Newscorp And Rugby League

[Sea_Eagles_Rock]

Are we really talking $200m though? I don't think so. We will sell it elsewhere for something. We have to sell the remaining 4-5 games to somebody. We will get something for it because it sells. Fox is proof of that. If NRL fans don't have to pay a fox subscription, however instead pay for streaming of some kind, and perhaps delayed matches on another FTA network, do you think the AFL deal will be worth the paper it is written on? Fox will go belly up, and the AFL will be left with whatever is left of FTA in this country for 4-5 years.

 

[RoosTah]

So what are people worried about, we already have over 900 million for FTA with more games live. We still have pay TV LOL, streaming, International games, Sky NZ and so on. When you look at it without panicking, the NRL will probably still come out in front at the end of the day and it's one year shorter contract.

One thing I would say that people are overlooking is that the Channel 9 deal includes Origin, which is pretty massive in terms of ratings. So you have to estimate its worth and take it out of the equation for any potential Fox deal along with internationals, which I feel the NRL hasn't taken enough advantage of.

 

[alien]

Its all part of the game

Rupert wont walk away from the NRL

remember its all about the game and how you play it, its all about control and if you can take it

Also, All about Fox's debt, and if they can pay it.
It's all Rupert's pain, and who's gonna make it

lol, motorhead

or.. triple h

 

[TitanBronco]

Murdoch's comments were very disrespectful to a sport that has been its main ratings vehicle. The NRL should not sell any games to Fox and watch their subscriptions plummet. Even if it costs Foxtel money in the short term. The NRL gets treated like a 2nd class citizen despite being the top rating sport in Australia.

 

[insert.pause]

One thing I would say that people are overlooking is that the Channel 9 deal includes Origin, which is pretty massive in terms of ratings. So you have to estimate its worth and take it out of the equation for any potential Fox deal along with internationals, which I feel the NRL hasn't taken enough advantage of.

pretty sure internationals weren't included in FTA deal, only special one-off games like ANZAC Test, allstars etc, so WC, Four Nations etc aren't included.

Origin was reported as $30m p.a. in the new deal and has never been apart of fox deal, so why would it affect it?

 

[Sea_Eagles_Rock]

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson also sent a warning to the NRL by declaring the company would do everything it could to help AFL's expansion into league's heartland.
"We will ensure that more people see more games of football and its reach is extended, particularly in NSW and Queensland, where there is obviously a growth opportunity and there is a growth opportunity because this is just a wonderful game," Thomson said.


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The key point here is Fox are threatening to attack league heartland. Cut them off at the knees by removing the need for fans of league to have Fox in these states.

"We have always preferred Australian rules but, I guess, we will engage with the NRL in time," Murdoch said. "However it ends up, this will be a much bigger investment. We have always believed this is the premium code in Australia. It is the national game and we are putting our money where we believe but we are also committing all our platforms' support in AFL everywhere in every state.

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I'm firmly of the belief we are cutting them out with statements like this. If we aren't, we should be.

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

Murdoch's comments were very disrespectful to a sport that has been its main ratings vehicle. The NRL should not sell any games to Fox and watch their subscriptions plummet. Even if it costs Foxtel money in the short term. The NRL gets treated like a 2nd class citizen despite being the top rating sport in Australia.

It's all about the AFL buying themselves positive press. They've done it for years. They truly are a thuggish organization when they're backed into a corner.

The NRL's rise is the least of their worries. From what I hear, the quality of the games in the AFL is so bad, fans are turning away in droves. If Murdoch wants to throw away money on a sport that is on the slide, let him. The NRL should tell them to stick it.

Hopefully that would prompt Newscorp to sell their stake in the Broncos and Melbourne so we can finally be rid of their stench. THE NRL DOES NOT NEED FOXTEL. Not anymore.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

One thing I would say that people are overlooking is that the Channel 9 deal includes Origin, which is pretty massive in terms of ratings. So you have to estimate its worth and take it out of the equation for any potential Fox deal along with internationals, which I feel the NRL hasn't taken enough advantage of.

