The TV rights thread

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

What sort of estimate do you have on Seven's budget for RL rights? I guess what I'm asking is just how serious they are about a play for firstly State of Origin, then any subsequent rights.

Their budget is almost irrelevant. With 7 having the AFL rights, 9 can't not have the NRL rights. Whatever 7 bid (if they bid a total) 9 have to match it.

I don't think Kerry Packer had any intention of winning the AFL rights last time out, he just wanted his opposition to pay through the nose because he knew they couldn't afford to not win the AFL rights.

I reckon they'll play sniper and knock one of the gems off.

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

Seven will pull the same trick on us this time imo, they've got the money

 

[CC_Roosters]

All reports of 1 billion+ have come from the Victoriania media/AFL propaganda department(Same thing).
Any report from a business analyst(there are a few around about the rights) say different.

I don't think they would allow the journos they have under the thumb to announce a billion plus if it were not the case. Smells like a slow release news story to me, but they didn't want to release the money grab around easter/ANZAC day.

 

[Dragonwest]

Guys I've created a facebook group called FOXTEL pay up! - NRL TV rights

Feel free to have a read and join up! Get your league mates to join up too!! Be great to build up some numbers and highlight the fact League fans know that the NRL have been getting a raw deal from Foxtel!!

Any feedback appreciated

 

[seanoff]

i don't know why people are going on about 1HD.

Lachie's turning it into GEM/GO.

"ONE will now broaden its focus to general entertainment targeted at men aged between 25-54, with sport continuing to remain part of the mix, but not the main focus."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/07/3184984.htm?section=justin

1HD has failed and will re-launch as a much more generalist station.


Murdoch is going to be extremely reticent to put more money into sport. If he's not going after a lot of AFL i can't imagine he's going to suddenly chuck it a the NRL. and it depends on what he can drop in the near future. he might want to hold F1, Bikes, or NBA, NFL or whatever or he might divest 10 of those things and take 1 each of AFL and NRL.

i don't really think 10 are going to be a major player in the sports market.

I can't see 7 going after sunday nrl, they have AFL and V8s already on sundays, i think the NRL would be a bridge too far on sundays. going by the reports they have 4 FTA games of AFL, they probably only really want 2, so they'll be wanting to sell the other 2. if they can't, they will not take any NRL except maybe to spoil 9 if they can get SOO, assuming SOO is available as a separate package.

the AFL have got so much out of Fox by mandating every game live. Fox are in heaven with that. they have no concerns about which games they get, they have them all. that's the key.

from what i can gather the cash component of the AFL deal is 1.025B + 125M in contra advertising etc.


will be interesting what the NRL can get. they'll need to grow some balls tho and probably split the rights into bits and try and maximise the revenue from those individual bits.

 

[Collingwood Storm]

According to Murdoch, 10 are on a 'cost-cutting drive' and with his share in Fox Sports, I can't see them wanting to up the NRL price too much.

 

[docbrown]

Their budget is almost irrelevant. With 7 having the AFL rights, 9 can't not have the NRL rights. Whatever 7 bid (if they bid a total) 9 have to match it.

I don't think Kerry Packer had any intention of winning the AFL rights last time out, he just wanted his opposition to pay through the nose because he knew they couldn't afford to not win the AFL rights.

I reckon they'll play sniper and knock one of the gems off.

7 will bid for the entire NRL package, that's not going to change and it wouldn't surprise me if they deferred offloading the AFL matches until the NRL broadcast structure is decided.

Then they will be in a superior bargaining position and can effectively resell the material for overs or force 9 out of both rights. Best hope in the long run like I said is if they can keep a Sunday double header to go with their AFL package.

 

[Raiderdave]

According to Murdoch, 10 are on a 'cost-cutting drive' and with his share in Fox Sports, I can't see them wanting to up the NRL price too much.

then they won't get them

break up our rights & sell them off between the commercial FTA stations & fox if the price is right
the highest bidder gets the cookies

if mr murdoch doesn't reach into the kitty ... he gets nothing
& any broadcaster that doesn't have a mainstream sport to run in winter ( & by mainstream I mean either AFL in the sthn states or NRL in the nthn states ) .. will get hammered by its rivals all winter long.

