Picture turns fuzzy for ARL's broadcast rights goal of $1bn
by: Simon Canning
From: The Australian
May 05, 2012 12:00AM
THE ARL Commission is hopeful of a billion-dollar-plus payday when it settles the next round of TV rights negotiations, but a series of factors that have emerged recently could cruel its chances of securing a deal similar to the $1.253 billion agreement struck by the AFL last year.
Club executives are hopeful the new deal will provide a cash windfall for the code, allowing for a higher salary cap and better funding for the clubs that are struggling financially.
Current rights holders the Nine Network, Foxtel and digital rights holder Telstra have until the close of business on Monday to submit their bids for the free-to-air, subscription and digital broadcast rights to rugby league.
It emerged last night that Nine wants greater control of the on-field action as part of its new bid.
Should it hold on to the rights, it will pressure the game's administrators into accepting a raft of changes including timeouts for commercial breaks and live Thursday night football. According to The Daily Telegraph, Nine hopes to wedge twice as many commercials into its live coverage, increasing the overall time of a game from 90 to 95 minutes.
There would by 30-second breaks for scrum stoppages, line dropouts and after tries are scored.
NRL officials last night said there would hardly be a difference to the stoppages in play for TV as there are now under regular play.
At least four games a year would be played on a Thursday night and Nine would also hope to shift Sunday games back an hour so they can be shown live at 4pm.
Nine has a first-and-last rights bid option, but the new ARL Commission is likely to test the market and open the bidding for Ten and Seven.
However, a successful bid by either network will prove problematic on several levels, some of which have only just emerged. Two weeks ago, Seven, which has dominated ratings and advertising revenue share for the past three years, shocked the market with a profit downgrade, warning that advertising revenue had slumped and looked unlikely to recover in the short term - even as the network boasted the nation's highest-rating TV programs.
But the financial challenges for the network also extend to the spiralling cost of content, in particular the high costs of local productions mandated by Australian content laws.
Such cost pressures may limit Seven's ability to bid for the rights, although industry insiders suspect the network would not be unwilling to make a large ambit offer that would force Nine - heavily reliant on rugby league, in particular the State of Origin series - to pay more than it was willing. Nine loses last bidding rights if the highest offer is 120 per cent greater than its first offer.
Seven is also challenged by the potential for conflicts with its existing AFL contract that might force it to split the rights with Ten, as it did under the previous AFL contract.
AFL conflicts have already caused discord with the V8 Supercars on Seven, with the V8s forced to Seven's digital channel on a number of occasions, an issue that would certainly be central to any discussions between Seven and the NRL.
The Ten Network faces a different set of problems. Having abandoned any hopes of retaining a slice of the AFL last year, the network is believed to be keen on having a tilt at Seven's V8 Supercars rights.
