A decision was promised weeks ago but negotiations go on.
2GB are keen to keep their rights exclusive for all but the Monday night game which belonged to Triple M. Triple M are keen for more games than just Monday night and 2UE are keen to get back into the game and wrest the rights from arch rival 2GB.
The NRL, of course, is keen to wring every last dollar and every last concession out of the deal. To them, coverage is almost as important as cash. With all three networks plus the ABC determined to land the best deal for themselves, no wonder negotiations (as of yesterday afternoon) are still going on.
Sources say that while MRN and 2GB has put up the most cash so far in its bid to retain exclusivity, a consortium between Fairfax’s 2UE, 4BC and Bill Caralis’ Super Network offers the best coverage of NSW regional markets.
Triple M, though, could be the dark horse in this three (commercial) horse race. It too could do a deal with Caralis and then add a slew of its own SCA stations to the coverage map in both NSW and Queensland led by Triple M, Brisbane.
SCA Head of Content Craig Bruce was hesitant to divulge details of the SCA bid, “I can’t go into the specifics, obviously, that will be sorted over time.”
But it’s clear that Triple M sees football as pivotal to their blokey image, “We have enjoyed our involvement with the NRL up to this point. And we target men. They love the NRL in both in Brisbane and Sydney and if we can be a part of that, it would be a great thing for both Two and 4Triple M,” says Bruce.
When asked how many games he was looking to broadcast he would only say, “More than one.” but then he adds, “We have a model that obviously works really well with the AFL in Melbourne and we think we can do a version of that in Sydney and Brisbane and I guess time will tell what we end up with.”
The obvious question then is, how many AFL games does Triple M, Melbourne broadcast? The answer is four. It shares rights with 3AW, SEN and the ABC. Logic suggests, then, if AFL works for Triple M in Melbourne with four games a week then that would be a good number of NRL games to call in Sydney, Brisbane and the regions.
If Triple M get their four, it will be interesting to see who gets the other four.
