The TV rights thread

[Heritage XIII]

I heard Ten have to bid with Seven, it's in the last contract with the AFL?

 

[Raiderdave]

TBf comparing a $40mill one off ARU windfall to the AFL's recurrent $300mill income is a bit ridiculous! They could set up 6 teams, fully fund them and still not ne short of a $ such is their income level.

We could go for a min increase this time and frick Fox off or go for an Avg increase and let Fox keep the games.

if we were serious about this scenario ... fox would find the dosh ,
otherwise their business in the short term would be in serious jeopardy
as it may takes years for their dream of increased subscriptions in the sthn states ... in the interim, they lose hundreds of millions off their bottom line from lost subscriptions in the nthn states.

Like I said if we aren't brave ... & stand our ground we will never break the cycle of getting " average " deals

 

[m0nty]

Most of what she wrote was bullsh*t

Sort of. What Caro has been doing is pretty much running the AFL House line. She's got a direct line to management in there and has been acting as their unofficial PR, putting their thought balloons up without much in the way of editing, and seeing who salutes. So yes, it's bullsh*t, but it's official bullsh*t.

 

[Perth Red]

I think splitting into packages is going to force Fox to pay more, as long as another FTA is serious about getting them. Friday night games(2), Saturday Games (3), Sunday Games(3) and Monday night game(1). Those are the packages that should be on offer.

 

[El Diablo]

Sort of. What Caro has been doing is pretty much running the AFL House line. She's got a direct line to management in there and has been acting as their unofficial PR, putting their thought balloons up without much in the way of editing, and seeing who salutes. So yes, it's bullsh*t, but it's official bullsh*t.

she :shock:

 

[andrew057]

I think splitting into packages is going to force Fox to pay more, as long as another FTA is serious about getting them. Friday night games(2), Saturday Games (3), Sunday Games(3) and Monday night game(1). Those are the packages that should be on offer.

Well apparently its illegal to split the games up under the first and last bidding rights Nine have.

 

[El Diablo]

Well apparently its illegal to split the games up under the first and last bidding rights Nine have.

that is not an established fact. there have been media reports saying 9 don't think it can be done. no direct quote from anyone and certainly none stating it is illegal or wrong and therefore will not be happening.

 

[andrew057]

that is not an established fact. there have been media reports saying 9 don't think it can be done. no direct quote from anyone and certainly none stating it is illegal or wrong and therefore will not be happening.

It's concerning to me that when splitting the rights was first mentioned by Gallop and the NRL there was a lot of positive talk about how much it could benefit the game.

Then there were murmurs about the legality of splitting the rights and we havent heard a peep from the NRL about it since.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

the only way to get Fox to fork out the right proice for RL would be for people to cancel their subscriptions soon and tell them they'll only return if they pay good money for the NRL rights next time

I thought about this tactic. Get RL fans to suspend subscriptions in the lead up to the negotiations whilst threatening to unhook them completely if a publically agreed figure was not stumped up for the rights.

 

[Perth Red]

which is fine unless you live in a state where the only opportunity to watch NRl is on Fox!

Re splitting the rights, they are already split so i am guessing you mean the Friday and Sunday games as a package? If NRL did agree to this last time round then they really do need an new CEO!

 

[andrew057]

Re splitting the rights, they are already split so i am guessing you mean the Friday and Sunday games as a package? If NRL did agree to this last time round then they really do need an new CEO!

I thought channel 9 owned the rights to all games and sold them to Fox? Could be mistaken.

Im talking about any different split to the one the NRL currently has. As this would effect Nine's first and last rights deal.

 

[Goddo]

Lets not forget the situation for the AFL - they are selling EVERYTHING to PayTV, thus reducing the value of free to air content.

* 10 don't want to pay what AFL are asking
* 7 don't want to compromise their scheduling with Better Homes and Gardens. They are acutely aware of the implications of simulcast and live AFL. It will hurt their bottom line.
* 9 are willing to simulcast live, but want to pay less than 7.
* Fox will pay top dollar, but they want every game live. No compromise, or it will drop the value.

Basically, the AFL has come to the conclusion that to maximise revenue from the 3 competing mediums (PayTV, free to air, internet) they have to make PayTV the primary medium.

But this leaves a few doors open. For us:

* Exclusive Free to air content. The networks really like this.
* Free to Air channels will be paying less, and will therefore have more to spend on other content. Particularily content that rates (friday Night NRL, Sunday afternoon, Monday Night especially)

We can potentially split the rights 4 ways -

Origin and Tests, (say channel 7 outbid 9 for it, say $50m a year)
2x Friday night free to air, (Channel 9, say $35m a year)
Sunday + Monday Free to air, (Channel 10 on One HD, say $35m a year) and
2 Saturday and 2 Sunday PayTV (Foxtel 4 games, say $60m a year)

That would be $900m over 5 years.

In fact, if the AFL goes down the PayTV path, the NRL should most certainly split its games into packages. The NRL is far better suited to packages anyway, with different rep levels of the game.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

http://www.theage.com.au/business/ten-to-one-youve-hit-a-dead-end-20110407-1d5ck.html...

 

[El Diablo]

It's concerning to me that when splitting the rights was first mentioned by Gallop and the NRL there was a lot of positive talk about how much it could benefit the game.

Then there were murmurs about the legality of splitting the rights and we havent heard a peep from the NRL about it since.

the only person who has mentioned it is Masters

there has been nothing from 9 so why would he comment :?

 

[CC_Roosters]

Lets not forget the situation for the AFL - they are selling EVERYTHING to PayTV, thus reducing the value of free to air content.

