newspaper websites yesterday to stop publishing links to the Fox Sports coverage and threatened to withdraw accreditation and block up to a dozen journalists and photographers from entering the WACA ground later this month.
The ban would stop journalists from The Australian, Brisbane Courier-Mail, Melbourne Herald Sun, Sydney Daily Telegraph and Adelaide Advertiser from covering the match live.
"The bottom line is if we cannot reach agreement on how our intellectual property is being used then we will withhold the right of entry to grounds," CA spokesman Peter Young said.
CA reportedly backed down on a threat to ban News Ltd journalists from the final two days of the Adelaide test this week.
Two other major media players Fairfax and Yahoo!7 are understood to have agreed to the limitations late last week.
CA officials demanded that a number of media websites agree to limit online video coverage of the Ashes to a maximum of 30 seconds and not to play them until at least one hour after the close of play.
Some websites have been running up to three minutes a day of Ashes highlights out of six hours of playing time.
News Ltd group editorial manager Warren Beeby said News and CA remained "miles apart".
"The fact is a vast body of people can't sit and watch TV all day long and they go to sites they trust," Beeby said.
The Australian reported News Ltd executives were exploring ways to source general admission tickets for their journalists if the ban was applied.
Young described the Ashes series as "entertainment", the rights of which CA was defending.
But Beeby said the contest was news that fell within the provisions of fair rights for news organisations to bring to the public.
Fairfax spokesman Bruce Wolpe said the publisher had agreed to the online restrictions, but "under protest".
"We don't see how modest use of images from play at all threatens their commercial utilisation of their websites, their revenues or the game," Wolpe said.
- NZPA
