Next TV rights deal

[Rosetta]

A nice propaganda article by Ronnie McDonald today

I'm no Weedler fan but that's a bit harsh.

The deal was signed with the lawyers in his home. It was supposed to happen on Saturday night and was wrapped up on Sunday. The deal ensures that the best game will be on free-to-air. The NRL will determine what "the best" games are and Nine, with the NRL, will get to place 35 of those in the prime-time slots they want. There will be a preference from Nine to place the best game on a Thursday night, which can help to win the ratings evening outright.

The NRL will want the premium games spread across the four free-to air-nights. Apart from getting the best games, there's the possibility for Nine to sell off a game to another network but that is highly unlikely.

There is also the option for Fox totake Nine's pictures at a cost of $25million per game. Nine's advertisers will get their commercials on Fox as part of any package. Gyngell insisted that the clubs got big payments as part of the deal ? he understands better than most what it costs to run a team.

Those saying the NRL will struggle to sell the "lesser" games are misguided. They will get somewhere between $750 and $850 million and complete a deal that Smith was hired to do from day one. And one which he has nailed.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...ed-nrl-deal-and-moved-on-20150815-gizvv7.html

Key section of the article, it doesn't sound as great as when announced. Fox having to play Nein's commercials is a poor clause to accept.

 

[Spud]

I that just means in game commercials such as when the footy show or 60 minutes graphic is shown on the bottom of the screen

 

[Desert Qlder]

Nine could trade NRL games for AFL

Nine Entertainment Co has locked up wholesale free-to-air broadcast rights to the NRL as part of its record $925 million deal with the code.

It is a move that could give Nine the option to horse-trade games with incumbent AFL rights holder Seven West Media.

Fairfax Media has learned that Nine's five-year free-to-air and digital contract to screen key NRL games, which stunned rivals when it was unveiled last Monday, is structured to allow the free-to-air broadcaster to on-sell games to rivals if it chooses.

The move could ultimately mean that Nine ends up with one or some AFL games in return for selling some NRL games to Seven, or even the struggling Ten Network Holdings.
The move could ultimately mean that Nine ends up with one or some AFL games in return for selling some NRL games to Seven, or even the struggling Ten Network Holdings. Photo: Scott Barbour

The move could ultimately mean that Nine ends up with one or some AFL games in return for selling some NRL games to Seven, or even the struggling Ten Network Holdings.

Nine, which bought the Nine stations in Perth and Adelaide two years ago as part of a deal under which it paid $450 million over five years for cricket rights, could be in the market for rights to live AFL matches featuring the teams from those two cities.

Live matches, whether home or away, of Port Adelaide and Adelaide, and Fremantle and West Coast, rate extremely well in their home cities and achieve solid figures in Melbourne.

Under one possible scenario, Nine could effectively "exchange" rights for an NRL game with Seven, which could then take on one of the four Nine has paid for. It is probable Nine would consider the Saturday night game, which is the least-highest-rating of the NRL games it has bought rights for, behind Thursday and Friday evenings and Sunday afternoon leading into the news.

In the balance

The final make-up of future sports rights for the two big codes still lies in the balance with Seven and News Corp's Fox Sports and Ten expected to move fast in an effort to wrap up negotiations with the AFL in the wake of Nine's pre-emptive strike on the NRL rights.

While Seven is considered favourite to retain its AFL rights – it currently shows four matches live each round, with Foxtel's Fox Footy channel showing all nine live – it might face competition from a combined Ten/Foxtel/News Corp and Fox Sports bid for AFL.

Though the AFL could also move, as the NRL did, to strike a free-to-air deal before dealing with the remaining broadcast rights, it is considered likely the league will have to negotiate the complete package at the same time, given News Corp will want some involvement after being shut out of the NRL rights bid.

Fox Sports also has to negotiate pay television rights separately with the NRL, while Nine is understood to be receptive to negotiating an early start to its new deal, which does not begin until the 2018 season.

Nine's bumper NRL bid – worth $185 million annually, almost double the amount it is paying now – underlined the growing importance of premium sport to free-to-air broadcasters as they compete for viewers with new digital competitors such as Netflix.

The surprise announcement angered executives at Fox Sports and its owner News Corp, which, along with other free-to-air networks, had been unaware of the Nine deal until Monday morning last week.

The NRL will push Fox Sports hard to buy rights to all eight games live, four of which would be simulcast with Nine. One executive said the pay-television rights could be worth about $700 million, which along with the $150 million the NRL hopes to garner from international and New Zealand rights, would put the total rights at a record $1.7 billion for rugby league.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/bus...-trade-nrl-games-for-afl-20150813-giyya0.html

 

[insert.pause]

This is absolutely hilarious!

