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OT: Foxtel FoxSports / Kayo /Ch9 + NRL TV Rights

T.S Quint

Coach
Messages
14,023
Kayo is great, but I just have one problem with it. When watching replays I hate that I still have to get through the ads that they would have on a live telecast.

If I’m watching an NBA game I have to be constantly skipping ahead because of all the ad breaks. The game was over a day ago, just cut the f**ken ads out, ok!
 

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,077
So I have fox and thinking of dropping it for Kayo.

So users of Kayo, is it ok? Any issues? I only want it to watch league (Pitty it doesn’t have horse racing but)

I wouId be using Telstra tv to steam it if I did get it.
 

hineyrulz

Post Whore
Messages
152,765
Only problem with Kayo is there are a lot of people watching something sometimes you can have buffering issues.
 

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
76,689
So I have fox and thinking of dropping it for Kayo.

So users of Kayo, is it ok? Any issues? I only want it to watch league (Pitty it doesn’t have horse racing but)

I wouId be using Telstra tv to steam it if I did get it.
Only problem with Kayo is there are a lot of people watching something sometimes you can have buffering issues.
I’ve never experienced buffer problems. I use Apple TV so I can’t comment on Telstra TV.

What I like the best are:

1. the Kaya minis. They have a 20min highlights package of every footy match, or any match for that matter.

2. there is the pause live TV function too.

3. they will include NRL games that are being streamed on the NRL site.
 

hineyrulz

Post Whore
Messages
152,765
I’ve never experienced buffer problems. I use Apple TV so I can’t comment on Telstra TV.

What I like the best are the Kaya minis. They have a 20min highlights package of every footy match, or any match for that matter.

Oh and there is the pause live TV function too.
The Kayo minis are great, i watched the 58nil drubbing on the Donkeys at least 49 times.
 

strider

Post Whore
Messages
78,906
Kayo is great, but I just have one problem with it. When watching replays I hate that I still have to get through the ads that they would have on a live telecast.

If I’m watching an NBA game I have to be constantly skipping ahead because of all the ad breaks. The game was over a day ago, just cut the f**ken ads out, ok!
They need to make money
 

T.S Quint

Coach
Messages
14,023
They need to make money

I thought that’s what my monthly subscription fee was for.

Maybe I’m just used to the NFL Game Pass which cuts out all the ads on non-live games, but I would have thought Kayo could do something similar. Or at least have less ads. I don’t mind a stack of them at half time of the footy, but when you’re watching a basketball game it gets pretty tiring.
 

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
76,689
The future is now as NRL prepares for next TV broadcast rights deal


The future is now for the National Rugby League.

The governing body is just two years into a five-year, $2 billion broadcast deal, but already preparations are being made for the next one. Given how quickly the media landscape is changing, nobody knows what it will look like.

“There isn’t a single model that everyone is pursuing,” says a source who has been involved in previous negotiations for Australian sporting rights deals. “All of the major [global] players are pursuing a different model because the world is so fragmented. Everyone is placing a bet and learning.”

It’s a gamble sporting organisations can’t afford to get wrong. In the NRL’s case, it doesn’t own a single asset and broadcast remains its major revenue stream. If the traditional networks can’t afford to pay as much and the ‘FANG’ disruptors - Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google - don’t enter into the fray, there will be less money for the game to survive on.

“I think the transition will come slowly and in a very confused and difficult fashion over the next decade, especially in countries like Australia where we haven’t even completed the NBN rollout,” says sports marketing expert Con Stavros, an associate professor at RMIT University.

“The TV networks are being squeezed and they can’t overpay for sport and try to make it up elsewhere," he says. “The big bidding wars won’t be there in the future. For most sports, they don’t know what they are going to look like and many of them are probably better off locking in something now if they can.”

Rugby league has long gone with a two-partner model of a free-to-air and subscription provider. The existing deal with Foxtel and Nine Entertainment Co – the publisher of the Herald – expires at the end of 2022, but already the media landscape has shifted dramatically since the ink dried on the last deal. Nine had been the home of cricket for three decades but opted out in favour of tennis when it no longer made financial sense. Nothing is forever.