Why, Pay TV has never had SOO before so it shouldn't matter one bit.

 

[gUt]

"We will ensure that more people see more games of football and its reach is extended, particularly in NSW and Queensland, where there is obviously a growth opportunity and there is a growth opportunity because this is just a wonderful game,"

Same old song. You have to laugh.

 

[t-ba]

Same old song. You have to laugh.

Just 1% gUt, just 1%.

I honestly think these articles wouldn't be out of place in the ridiculing religion thread.

 

[insert.pause]

Tonagh claimed it was very condensed negotiations, something that would take a month crammed all into one week, and made mention of NRL taking away monday and saturday nights from foxsports, no doubt this whole deal was done as a aggrieved reaction to the NRL deal with Nine.

 

[Perth Red]

More than likely, end of day if Fox dont think the NRL potential deal can drive or even keep its subscriptions then I guess it may feel it might as well try its hand at making AFL the countries number one winter game and see if it can drive/maintain its subscriptions that way. As they showed in SL they arent afraid of chucking silly money at something when they decide to.

At some point youd think someone with some sense at Fox is going to have a word and tell them they are flogging a dead horse if they think AFL in Qland and NSW is going to sustain their subscriptions. Dont be surprised if they spend 6 years tryong though. I dread to think what the Sydney media would be like, they are bad enough dragging the game down when they are paying for it let alone if they go into competition with it!

Shame beasue maybe some joint negotiation at the time may have encouraged them to fund expansion and get what they felt they would need to pay the massive $'s they are paying the AFL.

 

[Haffa]

Does the AFL deal include access to phone hacks? Or will that be negotiated separately?

 

[precarious]

More than likely, end of day if Fox dont think the NRL potential deal can drive or even keep its subscriptions then I guess it may feel it might as well try its hand at making AFL the countries number one winter game and see if it can drive/maintain its subscriptions that way.

No expert, but just to think of it in terms of two separate considerations, there are revenues from subscriptions and advertising.

Presumably Fox would prefer to show all games on a dedicated NRL channel as this would drive more ad revenue as well as help subscriptions as much as possible.

But in such an arrangement, simulcasting to get all games would seem most critical to ad revenue whereas buying the 4 non-FTA games would seem most critical to subscriptions.

For instance, buying just the 4 non-FTA games along with providing continued regular NRL shows might prevent much of the subscription loss (since it would still guarantee access to games you want to watch that might not be on FTA) but would not drive as much ad revenue.

Seems to me Fox and NRL would have prices they were willing in the worst case to accept for both scenarios and it will just be a matter of whether that enables them to come to terms on the ideal scenario or the second-best scenario (or some intermediate scenario).

Unless one or other party behaves irrationally, it's hard to see how they won't ultimately reach an agreement acceptable to both.

 

[Brutus]

Why, Pay TV has never had SOO before so it shouldn't matter one bit.

The NRL should have made Channel 9 pay more though. They needed to make it clear they were willing to sell Origin games separately. Milked the tv ratings giant that is Origin to the max.

 

[Canard]

What more could News do for AFL? It's live on their platform in QLD and NSW now? And they are talking about reducing the FTA schedule.

What print more media stories on them? They already do.

Also anyone who thinks print media will have any influence come 2022 is a mental case.

This is pure posturing, from an organisation that is used to getting it's way with our sport.

 

[no name]

I wonder if the AFL realises it's the new girlfriend that the jilted lover (Rupert) is showing off to make the ex (NRL) jealous?

 

[eelandia]

I hope this will fail in line with his previous failures re backing the Rabbott. Let's see if his newspapers are as partisan to a particular sport as they are to a particular political party.