AFL to benefit from backlash against NRL TV deal

Anger at the NRL’s premature *decision to shut other media *organisations out of its new broadcasting deal with the Nine *Network will result in a windfall for the AFL.

Negotiations to conclude a new AFL broadcast deal with Foxtel *accelerated last week as a response to the NRL’s $925 million deal with Nine to broadcast four games a week from 2018. The NRL announcement *coincided with the arrival in Australia of News Corp ’s board, including chief executive and Essendon *supporter Robert Thomson, and executive chairman Rupert *Murdoch, which resulted in swift competitive action.

The Australian understands that Thomson led the negotiations with the AFL in Melbourne and preparations were being made for an announcement on Friday *afternoon in Melbourne, with Mr Murdoch preparing to fly south from Sydney to attend. Negotiations were not concluded and are believed to have continued during the weekend.

Mr Murdoch has extended his stay in Australia, although it is not known whether he did so for the AFL negotiations.

News Corp Australia and its anticipated free-to-air partner on the post-2017 deal and partner on the current deal, the Seven *Network, would not comment on negotiations.

But The Australian understands the NRL’s decision not to tender its broadcast rights after accepting Nine’s four games a week, $925m deal stunned Nine’s competitors across the sector and sparked furious deal-making with the AFL.

The NRL-Nine deal is likely to lead to a lower overall deal, with the value of subscription TV and digital rights for the code now *diminished. It has no chance of reaching the NRL’s anticipated $2 billion total.

Indeed, its decision to give Nine a Saturday night game took away Fox Sports’ competitive advantage with the code as Saturday’s sole broadcaster, a move exacerbated by the NRL’s move to abandon Monday Night football, which is broadcast on Fox Sports.

It then handed Thursday night games to Nine in a double *whammy against Fox Sports that has effectively killed any interest other broadcasters might have in the four least attractive games each round.

The NRL’s seeming abandonment of the benefits of round-the-clock coverage of its sport on Fox Sports and in News Corp newspapers and digital sites, including The Daily Telegraph and Courier-Mail, is likely to see News Corp’s attention swing to the AFL.

It is not clear whether Foxtel (a Telstra and News Corp Australia company) will even share NRL broadcasts with Nine in the post-2018 deal.

The AFL will be the beneficiary with current rights holder Foxtel close to broking another *lucrative cross-sector deal with another FTA broadcaster, anticipated to be Seven.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, who as chief operating officer negotiated the previous broadcast rights deal, will deliver on his hope of a substantial increase on the record $1.25bn deal signed in 2011 between Seven, *Foxtel and Telstra.

The AFL will also attack the NRL by programming more Thursday night games from 2017.

Fox Sports’ increased focus on the Fox Footy channel is believed to have resulted in improved *subscriptions in its previously troubled Melbourne market.

The NRL’s expectation that it will boost its rights deal from *digital players also appears to be misplaced, with streaming giant Netflix reiterating to The Australian last month that it had no *interest, here or in the US, in broadcasting sport.

Global experience suggests that digital players are yet to *embrace sport as lead broadcasters. The American National *Football League’s recent speculative decision to give one match next year to a digital player exclusively did not see Google or its YouTube interested, although Yahoo bought the match.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...inst-nrl-tv-deal/story-fna045gd-1227485991139

 

[Eddie Lab]

This is absolutely hilarious!



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...inst-nrl-tv-deal/story-fna045gd-1227485991139

is likely to see News Corp?s attention swing to the AFL.

and that's different to now?

It is not clear whether Foxtel (a Telstra and News Corp Australia company) will even share NRL broadcasts with Nine in the post-2018 deal.

it's clear if that if foxtel want to make money then they will make a very worth wild bid. if they don't like money and are comfortable with losing a bunch of subscribers, then they can try to go with AFL as the flagship.

 

[insert.pause]

and that's different to now?



it's clear if that if foxtel want to make money then they will make a very worth wild bid. if they don't like money and are comfortable with losing a bunch of subscribers, then they can try to go with AFL as the flagship.

Apparently we should all be grateful for the News Corp coverage, stop covering NRL and see what happens, the SMH would destroy the telegraph, charity indeed. :roll:

 

[Nerd]

Talk about kicking the toys out of the cot. I was wondering when the Newscorp rags would start bagging the deal with Nein. We get AFL shoved down our throats now and it rates badly in QLD and NSW as it is. More AFL and less NRL on Fox would just accelerate a drop off of existing subscribers. From the last figures that I saw Fox have taken a hit in profit from the previous year and without the NRL they would be in big financial trouble from 2018 as the subscribers flee. I currently subscribe to the Courier Mail solely for their Rugby League coverage and if they started pushing AFL over the NRL they can say goodbye to my subscription.

