Next TV rights deal part 2

[RoosTah]

There's absolutely no suggestion that they'll lose the NRL rights. I'm talking specifically about EPL.

Diego: Their subscriber base is actually pretty stable from what I last read. I just don't think that soccer subscriber base is big enough to warrant panic at Foxtel. As long as NRL/AFL is there, they have a working business model.

I suppose the question is if Optus are a genuine option for the NRL rights... if they are then Fox will be in trouble

 

[El Diablo]

LOL

Foxtel on a tweeting frenzy https://twitter.com/FOXTEL_Help/with_replies

 

[applesauce]

There's absolutely no suggestion that they'll lose the NRL rights. I'm talking specifically about EPL.

Diego: Their subscriber base is actually pretty stable from what I last read. I just don't think that soccer subscriber base is big enough to warrant panic at Foxtel. As long as NRL/AFL is there, they have a working business model.

Anecdotally, I would say their is a fair wack of the FOX EPL viewers who have FOX just for EPL (and maybe some dramas for the family/wife).

If the EPL goes to Optus and/or Fetch it becomes more important for FOX to keep/increase the presence of the NRL. Furthermore, Optus now have a nice foundation should they get the NRL to build a PTV base from.

Don't forget the A-League contract expires just in time too in 2017. Optus with the highest rating sport and a go to soccer package (A-League and EPL) that would leave Foxsports subscribers who love the AFL and Super Rugby.

If Optus reveal themselves as a true domestic PTV competitor the NRL is the box seat for a huge TV deal.

 

[VictoryFC]

I suppose the question is if Optus are a genuine option for the NRL rights... if they are then Fox will be in trouble

I mean yeah if they lose NRL Foxtel is in a world of trouble. But there's no way they'd let it get to that stage... at least you'd think so anyway. Lose either NRL/AFL and they don't really have a working business model.

 

[Mickyd39]

LOL

Foxtel on a tweeting frenzy https://twitter.com/FOXTEL_Help/with_replies

judging by their twitter I think Foxtel are aware they lost the EPL rights :lol::lol:

 

[VictoryFC]

Anecdotally, I would say their is a fair wack of the FOX EPL viewers who have FOX just for EPL (and maybe some dramas for the family/wife).

If the EPL goes to Optus and/or Fetch it becomes more important for FOX to keep/increase the presence of the NRL. Furthermore, Optus now have a nice foundation should they get the NRL to build a PTV base from.

Don't forget the A-League contract expires just in time too in 2017. Optus with the highest rating sport and a go to soccer package (A-League and EPL) that would leave Foxsports subscribers who love the AFL and Super Rugby.

If Optus reveal themselves as a true domestic PTV competitor the NRL is the box seat for a huge TV deal.

All of which is why we can fully expect Foxtel to outbid Optus on the NRL. Otherwise, Foxtel will die a slow death.

 

[carlosthedwarf]

Don't forget the A-League contract expires just in time too in 2017.

This is going to kill their value. Don't rate enough to warrant increase from Fox, and EPL fans will probably have cancelled anyway. They've already lost a bunch of other major leagues.

 

[RoosTah]

All of which is why we can fully expect Foxtel to outbid Optus on the NRL. Otherwise, Foxtel will die a slow death.

All I can say is I hope that Fox are forced to "outbid" Optus.

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

Oh man, Smith and the commission have played this well. Foxtel will be absolutely shitting bricks now with the EPL gone, they're going to lose a tonne of subscribers. Falls rights into our hands, they're more desperate for content and have more money to work with.

They're either going to have to pay the full value (and probably then some) or get f**ked.

 

[morley101]

I would hope that the NRL get all the clubs to sign the participation agreements.
I wouldn't want another Super league to start...

 

[papabear]

I agree mostly. It doesn't make sense if that's the reason to not expand. It doesn't matter when or where we expand to. The quality players will be spread out more thinly and more reserve graders will come up. There is no stopping it as there will always be that gap between NRL and what ever is below it.

Although, to address your point of just getting players from elsewhere, yeah, that's possible, but for 2 new NRL teams, that's 50 players that will need to be brought in to the comp, and there's also junior squads which will also be spread out further. And, coaching staff too, which you cannot get from AFL or Union.

It doesn't matter when we expand or how much money we put into every grade below NRL, the quality of football and depth is going to take a hit.

I don't buy this. Fact is every club has reserve graders/ juniors who are better then the current blokes in first grade, but due to salary cap / contractual reasons / dumb coaching they dont get much of a run.

Almost every other code in the world manages to expand without impacting on the quality of the product, and in some cases it improves the quality of the product.

 

[insert.pause]

Foxsports blindsided yet again, Delaney not having a good year.

 

[El Diablo]

i wonder what spin Davidson will put on this

 

[Last Week]

I mean yeah if they lose NRL Foxtel is in a world of trouble. But there's no way they'd let it get to that stage... at least you'd think so anyway. Lose either NRL/AFL and they don't really have a working business model.

Finally. I think you're starting to get it. The priority here for Rugby League is a better pay TV deal, not to kill Fox. But we would take great joy in that.

Let's put it simply, if Fox lost the NRL to Optus, and you lived in the Northern states, why would you be a subscriber to Foxtel? What have they got that you can't get through Fetch TV who also have Netflix? AFL and Union? How many fans of those are in the Northern states.

 

[elbusto]

Dear old Rupert prefers AFL so he says. Well the stupid old turd might not have anything else soon and he will lose money hand over fist as a result. Now that is funny!

 

[insert.pause]

optus is now positioning itself to be Australia's BT Sport, something Telstra should have been had it not hopped into bed with News Corp in creating Foxtel.

 

[Jatz Crackers]

It may well get a whole lot worse for news.

If you were an institutional investor (or private investor for that matter) where would you have your share money invested ???

a) shares in a new business model shaped to grow to the needs of a more affluent & mobile content audience

b) or an older, more expensive, business model from a company that is run by an 80+ year old who loses his memory when questioned about his companies illegal operations to being a business leader who cant even control his emotions long enough to avoid making embarrassing public swipes at a sport that is a very large stakeholder in his businesses' profitability.

I wonder what the share price will be in the not too distant future. On a downward trajectory I suspect.

 

[Sydney Knight]

Rupert has dropped the ball since he started canoodling with Jerry Hall

 

[insert.pause]

i wonder what spin Davidson will put on this

Something along the lines of this;

Senior sources linked to Fox Sports ? owned by News Corp, publisher of The Daily Telegraph ? said the pay-TV sports group was already aware it was likely SingTel Optus would win the rights when formally informed of the decision on Friday.


This is in contrast to the *negotiations that led up to the awarding of the NRL?s four best games each round, plus State of Origin and finals football, to Nine Entertainment for $925 million. In that deal, Fox Sports was blindsided by the announcement, and executives were privately furious that the company had lost the rights to screen Saturday night and Monday night games.

On the new EPL deal, executives at Fox Sports are understood to believe that its final offer was at the very limit of what the rights were worth.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/bu...alian-epl-rights/story-fnkltfm0-1227591306343

 

[applesauce]

I'm sorry but why do NEWS feel like they needed to know the NRL intentions. Sure they are current broadcast partners but they had no more F&L rights and have treated the game like shit for years. You reap what you sow.

Did Foxtel go to the NRL before they publicly announced they were trying to buy 15% of CH10 and therefore reduce competitive tension in the NRL's future broadcast rights?