Since its inception in 1956, commercial television in Australia had developed a reliance on imported programs, particularly from the United States, as buying them was cheaper than commissioning Australian productions.

After the death of his father Sir Frank in 1974, Kerry Packer had assumed control of Channel Nine, one of the many media interests owned by the family's company Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH).

His interest was further stimulated by a proposal to play some televised exhibition matches, an idea presented to him by Western Australian businessmen John Cornell and Austin Robertson.

[11] Dispirited by this turn of events and hampered by poor form and indifferent weather, Australia crashed to a 3–0 defeat, surrendering the Ashes won two years before.

[14] After ninety minutes of compromise from both sides had almost created common ground, Packer demanded that the ICC award him the exclusive Australian television rights after the 1978–79 season ended.

It wasn't in the power of the ICC to do so[15] and Packer stormed from the meeting to deliver the following unadulterated declaration of war:[16] Had I got those TV rights I was prepared to withdraw from the scene and leave the running of cricket to the board.I will take no steps now to help anyone.

This outburst undid any goodwill that Packer had created during his earlier television appearance, and alarmed his contracted players, who had viewed his scheme as being as much philanthropic as commercial.

[18] Jeff Thomson and Alvin Kallicharan had their contracts torn up when it was discovered that they had binding agreements with a radio station in Brisbane requiring them to play for Queensland.

To clarify the legal implications (including the proposed bans), Packer backed a challenge to the TCCB in the High Court by three of his players: Tony Greig, Mike Procter and John Snow.

[26] The official Test match played in Brisbane at the same time, featuring the weakened Australian team and India, attracted far more spectators.

In the Sydney Supertest on 16 December, Australian David Hookes was hit a sickening blow from a bouncer bowled by West Indian Andy Roberts.

A one-day series, the "International Cup" featuring the Australian, West Indian, and World teams, was played alongside six Supertests in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.

The first day/night match, played at Melbourne's VFL Park, attracted some curiosity value, but generally, the paying public were indifferent to the series.

Many took a lead from the hostile press, and official cricket benefited from a dramatic Test series played between Australia and a touring Indian team.

He led a team of relatively unknown youngsters (with the exception of fast bowler Jeff Thomson, who did not sign up for the WSC) to a 3–2 series victory which was not decided until the final Test in Adelaide.

The financial and political problems of the recent Australian tour led them to begin negotiations with Packer for a WSC series in the Caribbean during the spring of 1979.

Ostensibly, India were not involved as yet, but rumours abounded that their captain Bishan Bedi and star batsman Sunil Gavaskar had signed WSC options.

[35] The South Africans, subject to an international boycott caused by the apartheid policy of their government, were keen to see their individual cricketers compete with the world's best.

Meanwhile, WSC continued to up the stakes for the embattled ACB, optioning a number of young Australians and signing more overseas players: they now had well over 50 cricketers under contract.

A second-tier tour was created for the 1978–79 season, taking the game to provincial centres around Australia and giving back-up players an opportunity to play regularly.

The team captained by Eddie Barlow was made of recently retired cricketers, such as Rohan Kanhai, David Holford and Ian Redpath and occasionally young Australians such as Trevor Chappell.

Packer demonstrated his political clout by getting New South Wales premier Neville Wran to overturn the ban on WSC and allow matches to be played at the traditional home of the game, the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

The war swung dramatically in Packer's favour on 28 November 1978 when the first day-night match on a traditional cricket ground was played at the SCG between the WSC Australian and West Indian teams.

[37] A few days later, the official Australian team was humbled in the first Test against England at Brisbane, a precursor to a 5–1 thrashing for a side now captained by the unprepared Graham Yallop.

On the other hand, WSC, with its aggressive marketing, nighttime play, and a plethora of one-day matches, had increased both attendances and television ratings.

In two seasons, the combined losses of the two biggest cricket associations, New South Wales and Victoria, totalled more than half a million dollars.

Kerry Packer was also feeling the financial pinch – many years later, WSC insiders claimed that the losses he incurred were very much higher than the amounts quoted at the time.

During March of that year, Packer instigated a series of meetings with then chairman of the ACB board, Bob Parish, which hammered out an agreement on the future of Australian cricket.

Players became full-time professionals, and at least in the larger cricketing nations are very well-paid, mainly through television rights; broadcasters now have a huge say in the running of the game.

With the advent of Twenty20 cricket, players can now play in many domestic leagues around the world and attract high salaries, partly due to broadcast rights.