Monday Night Football - end of an era

[Last Week]

As far as free to air TV is concerned for ratings, Saturday nights is "dead". It is the worst rating day, which is why they often only have rubbish on them. Thursday night, Friday night and Sunday nights are the big ratings nights where they charge a premium for advertising, which is why the networks tend to have their best programs on then.

Thus Nine, and I doubt any other free to air network, will bid for a free to air game on Saturday night in future.

Additionally, as most games take nigh on 2 hours to play already, having 4 games wall to wall like suggested is a problem if any of the first 3 go to extra time.

I would have suggested that Nine broadcast the 4pm game aswell as the 6:30pm (7pm) game. Giving them a NRL lead into the news (which they value) aswell as a lead out of the news into the NRL again. But they seem so intent on the Block and 60 minutes so I didn't think they'd be interested.

As for broadcasts possibly going over 2 hours because of extra time, simple solution, scrap extra time. Like it should be.

 

[GreenMachine121]

No.

Friday 7:30pm (F2A)
Saturday 2pm
Saturday 4pm
Saturday 6pm
Saturday 8pm (F2A)
Sunday 2pm
Sunday 4pm (F2A)
Sunday 6:30pm

Thursday sucks for everyone.
Friday 6pm does nothing for crowds except in NZ.

Love this , Thursday sucks and Friday early game is generally awful

 

[Last Week]

Let's be honest. Free to air is not going to be a significant source of income for the NRL much longer. They have 1, maybe 2 more deals where they can compete with digital platforms (including Foxtel) and that's it. They'll broadcast whatever games they can/have to.

 

[siv]

Bring back 6 games at once on Sunday afternoon

I prefer 4 on Sunday

2pm Ch9 live
4pm Ch9 live

But also have

2pm Fox live
4pm Fox live
6pm Fox full replay of Ch 9 game 1
7:30pm Fox full replay of Ch 9 game 2

Fri 8:00pm

Sat 6pm
Sat 8pm

For other timeslots we show live games of NZ Cup, Qld Cup, NSW Cup and U20s

Fri 6pm NZ Cup

Sat 12 Qld Cup
Sat 2pm Qld Cup
Sat 4pm NSW Cup

Sun 8 U20s replay
Sun 10 U20s
Sun 12 NSW Cup

 

[blue bags]

Let's be honest. Free to air is not going to be a significant source of income for the NRL much longer. They have 1, maybe 2 more deals where they can compete with digital platforms (including Foxtel) and that's it. They'll broadcast whatever games they can/have to.

Monday night games hold all the ratings records

 

[Valheru]

Let's be honest. Free to air is not going to be a significant source of income for the NRL much longer. They have 1, maybe 2 more deals where they can compete with digital platforms (including Foxtel) and that's it. They'll broadcast whatever games they can/have to.

This I am actually not sure about.

We have heard this narrative for a decade now yet the bread and butter of any professional sport is still domestic TV rights.

Even with competitions like the NFL, MLB etc. who have advanced subscription services that they own, they still get a lions share of their cash from local FTA providers including blacking out their subscription services in local markets or nationally if the game is televised nationally.

 

[Last Week]

This I am actually not sure about.

We have heard this narrative for a decade now yet the bread and butter of any professional sport is still domestic TV rights.

Even with competitions like the NFL, MLB etc. who have advanced subscription services that they own, they still get a lions share of their cash from local FTA providers including blacking out their subscription services in local markets or nationally if the game is televised nationally.

Fair call. I may be a bit hasty in dismissing F2A.

I'll redirect. F2A ratings are not going to be competitive against digital (Foxtel) options for much longer. There's already alot of bleeding because of other options to watch the game. So, what this means is that eventually, the game would choose its time slots, dictated by what Foxtel wants/negotiates for, and not by when Nine News is on.

Personally, I question the "loss" in broadcast revenue if we told Nine and Fox that we were picking preferable timeslots for the game. Getting rid of Thursday and Friday 6pm wouldn't mean that the broadcasters wouldn't pay for the content any more. Nor do I think it'd be substantially less than what it is now.

 

[Knight76]

Fair call. I may be a bit hasty in dismissing F2A.

I'll redirect. F2A ratings are not going to be competitive against digital (Foxtel) options for much longer. There's already alot of bleeding because of other options to watch the game. So, what this means is that eventually, the game would choose its time slots, dictated by what Foxtel wants/negotiates for, and not by when Nine News is on.

Personally, I question the "loss" in broadcast revenue if we told Nine and Fox that we were picking preferable timeslots for the game. Getting rid of Thursday and Friday 6pm wouldn't mean that the broadcasters wouldn't pay for the content any more. Nor do I think it'd be substantially less than what it is now.

It's still not going to happen. In your scenario with Foxtel competing equally for viewers of NRL, they are still equal, and FTA is still going to negotiate their times around the news etc. Foxtel doesn't care about news so the NRL are still going to want to maximise their broadcast rights.

They are not going to tell 9 or any FTA to go jump and run the footy through news and a current affairs timeslots. It's just never going to happen.

 

[Styles clash]

4 games one after the other on saturday would be awesome.

No time gaps for talking heads to waffle on about, just wall to wall footy.

Break between the 3pm game and 5:30pm game is annoying and inconsistent as there's a 7:30pm game.