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

You can bet Murdoch will bid for at least the Monday night game...
FTA on One HD would be a ratings bonanza.

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

TV deal to reap more than $1bn for AFL

Caroline Wilson

April 27, 2011
NETWORK SEVEN boss David Leckie and Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams are expected to meet AFL heads Mike Fitzpatrick and Andrew Demetriou tomorrow in Melbourne to sign the league's new five-year broadcast deal, which will reap the competition at least $1.025 billion in television revenue alone.
With Telstra expected to contribute an estimated $100 million from 2012 until 2016 for the game's online rights the AFL's historic pay day should easily exceed the billion dollars mooted when Fitzpatrick first unveiled his plan to expand the competition to 18 teams.

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/tv-deal-to-reap-more-than-1bn-for-afl-20110426-1dv70.html

Look who wrote it ..that will do me...nothing concrete..lots of expected...

 

[eelandia]

If you want to see the extreme end of this, you only need to come here to New Zealand.

Sky here has all the rights to all games live (even channel 9's delayed games - we take a direct feed).

the only Free to air coverage is on Prime (rugby union and league), and for the NRL this means 2 games FTA per weekend,each screened at 11.30pm.

also, Prime is owned by Sky, so there's no restrictions on one company having pay and FTA rights.

Good coverage if you can afford pay TV like me.. In fact better than you get in Australia.

But if you can't afford it then it's almost impossible to follow sport.

So we all support a free market until that free market starts to cost you? We are a funny lot.

****

 

[Ray Mosters]

Nothing really new there, as expected the AFL will get their billion, and most likely a fair bit more.

But heres the really interesting bit

Network sources last night confirmed Leckie, a staunch rugby league fan, remained determined to stay in the race for the four free-to-air weekly NRL games soon to be up for grabs.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/...1bn-for-afl-20110426-1dv70.html#ixzz1Kg7sxD1A

If 7 are genuinely in the running for the whole package we could be in for a bonanza. With 9 having the first and last rights and being determined to keep it, it will take a massive amount for 7 to take it off them, or a massive amount for 9 to keep it

Which, incidentally, is exactly the price we are after

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...o-nrls-tv-riches/story-e6frexnr-1226045238058

NRL still hopeful of billion-dollar television rights deal

Andrew Webster, Dean Ritchie and Todd Balym
From: The Daily Telegraph
April 27, 2011 12:00AM

THE NRL'S dream of a billion-dollar television rights payday remains on track despite the AFL being set to announce a similar deal in coming days.

While AFL officials remained tight-lipped last night, it is understood the game has done a deal with Seven and Foxtel for the next five years believed to be worth more than $1 billion.

There were immediate fears that Seven would no longer be in a position to challenge Channel 9 for the free-to-air rights to the NRL when its current broadcast deal ends at the end of 2013.

But a well-placed Seven source last night confirmed that Seven would remain in the hunt to challenge Nine and Channel 10.

"[Seven chief executive] David Leckie loves rugby league," the source told The Daily Telegraph last night.

"Seven will be actively involved in the television rights negotiations."

Yet the AFL's decision to end its association with Channel 10 - which now has Lachlan Murdoch at the helm and James Packer as a significant shareholder - could be the NRL's ultimate gain.

Asked if the AFL deal had sucked too much cash out of the pot, NRL boss David Gallop said: "There is nothing in the AFL deal that should adversely affect our position."

Gallop would not nominate a figure for league's next television deal but the NRL has long believed its product is worth the magical billion-dollar figure because it is the most watched sport on Australian TV, especially in the biggest market of Sydney.

"Our ratings results are simply outstanding and we are now well placed to do a great deal when the negotiations commence," Gallop said.

"When the restructure of our game is in place, we will start formal negotiations. But our deal has a year longer to run than the AFL, so we have plenty of time."

The AFL denied a TV rights announcement was imminent, but it is understood an in-principle agreement has been reached that gives Foxtel five games a week and Seven four games.

Seven would then have the opportunity to on-sell any or all games, with the Nine Network likely to secure the rights for Sunday football.

"We have no announcement at this stage and we are not commenting on the ongoing subject of TV rights," an AFL spokesman said yesterday.

