Correct. But we also must not overlook the fact that the $4b quoted by FTV also must purchase the rights to ALL the other programming on FTA networks, not only during the NRL season but for the entire year. Whilst I absolutely agree that the NRL deserves PLENTY more, and I'm in no way defending the networks, we have to understand that the networks aren't magic money pits.
For example, I'm told that Seven paid royalties of over $1m per episode for the rights to hold the X Factor last year. This is purely a royalty for the X Factor NAME, paid to Simon Cowell. It didn't include production costs, nor the remuneration of the celebrities involved. Whether it is your kind of entertainment or not, millions of viewers watched each and every show, so it's in the network's interests to broadcast it (despite the hefty costs involved).
My point is simply that, whilst any prospective NRL rights bidder must be prepared to dig significantly deeper this time around, we should be mindful of the hard negotiations ahead, as we can't just demand money that does not yet exist (it shall only arrive once the networks begin airing the broadcasts and receiving the advertising revenue). There is still, and always will be, an inherent risk on the broadcasters' part in this regard. There are delicate months ahead in these negotiations, and going at them like a bull at a gate will not work. Massaging and shaping is the way to manipulate these negotiations, not brute force.
