"It's not going to disappear, that's my view," says Dave Barham, Ten's senior executive responsible for the Big Bash League. "I can't see Cricket Australia or the Australian Cricketers Association not ensuring cricket is available for the Ashes or the BBL. Both those things are so important to cricket that at some stage common ground will be met."

And if not? "The damage would be enormous and I don't think either party would want that to happen."

Big Bash League provides around 160 hours of programming for Ten over summer, with an average audience (including regional) of 1.04 million viewers last season, making it, according to Cricket Australia, "the most popular TV viewing option 31 nights out of 35". For the season ahead, Ten has counted on 43 games.

Over at Nine, the load is even heavier, with Test and one-day series adding up to around 240 hours of programming over summer. Some sessions deliver bigger audiences than others – the final session of a tight Test is always going to command more eyeballs than the opening session of a dead rubber – but cricket consistently delivers the network some of the biggest audiences of the summer.

In January, for instance, the second session of a one-day game between Australia and Pakistan peaked at 1.93 million viewers, while another game between the two teams delivered an average of 1.59 million across its almost four hours.

The last time England played an Ashes series here, in 2013-14, the national average audience for a session topped 2 million on 15 occasions. The highest average audience was the 2.58 million who tuned in for the final session of the fifth Test.

A 30-second advertising spot during an Ashes Test match is likely to cost between $12,000 and $15,000, according to one media buyer. But those viewer numbers aren't just great for revenue, they are also crucial in promoting a network's line-up for the year ahead.

"It's always been a big boost, full of promos for programs that come into the schedule later on," says one industry veteran. As for the risk of losing cricket from the schedule? "It's an impending disaster."

How likely is it to come to that? "I think it's very unlikely, but this impasse is definitely a scenario that would aid the cricketers' bargaining power," says media analyst Steve Allen of Fusion Strategy.

He says each network would stand to lose "tens of millions of dollars" in advertising and sponsorship revenue, and would have no chance of plugging the gap in the schedule with content with the same proven pulling power.

In Allen's view, Cricket Australia has backed itself into an untenable position. "I'm appalled by their behaviour. This is bullyboy stuff. They're trying to prove they own the game, not the players, but if you don't have the top players on the field, you don't own anything."

Forty years after World Series Cricket ripped up the rule book, it's impossible not to imagine contingency plans are being drawn up in network boardrooms. That, though, was "an ambush", says Allen, staged by Packer and his crew at a time when the players barely realised their worth.

"It was practically a cottage industry then, Kerry Packer saw an opportunity and it was an easy sell to the players," Allen says. "This time it's the players leading the charge, knowing their worth and believing they are being shabbily handled by Cricket Australia."

He has heard suggestions of "ongoing discussions with TV networks and sponsors" about a renegade competition of some sort, most likely featuring an Australian XI versus a World XI, in the event an agreement is not reached.

"It could be World Series Cricket again," he says. "This is a major hole in the broadcasters' schedule, so a one-off band-of-brothers operation wouldn't be beyond the pale. If we get to the end of August and there's been no progress, it's a real possibility."

But even if the template exists, Barham is convinced it will never be called upon.

"We're ploughing on at 1000 miles an hour with our planning," says Ten's cricket boss. "There are no contingency plans. There's plenty of time.

"Obviously, we're keeping an eye on what's going on," he adds, "but we don't feel the need to do anything – we're even signing new commentators right now."

So you don't think there's any chance of a rebel competition emerging from this chaos?

"Nah. I'm dealing in the here and now and I'm convinced a deal is going to happen. I have great faith in both these organisations."

Facebook: karlquinnjournalist