Channel Nine deal sets up a cricket windfall Nine boss David Gyngell. A $300 million TV deal between Channel 9 and a Bermuda-based billionaire will lead today to the richest pay day in the history of Australian cricket. After a weekend of intense negotiations, Nine chief David Gyngell was on track last night to finalise a landmark deal with Bruce Gordon to purchase his WIN TV stations in Adelaide and Perth. The deal means Channel 9 will be able to match Network Ten's audacious $500 million bid to broadcast Test and one-day cricket, including the Ashes this summer. But the deal is also a victory for Ten's newly installed chief Hamish McLennan, with the third-placed network to win rights to broadcast the Big Bash Twenty20 tournament for the next five years for about $20 million a year. Between the Nine and Ten deals, Cricket Australia will receive more than $100 million a season, a massive jump on the $57 million it received under its previous deals. Barring any last-minute hitches, Nine will agree to buy Mr Gordon's Adelaide WIN station immediately and undertake to purchase the Perth station if media "reach" rules are ditched. The Daily Telegraph understands a federal parliamentary committee is expected to soon recommend that a rule be lifted that prevents networks broadcasting to more than 75 per cent of the population. Although Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is in favour of lifting the rule, it is not likely to be passed into law until after the September 14 federal election. As part of the WIN deal, Nine has negotiated to receive bigger licence fees for Nine content broadcast on WIN's regional network. It also means Nine's cost of retaining the cricket can be spread over a national network, satisfying Nine's owners, US hedge funds Apollo and Oaktree Capital.