****

 

[Foreign Legion]

first the super league war, then the aru skirmish... now officially AFL

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...wscorp-seven-and-telstra-20150818-gj2648.html

Just a week after being blindsided by the NRL's broadcast agreement with Channel Nine, Rupert Murdoch – the man who started the Super League war to gain control of the code – hit back by telling a press conference to announce News Corp's deal with AFL: "We have always preferred Aussie rules".
Murdoch, who arrived in Australia last Monday as the NRL was outlining details of its $925 million free-to-air deal with Nine, clearly didn't appreciate being forced to play second fiddle for the rights to a code he only agreed to relinquish control of when the ARL Commission was formed three years ago.

Just a week after being blindsided by the NRL's broadcast agreement with Channel Nine, Rupert Murdoch – the man who started the Super League war to gain control of the code – hit back by telling a press conference to announce News Corp's deal with AFL: "We have always preferred Aussie rules".
Murdoch, who arrived in Australia last Monday as the NRL was outlining details of its $925 million free-to-air deal with Nine, clearly didn't appreciate being forced to play second fiddle for the rights to a code he only agreed to relinquish control of when the ARL Commission was formed three years ago.


In a show of strength after appearing to have been outmanoeuvred by the NRL, the AFL wheeled out Murdoch, Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, Telstra chief executive Andy Penn and executives from their media companies to a press conference to announce the $2.508 billion, six-year deal.
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The size and haste of the deal are indications of how angered Murdoch must have been as there is a belief that News Corp paid well beyond market value for the AFL rights.
KEY POINTS OF THE DEAL
$2.508 bIllion over six years from 2017.
$1.3 billion from News Corp. Foxtel (jointly owned by News and Telstra) to maintain rights for all nine games.
$300 million from Telstra to broadcast over its planned Telstra TV service and to handsets and digital devices.
News Corp will also have the right to sub-license a Saturday afternoon game, believed to be worth around $30 million per season.
$840 million in cash and $60 million in contra from Seven for an average of 3.5 matches per round free-to-air.
NRL officials could not recall Murdoch ever attending a press conference when he began the three-year Super League war in 1995 after failing to secure any rights to the code for his pay-TV venture or when News Corp maintained its stranglehold on the game from the 1998 peace deal to 2012.
It was also pointed out that News Corp still own a majority stake in the Brisbane Broncos and Murdoch's son Lachlan is a passionate and influential supporter of the club.
"We have always preferred Australian rules but, I guess, we will engage with the NRL in time," Murdoch said. "However it ends up, this will be a much bigger investment. We have always believed this is the premium code in Australia. It is the national game and we are putting our money where we believe but we are also committing all our platforms' support in AFL everywhere in every state.
"We are very happy to be doing this. We believe in the strength of the game and we will do everything we can to make it stronger."
News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson also sent a warning to the NRL by declaring the company would do everything it could to help AFL's expansion into league's heartland.
"We will ensure that more people see more games of football and its reach is extended, particularly in NSW and Queensland, where there is obviously a growth opportunity and there is a growth opportunity because this is just a wonderful game," Thomson said.
After securing the record free-to-air deal with Nine, worth $185 million per year, the NRL now hopes to gain a similar amount from Fox Sports for the exclusive rights to the remaining four matches per week plus the rights to simulcast all eight matches per week.
It is highly unlikely that Fox Sports could afford not to reach an agreement with the NRL as the pay-TV company would risk losing a significant per centage of its subscriber base but Murdoch's comments and his presence at the AFL press conference indicate that negotiations won't be easy.
With the NRL's current $1.025 billion deal with Nine and Fox Sports not due to expire until the end of the 2017 season, it will be up to NRL chief executive Dave Smith and his team of negotiators to hold their nerve.
The AFL deal averages out at $418 million per year, with Seven paying $140 million per year for three-and-a-half games per week.
In comparison, Nine's deal with the NRL is worth $185 million per year for four games per week, plus State of Origin.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and his team stepped up negotiations last week after being caught by surprise when the NRL announced a deal for its free-to-air broadcast rights.
The NRL is still has pay-television, digital and international rights to sell and Fairfax Media last week reported that officials were optimistic of achieving more than $2 billion in total over five years.


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[Edwahu]

If the AFL is going to have a stack of paid editorial won't it need to be plastered with disclaimers?