An intriguing powerplay appears to be looming between Seven owner Kerry Stokes and Nine chief executive David Gyngell over the rights to the NRL.The late Kerry Packer attempted on his death bed in 2005 to leave Seven financially crippled when he made a huge offer for the AFL rights.

It forced Stokes to pay a then record $780 million for the AFL rights for the next five years.

Stokes is ready to exact his revenge by forcing the price up on Nine for the NRL rights. Nine has the first and last right of refusal.

Nine's owner CVC is financially stretched but Gyngell is desperate to retain the rights to the football code it has dominated for decades.

The slow march towards rugby league's independent commission has stalled negotiations for the NRL rights.

There is certainly belief amongst NRL club chairmen that they do not want Gallop to do the deal.

 

[docbrown]

Nothing really new there, as expected the AFL will get their billion, and most likely a fair bit more.

But heres the really interesting bit


If 7 are genuinely in the running for the whole package we could be in for a bonanza. With 9 having the first and last rights and being determined to keep it, it will take a massive amount for 7 to take it off them, or a massive amount for 9 to keep it

Which, incidentally, is exactly the price we are after

Yep. Either drive the price up for 9 and get some revenge for the last AFL bid and C7 fiasco - or - get the NRL rights and control both sports to then be able dictate the on sell prices to 9 & 10.

7 will likely string 9 & 10 along until NRL rights are in full swing. 7 have got the money to outbid 9 but it's not realistically feasible (both schedule/financially) to keep 4 games of each every week.

7 would be looking to take the best of both. Either they sell Saturday arvo or Sunday arvo AFL to 9. My guess is Saturday arvo - because they could then gain 2 Sunday NRL games, keep Sunday AFL and dominate Sunday nights plus pick up some rep games.

I keep hearing about 10/Foxtel NRL simulcasting though.

 

[El Diablo]

and according to this 7 aren't paying any more than they do now so should still have plenty of coin http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...-1bn-afl-tv-deal/story-e6frg6nf-1226045243391

Most of the uplift in value will come from Foxtel and Telstra, given the $90m a year Seven is paying will be about the same it paid for the 2007-11 rights.

 

[andrew057]

"With Telstra expected to contribute an estimated $100 million from 2012 until 2016 for the game's online rights the AFL's historic pay day"

So is it fair to believe the NRL should expect the same from Telstra?

 

[docbrown]

and according to this 7 aren't paying any more than they do now so should still have plenty of coin http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...-1bn-afl-tv-deal/story-e6frg6nf-1226045243391

I think this too is also a very portentive statement:

It is also possible that Seven could try to sell a game to Nine, which is the current NRL free-to-air broadcast rights holder, in return for a partnership during the upcoming negotiations for the 2013-17 NRL rights.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...-1bn-afl-tv-deal/story-e6frg6nf-1226045243391

 

[docbrown]

"With Telstra expected to contribute an estimated $100 million from 2012 until 2016 for the game's online rights the AFL's historic pay day"

So is it fair to believe the NRL should expect the same from Telstra?

Again they need to bring in competitive tension to force Telstra's hand.

Hence they should be talking to companies like FetchTV - but I think also Hulu is a potential player here as they offer their service over multiple platform - Ipads, Smartphones, Net Blurays etc.

What better way to build your business than by gaining the number one television sport in the country you're setting up - and it's a game perfectly suited to those devices.

 

[Big Mick]

If Foxtel have upped their bid for AFL they better freaking give NRL more than them considering the amount of programs which are in their top 20 viewerships are NRL games.

They better gives us AFL + 1/2. Otherwise they can f**k off...and watch their subscriptions drop as a result and advertising dollars piss off because now their programming isn't as attractive.

 

[andrew057]

Again they need to bring in competitive tension to force Telstra's hand.

Hence they should be talking to companies like FetchTV - but I think also Hulu is a potential player here as they offer their service over multiple platform - Ipads, Smartphones, Net Blurays etc.

What better way to build your business than by gaining the number one television sport in the country you're setting up - and it's a game perfectly suited to those devices.

Would be interesting to know whether the AFL used other options, like the ones you mentioned to push their deal with Telstra as high as possible.