Fox has its own challenges. In a statement to the ASX in May, News Corp flagged cuts to spending on "non-marquee sporting content" and increased subscription rates after a financial loss of $417 million in 2018. In a bid to offset consumer churn, it introduced sports streaming service KAYO, effectively cannibalising its own market in the process.

“That damages the business model of Foxtel,” says an industry expert currently involved in a sporting rights negotiation. “It’s driving their average revenue per user down. If you were at $78 [with Foxtel per month] and now people are taking up the $25 offer, simple economics dictate revenues are down.”

It raises questions over whether Fox can afford to play a similar role next time around.

The NRL isn’t waiting to find out, although it’s unlikely meaningful negotiations will commence for at least another 12 months. Rugby League Central is considering all of its options, including bringing broadcast production of its matches in-house. The model has been used overseas and locally, most notably with V8 Supercars and in tennis.

However, industry experts such as Global Media and Sports boss Colin Smith – who has advised the NRL, AFL and ARU during previous rights negotiations – believes the move could increase rather than reduce costs. The only local production companies currently equipped for the task are NEP or Gearhouse. However, a well-placed source with knowledge of the upcoming rights negotiations predicts Fox would transform itself into a production house in time to produce the content for the next league, cricket and AFL rights deals.

“Whoever the free-to-air rights holder is will probably end up with less sport but put their own commentators in to voice over the pictures delivered to them by Fox Sports,” the source says.

The next TV deal will be the first big-ticket item for incoming Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’Landys. The Racing NSW boss will next week officially succeed Peter Beattie, whose greatest legacy is perhaps the introduction of the “no fault” stand-down rule to address off-field player misbehaviour. One of the first stars affected, Dragons forward Jack de Belin, unsuccessfully challenged its validity in the Federal Court, where the NRL claimed scandals had already cost the game $10 million in lost sponsorship and that the figure would balloon to “hundreds of millions” of broadcast revenue if left unchecked.

“We are looking to the future, which is why we have started,” Beattie says of preparations for the next rights deal. “It’s very early and it’s rapidly changing. It’s something that doesn’t stand still and for us it’s about maintaining value for the game. That’s what the no-fault rule was about, all of the digital stuff we’re doing, the women’s game, the footprint work. All of that adds value to the game.

“The good thing for us is that while the media landscape is changing, our value as a sport has been maintained," he says. “Even in free to air - and people are looking at other devices and other stuff - our share of that has increased.

“We’ve made no decision to go early or late, we’re just getting ready and looking at all the options.”

Nothing is off the table. In-house production, having multiple free-to-air or disruptor partners, creating new content opportunities, ending simulcast arrangements, selling off properties such as State of Origin separately, playing matches over quarters to increase advertising slots - they are just some of the ideas that are being workshopped behind the scenes. The CBS-owned Ten network has already publicly confirmed it will likely engage in the bidding process, while Seven will need to weigh up whether it can commit to AFL and NRL.

Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to change. Smith believes traditional television viewership is down 20 per cent in just five years as content is increasingly consumed on other electronic devices. However, he describes top-end league content as a “must have” for free-to-air broadcasters.

“It provides Australia’s blockbuster [ratings result] with State of Origin averaging over 9 million viewers alone, all exclusive on channel Nine,” Smith says. “Fans watching games on TV is more than 10 times greater than attending a game - for the NRL that is even higher, [about] 15-20 times as the NRL is perfect for TV.”

There was once a time when moguls bought media rights for bragging rights. However, a source close to current negotiations says companies are no longer prepared to pay "overs" in order to trump their contemporaries.

“The days of Packer versus Murdoch versus Stokes are over,” the source says. “These companies are now answerable to boards and shareholders and they won’t cop a $50 million loss to win a pissing contest.”

NRL executives and prospective media partners aren’t the only ones watching nervously as the landscape shifts. Any drop in broadcasting revenue will result in less money to clubs (they are currently funded to the tune of 130 per cent of their salary cap limit), meaning the players could also be out of pocket once the current collective bargaining agreement expires.