 

[Styles clash]

As far as free to air TV is concerned for ratings, Saturday nights is "dead". It is the worst rating day, which is why they often only have rubbish on them. Thursday night, Friday night and Sunday nights are the big ratings nights where they charge a premium for advertising, which is why the networks tend to have their best programs on then.

Thus Nine, and I doubt any other free to air network, will bid for a free to air game on Saturday night in future.

Reason there's no Saturday night FTA games until the end of the season is Foxtel want a whole day to drive subscriptions, not because it's "dead" for free-to-air.

 

[some11]

Let's be honest. Free to air is not going to be a significant source of income for the NRL much longer. They have 1, maybe 2 more deals where they can compete with digital platforms (including Foxtel) and that's it. They'll broadcast whatever games they can/have to.

As long as Kayo doesn't get jacked up to the $60/m it cost to watch fox sports on foxtel I can live with FTA going the way of the dodo.

The only reason to watch FTA is sport and if a decent movie is on that isn't in your streaming library.

 

[Perth Red]

As long as Kayo doesn't get jacked up to the $60/m it cost to watch fox sports on foxtel I can live with FTA going the way of the dodo.

The only reason to watch FTA is sport and if a decent movie is on that isn't in your streaming library.

This. If Telstra ever sort out my sht internet Fox is gone and streaming is all I will use.
Olympics, Origin and GF. Only time Ive ever watched FTA in last ten years!

 

[Last Week]

It's still not going to happen. In your scenario with Foxtel competing equally for viewers of NRL, they are still equal, and FTA is still going to negotiate their times around the news etc. Foxtel doesn't care about news so the NRL are still going to want to maximise their broadcast rights.

They are not going to tell 9 or any FTA to go jump and run the footy through news and a current affairs timeslots. It's just never going to happen.

Don't be so dismissive of it. TV money is not the only money.

If (big if) the game were able to get revenue from other sources other than broadcasting, those friendlier time slots might be worth more for other revenue raising opportunities, than what Nine can offer/demand.

 

[Knight76]

Don't be so dismissive of it. TV money is not the only money.

If (big if) the game were able to get revenue from other sources other than broadcasting, those friendlier time slots might be worth more for other revenue raising opportunities, than what Nine can offer/demand.

I don't believe for a second the NRL will not be interested in maximising the money they can make from the game broadcasting deal wise. There will never be a time when they go yeah nah, lets not take those hundreds of millions of dollars from FTA, regardless of if they are getting money elsewhere.

 

[Perth Red]

Once you’ve given something away it’s very hard to get it back. Nrl has compromised its fan based revenue by selling slots to tv keep them happy. It will be very hard to claw them back which is a great shame as for the clubs there is a lot more money to be made from attend ace and memberships than from the tv grant.

 

[Captain Apollo]

Reason there's no Saturday night FTA games until the end of the season is Foxtel want a whole day to drive subscriptions, not because it's "dead" for free-to-air.

That is true. However what I said is not incorrect either. It is fact when it comes to advertising revenue as the rates charged for advertising on Saturdays by FTA TV networks is lowest for Saturdays.

I would have suggested that Nine broadcast the 4pm game aswell as the 6:30pm (7pm) game. Giving them a NRL lead into the news (which they value) aswell as a lead out of the news into the NRL again. But they seem so intent on the Block and 60 minutes so I didn't think they'd be interested.

As for broadcasts possibly going over 2 hours because of extra time, simple solution, scrap extra time. Like it should be.

Nine won't want it. They won't televise Sunday night games at 6.30 pm. Heck they wouldn't televise NRL Finals games at 6.30 pm on Friday nights live, when contractually obligated to (e.g. see 2008 when they refused to telecast the NZ Warriors v Sydney Roosters final live as they refused to shift A Current Affair).

Fact is Nine don't want the production costs from televising games so they won't pony up more money for yet another game either.

As to scrapping extra time, I doubt it will happen regardless of what you or I say.

 

[skeepe]

Friday 8pm (Ch 9)
Sat 3pm (ABC)
Sun 3pm
Sun 3pm
Sun 3pm
Sun 3pm
Sun 3pm
Sun 6:30pm (State Bank Big Game, Ch 9)

 

[Styles clash]

Friday 8pm (Ch 9)
Sat 3pm (ABC)
Sun 3pm
Sun 3pm
Sun 3pm
Sun 3pm
Sun 3pm
Sun 6:30pm (State Bank Big Game, Ch 9)

One way to kill the sport

 

[Knight76]

Once you’ve given something away it’s very hard to get it back. Nrl has compromised its fan based revenue by selling slots to tv keep them happy. It will be very hard to claw them back which is a great shame as for the clubs there is a lot more money to be made from attend ace and memberships than from the tv grant.

Not really a valid argument though. As currently, with Foxtel/FTA TV coverage as is, average crowd per game is 16k. That figure isn't going to double if the TV slots were changed, or foxtel was dumped etc.

They are already banking that 16k average per game.

 

[yakstorm]

I know its been talked about before, but I'm still surprised that Nine hasn't ever progressed any talks with Fox about purchasing their feed and even using their in-match commentary team.

As other have said, Nine is always looking at ways to reduce their costs with their live sport coverage, and this almost seems like an obvious way to do it. They can still top and tail their coverage with their panel of 'experts', but they can be based in a studio.