Nine scraps Warner Bros deal to keep league rights
The Australian
May 14, 2015 12:00AM
Nine Network has ditched its cash-sapping programming deal with US studio Warner Bros to provide a buffer for retaining rugby league’s TV rights as the code targets a record-breaking contract.
The free-to-air broadcaster has become the first Australian commercial network to negotiate a noncommittal output agreement with a US studio, putting a vast back catalogue of Australian rights to popular TV shows in play at the annual upfronts in New York this week.
The big US networks present advertisers with their schedules for the autumn season at the TV upfronts presentations.
The deal with Warner Bros Television is the biggest in the Australian industry, worth an estimated $100 million a year.
Under a restructured deal, Nine has retained the right to broadcast new series of licensed shows such as The Big Bang Theory while they are still being produced by Warner Bros.
But Nine has waived the right to broadcast repeats of shows like The Big Bang Theory,Two And A Half Men and 2 Broke Girls, although it can still pick them up through spot-buying on the open market.
Ten seasons of The Big Bang Theory are said to be attracting strong interest from the Ten and Seven networks as well as Foxtel.
Nine can also bid for repeats of The Big Bang Theory and is said to be the favourite because Warner Bros does not want to split the show between two *networks.
After years of signing output deals, whereby a network agrees to buy all shows produced by a studio, Australian networks have allowed deals to lapse and instead signed “volume deals”.
Seven now has a cherry-pick deal with Sony, which means it is required to buy a minimum number of US network prime-time shows produced by the studio, but Nine’s decision to terminate the Warner Bros agreement takes the trend a step further.
After decades of supplying ratings hits such as Lost and *Desperate Housewives, the pendulum has swung the other way as local broadcasters realise US programs cannot be amortised cheaply and the hit rate becomes lower amid an explosion in *entertainment options for *consumers.
The news comes after The Australian revealed last month that the National Rugby League has made plans for a record billion-dollar media rights deal, bringing forward negotiations by a year in a surprise move to blindside the AFL, which is on the brink of selling its rights.
With broadcasters paying more than ever for exclusive rights, because the immediacy of fixtures and fan loyalty ensure big live audiences, Nine is facing fierce competition from other networks to retain its prized top-tier winter sport.
Bidding for rights will become even fiercer in the coming months after the NRL signalled its intention to consider packaging the rights, and splitting them between more than one free-to-air broadcaster.