“If the revenues do come off in the future, that is something we will have to take into consideration,” says Rugby League Players’ Association chief executive Ian Prendergast. “However, I’m still optimistic there will be ways to slice and dice the rights in the future to at least maintain the current revenue that flows from broadcast rights. Hopefully we can continue to build on it in the future.”


https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/th...tv-broadcast-rights-deal-20191025-p534bg.html
 

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
76,689
NRL considers in-house production for next TV rights deal


The NRL will consider bringing broadcast production of its matches in-house for the next television rights deal to maximise revenue in a move that would have huge ramifications for its traditional media partners.

The existing deal with Foxtel and Nine Entertainment Co – the publishers of the Herald – doesn’t expire until the end of the 2022 season. However, the governing body is already planning for the next rights negotiations to ensure all options are considered in a rapidly changing media landscape.

The NRL extracted $2 billion from Nine, Foxtel and Telstra to provide coverage of the game over a five-year period, a figure 70 per cent higher than the previous deal. However, changes in technology and viewing habits could result in the value flatlining or even decreasing when the rights are next up for grabs.

Rugby league has long gone with a two-partner model of a free-to-air and subscription provider, with Fox and Nine paying top dollar for a property that has been a sure-fire ratings winner. However, the emergence of streaming service Kayo and a shift to fans consuming sport on mobile devices has further fragmented the market.

The NRL will give its current broadcast partners every opportunity to retain the rights before exploring alternate options. However, according to sources with knowledge of the approaching negotiations, the NRL could produce the broadcast content itself and then look to sell off the properties to interested parties if it isn't satisfied with the price broadcasters are willing to pay.

For instance, there could be a scenario in which the Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday and Sunday games could be sold as separate entities to individual networks, such as Nine, Seven, Ten and Fox Sports. Money would be saved by centralising all of the production costs while bidders could be prepared to pay more given it is an expense they wouldn’t have to bear.

Such a model would bring free-to-air broadcasters including Seven and Ten into the mix, raising the prospect of rugby league being spread across several channels. Platforms such as Google, Facebook and Netflix – often dubbed as "disruptors" to traditional media – may also emerge as rights bidders in the future.

There is also the possibility that the NRL could sell off various properties – such as State of Origin, the World and club 9s tournaments, international matches and the All Stars fixture – separately in a bid to extract maximum value.

Several other Australian sports including V8 Supercars have already taken their content production in-house. Tennis also uses a similar model for major events such as grand slams, on-selling the rights to broadcasters who then provide their own commentary teams.

The NRL has already made a $150 million investment in a digital strategy that includes a huge injection in nrl.com. It opens up the possibility of games potentially being delivered directly to subscribers, effectively taking out traditional television broadcasters as the middlemen.

The Origin matches, currently shown exclusively live on Nine, remain the biggest television events of the year. The NRL grand final between the Roosters and Raiders returned the lowest viewing figures on the network since 2003, attracting 1.866 million across the five capital cities. The decline was more alarming in the AFL grand final between Richmond and Greater Western Sydney, which attracted 2.19 million viewers – a 20 per cent drop on the previous decider.

Traditional TV figures are down for the NRL, although industry analysts believe the numbers stack up relatively well given the trend towards watching content on other electronic devices.

The NRL is expected to provide its strategy for the game’s footprint in coming months. The addition or relocation of teams could result in more value being added to the broadcast rights, particularly if Queensland gains a franchise.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nr...-for-next-tv-rights-deal-20191018-p5321o.html
 

strider

Post Whore
Messages
78,906
I thought that’s what my monthly subscription fee was for.

Maybe I’m just used to the NFL Game Pass which cuts out all the ads on non-live games, but I would have thought Kayo could do something similar. Or at least have less ads. I don’t mind a stack of them at half time of the footy, but when you’re watching a basketball game it gets pretty tiring.
Multiple revenue streams ... They need to cover their bases ... And get rich
 

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