 

[Cletus]

Love the bitter tears. The Courier Mail has been very AFL orientated for years, and the Terror coverage consists of scandals and Rebecca Wilson bagging off League at every opportunity. And since when was $2 billion anticipated? Anything over $1.7 billion is a brilliant achievement and I notice the article doesn't say the AFL are going to get $2 billion.

 

[insert.pause]

Love the bitter tears. The Courier Mail has been very AFL orientated for years, and the Terror coverage consists of scandals and Rebecca Wilson bagging off League at every opportunity. And since when was $2 billion anticipated? Anything over $1.7 billion is a brilliant achievement and I notice the article doesn't say the AFL are going to get $2 billion.

I had a laugh at that bit as well. Despite all previous reports saying that the NRL was likely to get between $1.5-1.7bn, suddenly we are expecting $2bn so News Corp can claim that the deal with 9 was a failure. :lol:

He also bullshits by saying Thomson, despite being based in NY and is only in Australia for a week, is leading negotiations with the AFL, linking nicely with his opening paragraph where he makes a point of claiming he is an AFL fan. So transparent...

 

[Cletus]

I had a laugh at that bit as well. Despite all previous reports saying that the NRL was likely to get between $1.5-1.7bn, suddenly we are expecting $2bn so News Corp can claim that the deal with 9 was a failure. :lol:

He also bullshits by saying Thomson, despite being based in NY and is only in Australia for a week, is leading negotiations with the AFL, linking nicely with his opening paragraph where he makes a point of claiming he is an AFL fan. So transparent...

Yeah News are just trolling. Maybe the NRL would have an issue if News treated the code well as it is. I don't really get why they are so butthurt about the deal though, why do they expect the NRL to act in News best interests? I think they're so used to dealing with a compliant NRL they can't get their heads around the new NRL structure where they actually act in the codes best interests.

 

[insert.pause]

Yeah News are just trolling. Maybe the NRL would have an issue if News treated the code well as it is. I don't really get why they are so butthurt about the deal though, why do they expect the NRL to act in News best interests? I think they're so used to dealing with a compliant NRL they can't get their heads around the new NRL structure where they actually act in the codes best interests.

I think fox were told weeks ago that the NRL wanted 4 games on FTA and fox arrogantly ignored them, hence why The Australian reported last week that negotiations had stalled with foxtel because the NRL negotiations were allegedly laboured in confusion because the NRL didn't have an idea of its objectives. Maybe they did and foxtel weren't listening, while Nine obviously were.

 

[CC_Roosters]

Talk about kicking the toys out of the cot. I was wondering when the Newscorp rags would start bagging the deal with Nein. We get AFL shoved down our throats now and it rates badly in QLD and NSW as it is. More AFL and less NRL on Fox would just accelerate a drop off of existing subscribers. From the last figures that I saw Fox have taken a hit in profit from the previous year and without the NRL they would be in big financial trouble from 2018 as the subscribers flee. I currently subscribe to the Courier Mail solely for their Rugby League coverage and if they started pushing AFL over the NRL they can say goodbye to my subscription.

Surprised it took so long for articles like above to appear in news ltd publications. Such a one sided article and anybody with half a brain cell can see the agenda at work here and since when was the final figure anticipated to be $2b?? Its actually quite pleasing to see this as its all a bit reactionary on the afl's part and must worry them to finally be facing a capable nrl admin who is setting the tone this time round

This will all end with all games live on fox including the simulcast FTA games and they will pay more than last time for the privelege.

Also note that one publication (fox sports) is bigging up expansion since the nine deal clearly trying to influenece the addition of a ninth game while other news ltd outlets are bagging the nrl. I think fox sports know what they need to thrive....

 

[Captain Apollo]

I don't really get why they are so butthurt about the deal though, why do they expect the NRL to act in News best interests? I think they're so used to dealing with a compliant NRL they can't get their heads around the new NRL structure where they actually act in the codes best interests.

That is the News Ltd way. They use their "voice" to sell their products, and as such the butthurt is they know they will have to pay more to keep NRL pay TV rights. This is their "payback". Also by constantly running the product down, it makes it easier for them to negotiate a low price for them to buy. News have never given a damn about anyone else so the NRL should not really give a damn about them. Fair plays seems to be a foreign concept to some people at News.

