If the world cup was a 14-team event, similar to the one we had in 2015, then all the teams in Super-6 would have qualified for the main tournament (including West Indies). The reduction from 14 to 10 was done based on the demands from Disney-Star, the TV rights holder. They wanted to guarantee 9 matches for India, and were afraid that teams like Scotland and Netherlands would defeat the Indian team and their revenues will get impacted. And after watching the performance of both Scotland and Netherlands in this tournament, I can't really blame the TV broadcasters. There is a good chance that they may defeat teams like India.
I am curious about where you got this news. I never heard something like this. I don't think ICC can be influenced by broadcasters. I understand that India is the host team in this world cup. But that does not mean they can do whatever they want. There are other countries who also members of the ICC. India alone cannot make any decision and ICC won't approve any decision that is made by BCCI solely. I am interested to know more about this. Do you have any evidence of what you just wrote? Or is this based on your opinion only? If this is just your opinion, then I would say I don't think you are right.
Here:
https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/jdpNmOJZ5GqIE8KJlqtFKP/At-the-Cricket-World-Cup-no-place-for-small-teams-with-big.htmlIn March 2015, during the World Cup in Australia, Dave Richardson told the media that the agreement with the broadcasters was for a 10-team World Cup in 2019. At the time, he had said that the “debate will still be had as to have 10 teams or increase it". A couple of months later, in June 2015, it became clear that it will remain a 10-team tournament when the format was not discussed at the ICC Annual Conference in Barbados.
In the hectic negotiations with the ICC in the first half of 2017, BCCI would have deployed a number of arguments to justify its demand. It would not be unreasonable to assume that the India-specific broadcasting gains to be made during the 2019 World Cup would have featured prominently among them.
The broadcasters wanted a 10-team tournament and the ICC happily agreed to their demands. The decision was made during 2014/15, when Srinivasan along with Pawar was controlling the ICC/BCCI and wanted the smaller teams out of cricket. Back then the ECB and CA were solidly behind the BCCI. Every other sport has expanded the number of participants. FIFA World Cup has grown from 24 teams to 32, and then again to 48. Even the Kabaddi World Cup now features 12 teams (2 more than the cricket world cup).