Foxtel likely to hold on to NRL, says Nine boss David Gyngell
August 27, 2015 - 4:22PM
Max Mason
Nine Entertainment Co chief executive David Gyngell has backed Foxtel, along with Fox Sports, to hold on to the pay television rights to the National Rugby League, throwing cold water on suggestions the free-to-air broadcaster is looking to secure them for its subscription video on-demand service Stan.
"I think [Foxtel will] negotiate the rights. I think they'll negotiate tough and smart and hard and do what they have to do to get those rights. I think the product is really important to both us and pay TV," Mr Gyngell said following after the release of Nine's full-year financial results on Thursday.
"The AFL got a big price and I'm sure that there are thoughts there that they may pay less for the NRL. They'll pay for the NRL what they pay for the NRL. But I'd be very surprised if Fox Sports don't have the NRL."
Tension between the NRL and News Corporation, which owns Foxtel with Telstra, has been evident after the league's apparent snubbing of News Corp when it negotiated the free-to-air and free-streaming broadcast rights with Nine Entertainment for $925 million without Foxtel.
There has been speculation that other players, such as al-Jazeera-owned beIN Sports, might be interested in the NRL.
However, Mr Gyngell said he expected Foxtel and Fox Sports, which is owned by News Corp, to come back to the NRL after negotiating their $1.3 billion share of the Australian Football League's $2.50 billion six-year broadcast deal.
Totality business
"So, what maybe they think they've spent on the AFL, they might have to spend on the NRL. They look at it as a totality business. They have to have both sets and I think they'll have that," Mr Gyngell said.
He also quashed suggestions Nine would look to buy the subscription rights for itself and put the NRL on its subscription video on demand service Stan, which it owns 50-50 with Fairfax Media, publisher of The Australian Financial Review and BusinessDay.
"When you know the maths of what Fox Sports invest in rugby league and AFL ... I don't want to lose any more money on sport. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have the rights we just bought, but we should be making more of the things we own ourselves and control our own rights," he said.
"I think it would be naive for people to think we're going to start getting into $10 a month [the price of Stan] and sports rights. When you all of a sudden try to get $300 out of someone and they're paying $10, they're getting used to not paying a lot of money and that's the challenge for premium cable."
On Thursday, Nine, the home of The Voice and The Hotplate, reported an underlying net profit in the year to June 30 that fell 2.9 per cent to $140.1 million. Revenue rose 2.6 per cent to $1.61 billion. Analysts were expecting profit of $141.3 million and revenue of $1.58 billion.
Nine shares were up 3.5 per cent to $1.50 on Thursday.