 

[gUt]

Srsly NRL is the ONLY reason I am a Foxtel subscriber. The stuff on Showtime and HBO is a bonus but it's very, very easy to get that stuff elsewhere (I realise it's easy to get NRL live elsewhere too but I don't mind paying my way for the sport I love). Tread carefully, Fox.

 

[insert.pause]

by the by, the exclusive slots fox currently has for the AFL are Sat arvo, Sat twilight, Sat Night, Sun arvo & Sun twilight. Add to that that the 4 FTA games each week vary by market, so local teams are always shown on FTA in WA, SA, QLD & NSW, effectively giving foxtel exclusivity over not even one game! So why is it any different for the NRL? Perhaps Fox have had their way for far too long and the NRL exclusivity they enjoyed was being used to subsidise the AFL deal?

 

[docbrown]

I had a laugh at that bit as well. Despite all previous reports saying that the NRL was likely to get between $1.5-1.7bn, suddenly we are expecting $2bn so News Corp can claim that the deal with 9 was a failure. :lol:

I think fox were told weeks ago that the NRL wanted 4 games on FTA and fox arrogantly ignored them, hence why The Australian reported last week that negotiations had stalled with foxtel because the NRL negotiations were allegedly laboured in confusion because the NRL didn't have an idea of its objectives. Maybe they did and foxtel weren't listening, while Nine obviously were.

Both correct.

The NRL have done their homework. They know what the alternatives to Fox are and at what price those alternatives become more attractive than a Fox offer.

Meanwhile Fox know the numbers losing the NRL will have and have an idea of the NRL's financial alternatives as well. The premium is the grey area Fox are willing to pay not to risk it.

Now if the NRL's number crunching showed that would be less than an upfront Fox Sports-10 offer, there's no way they would do it on a blind dare. Their analysis clearly shows that by taking the 9 offer they'll extract a greater benefit -- more money, more F2A time, more subscription coverage & having those additional $ fund and make an irrefutable demand for expansion sides. If Fox backs out, yes the NRL might get less benefits but they'll still end up around where they would have been financially on a straight up offer.

But anyone who says Fox can get by with no NRL coverage is delusional.
Anyone who says the NRL deal will significantly affect the AFL deal is delusional.
Anyone who says Fox will gift AFL extra $$$ out of spite is delusional.
Anyone who says Fox can use more AFL content to replace the NRL loss is delusional.
Anyone who says the NRL don't know what they're doing is delusional.

 

[LESStar58]

This is absolutely hilarious!



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...inst-nrl-tv-deal/story-fna045gd-1227485991139

:lol:

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

That is the News Ltd way. They use their "voice" to sell their products, and as such the butthurt is they know they will have to pay more to keep NRL pay TV rights. This is their "payback". Also by constantly running the product down, it makes it easier for them to negotiate a low price for them to buy. News have never given a damn about anyone else so the NRL should not really give a damn about them. Fair plays seems to be a foreign concept to some people at News.

I really want to see the NRL publicly pick a fight with NewsLtd over articles like this...

RL fans seem happiest when we're in a quasi-ColdWar and we havent really had the Underdog status since the ARLC was introduced.

Obviously it cant be DSmith or a Commissioner talking shit about the Telecrap, but (like a political party sending a backbencher to stir shit) the ARLC needs some "loose cannon" type to come out and shout about how NewsLtd is trying to kill the game; one of the club bosses would be perfect.

If you create a narritive about some sectret agenda (News wants YOUR GAME dead) and place ever article like this into that frame, these actually become a rallycry that unifies people in their love for RL...

 

[elbusto]

Fox are suffering big time right now and are paranoid about losses to netflix. I moved house and reduced my fox coverage by 50 percent and the staff I spoke to about this nearly shat themselves. Told them I only wanted rugby league and netflix covered the rest. I enjoyed this immensely. I really did.

 

[LESStar58]

I really want to see the NRL publicly pick a fight with NewsLtd over articles like this...

RL fans seem happiest when we're in a quasi-ColdWar and we havent really had the Underdog status since the ARLC was introduced.

Obviously it cant be DSmith or a Commissioner talking shit about the Telecrap, but (like a political party sending a backbencher to stir shit) the ARLC needs some "loose cannon" type to come out and shout about how NewsLtd is trying to kill the game; one of the club bosses would be perfect.

If you create a narritive about some sectret agenda (News wants YOUR GAME dead) and place ever article like this into that frame, these actually become a rallycry that unifies people in their love for RL...

Masters would be a prime candidate.