* 10 don't want to pay what AFL are asking
* 7 don't want to compromise their scheduling with Better Homes and Gardens. They are acutely aware of the implications of simulcast and live AFL. It will hurt their bottom line.
* 9 are willing to simulcast live, but want to pay less than 7.
* Fox will pay top dollar, but they want every game live. No compromise, or it will drop the value.

Basically, the AFL has come to the conclusion that to maximise revenue from the 3 competing mediums (PayTV, free to air, internet) they have to make PayTV the primary medium.

But this leaves a few doors open. For us:

* Exclusive Free to air content. The networks really like this.
* Free to Air channels will be paying less, and will therefore have more to spend on other content. Particularily content that rates (friday Night NRL, Sunday afternoon, Monday Night especially)

We can potentially split the rights 4 ways -

Origin and Tests, (say channel 7 outbid 9 for it, say $50m a year)
2x Friday night free to air, (Channel 9, say $35m a year)
Sunday + Monday Free to air, (Channel 10 on One HD, say $35m a year) and
2 Saturday and 2 Sunday PayTV (Foxtel 4 games, say $60m a year)

That would be $900m over 5 years.

In fact, if the AFL goes down the PayTV path, the NRL should most certainly split its games into packages. The NRL is far better suited to packages anyway, with different rep levels of the game.

Are those figures educated guesses or have you winged them?

 

[El Diablo]

I thought about this tactic. Get RL fans to suspend subscriptions in the lead up to the negotiations whilst threatening to unhook them completely if a publically agreed figure was not stumped up for the rights.

What people should do atm is contact their pay tv provider and tell them they have read Foxtel want to pay a ridiculous amount for AFL. Tell them that is fine just as long as their is no increase in fees to pay for something they don't watch.

 

[undertaker]

I would have thought that AFL's natural stoppages would have allowed for more and better quality (in the sense of captive audience) advertising than NRL.

That's interesting you mentioned that, because I also would've thought the same as well. However, I remember towards the end of last season, there was some big Melbourne blockbuster that Ch7 decided to show live on Friday Night (can't remember the two teams that were involved) after a lot of complaints from AFL fans. Match drew nearly 90000 people at the MCG, it rated a lot better than their delayed 8:30pm broadcasts. However, I remember reading that Ch7 had to at least get 700,000 viewers in Melbourne just to break even if they broadcasted the game live. The ended up getting somewhere around the 600,000 mark.

 

[jasonstevenswedgie]

http://www.foxtel.com.au/support/feedback-complaints/programming-feedback/default.htm

 

[Goddo]

It would be safe to say Origin + All Stars + Internationals would demand around $50m. Guarnteed 3 weeks win in ratings, and generates heaps of news items in the lead up. It is a huge national event, the equivenant of 3 Grand Finals.

Friday Night football is a winner, but could be from $25m a year upwards...
Similar situation with Sunday and Monday, probably worth around $25m, but one of these packages would likely include the Finals series, which would be worth $15m a year?

Then you have 4 more games exclusive to Foxtel. They are currently paying us $46m for 5 games. Say we expand, Fox would basically get the same deal as now. With inflation alone that would mean something in the order of $60m at the least.

So winged, but if you think about it, its about right. In such a scenario, the NRL rights would be somewhere around $850-900m.

Unfortunately, it rellies on spliting the rights. If 9 get AFL, I can't see them stopping us from splitting the rights. If 9 don't get AFL though, they will fight tooth and nail to keep all of Rugby League.

EDIT:

If it did pan out like I outlined, it would be in the NRL's interest to give up some cash to get other things out of the media companies, such as contra news content, NRL spin-off shows, control over scheduling.

I'd be happy with a $800-850m deal, if we get say $50m of contra programing, live broadcasts and control over scheduling.

The final pieces in the NRL puzzle would then be Internet Rights and Major Sponsor - with the potential ownership shifs within Foxtel (PBL were looking at selling their share to News), Telstra with T-Box and Big Pond, and the National Broadband Network... who knows what that would be worth? $50m? $100m?

 

[El Diablo]

http://smarthouse.com.au/Content_And_Downloads/Industry/F9D6J3V2

Packer To Drop Foxtel if “Price is Right’

By Oonagh Reidy | Thursday | 07/04/2011

No deal has been done yet but James Packer is already thinking about a Foxtel exit strategy.

The media magnate is ready to give his Foxtel interests the slip, if the price is right, according to media reports.

Packer's Consolidated Media Holdings owns 25% of Foxtel. The media mogul owns just under half of CMH.

And why? Because Packer isn't sure about how lucrative a business proposition pay TV will be in the future, reports suggest, probably due to the onslaught of free TV channels that has hit Aussie screens.

Foxtel is already struggling to deliver new customers, with their CEO blaming the launch of Freeview, new free to air TV channels and new content services, includes the likes of BigPond TV, Fetch TV and other IPTV services.

And just yesterday, Telstra, who owns 25 per cent of the pay TV giant Foxtel, launched its movie streaming service for all Samsung new Smart TVs, Blu-ray and home theatre systems and already offers free content streaming to its broadband subscribers.

Foxtel has recently been associated with a takeover of regional pay TV outfit rivals Austar, although no deal has been set in stone.

The deal, first flagged several weeks ago, needs approval from all three of Foxtel shareholders: Telstra, Consolidated Media and Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd as well as Austar.

Packer, who recently bought shares in free TV Channel Ten, may be thinking his interest better lie here, given the lack of growth in subscription viewing.