The 2017 Rights Deal Discussion thread

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I would also be fine with the AFL making a few more concessions to the TV stations such as possibly increasing the gap between goals by 10 or 20 seconds to fit in a second ad. I would barely notice it and it would help get a bigger TV rights deal.
 
I think the NRL have their TV rights deal a year or two behind the AFL's. I wonder if that is an advantage or a disadvantage. On the one hand the NRL could point to the AFL's TV rights deal and make a case for why theirs is worth the same or a little bit more (it is easier to point to other examples than try and build a case from scratch) but on the other hand if the AFL has a big TV rights deal that might effectively remove a bidder or two from the market as that station or stations would not be able to afford to go after the NRL as well.
I don't think it's necessarily a disadvantage, the NRL in all likelihood are probably starting informal talks with networks this year and networks know when the contracts are up and will factor it in for any offer they make for the AFL rights, depending on the timeline with what happens with ten's ownership, a year early or late could make a difference for both codes. Ten will be crucial to both codes achieving anywhere near 2 billion.
 
I don't think it's necessarily a disadvantage, the NRL in all likelihood are probably starting informal talks with networks this year and networks know when the contracts are up and will factor it in for any offer they make for the AFL rights, depending on the timeline with what happens with ten's ownership, a year early or late could make a difference for both codes. Ten will be crucial to both codes achieving anywhere near 2 billion.

Here are the changes Smith recommends for the NRL before the next rights discussion, sadly no such advice in the Roys article for AFL footy.

Path to profits: Colin Smith's seven-point plan for the NRL to seal a $2 billion bonanza:

  • "All games need to be live on TV, with opportunities for broadcasters to have more advertising. Swapping the Friday night games, where Brisbane sees a Queensland team at the same time as NSW sees a Sydney game and then flip the two games, works."
  • "An additional team in south-east Queensland: either a new team or a relocated team from Sydney. The NRL must add another Queensland team to the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans to expand their TV programming options. Queenslanders love watching Queensland clubs. A second team playing out of Suncorp Stadium would give Nine and Foxtel the chance to gather more audience from Queensland."
  • "The successful Auckland Nines must be the season kick-off for the NRL."
  • "Build a World Club Championship of up to four teams between England and Australia." In the same way the ARU gained a financial bonus from Britain paying a fourfold increase for SANZAR rights, any added exposure of NRL in England will add value.
  • "Develop a specific window for an annual Tri-Nations between Australia, New Zealand and England."
  • "Protect and grow the game in Melbourne, if only to enhance the ultra premium product, State of Origin."
  • "Ensure there are annually NRL games in Perth, Adelaide, Wellington and possibly Port Moresby and Wollongong, Cairns and Rockhampton."
 

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Here are the changes Smith recommends for the NRL before the next rights discussion, sadly no such advice in the Roys article for AFL footy.

Path to profits: Colin Smith's seven-point plan for the NRL to seal a $2 billion bonanza:

  • "All games need to be live on TV, with opportunities for broadcasters to have more advertising. Swapping the Friday night games, where Brisbane sees a Queensland team at the same time as NSW sees a Sydney game and then flip the two games, works."

Sounds like they will want Foxtel to air the games at the same time as the FTA channel. It is the only way all games will be live unless the FTA channel is willing to put the other Friday night game live on their digital channel.
 
Here are the changes Smith recommends for the NRL before the next rights discussion, sadly no such advice in the Roys article for AFL footy.

Path to profits: Colin Smith's seven-point plan for the NRL to seal a $2 billion bonanza:

  • "All games need to be live on TV, with opportunities for broadcasters to have more advertising. Swapping the Friday night games, where Brisbane sees a Queensland team at the same time as NSW sees a Sydney game and then flip the two games, works."
  • "An additional team in south-east Queensland: either a new team or a relocated team from Sydney. The NRL must add another Queensland team to the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans to expand their TV programming options. Queenslanders love watching Queensland clubs. A second team playing out of Suncorp Stadium would give Nine and Foxtel the chance to gather more audience from Queensland."
  • "The successful Auckland Nines must be the season kick-off for the NRL."
  • "Build a World Club Championship of up to four teams between England and Australia." In the same way the ARU gained a financial bonus from Britain paying a fourfold increase for SANZAR rights, any added exposure of NRL in England will add value.
  • "Develop a specific window for an annual Tri-Nations between Australia, New Zealand and England."
  • "Protect and grow the game in Melbourne, if only to enhance the ultra premium product, State of Origin."
  • "Ensure there are annually NRL games in Perth, Adelaide, Wellington and possibly Port Moresby and Wollongong, Cairns and Rockhampton."
nothing really revolutionary, a lot of it is already happening.
 
Bruce Gordon offers to pump $100m into struggling Ten

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/medi...ggling-ten-20150310-1406p3.html#ixzz3U7gaXllF

Under Mr Gordon's proposal it is believed the WIN Corporation chairman could effectively double his 14.9 per cent holding in Ten if the government scraps cross-media ownership laws, giving him a more powerful say in any future television industry consolidation.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/medi...ggling-ten-20150310-1406p3.html#ixzz3U8eoXweb
 
I reckon a Night GF plus Good Friday and a few Thursdays thrown in should boost the total to the $1.8 - 2 billion mark esp if CH 10 get into the act.

Good friday won't net much its basically already in and honestly i don't see ten boosting the rights, but rather the threat of ten boosting the rights. it will reach 2 because 7 will pay extra for exclusive rights if ten gets games the deal will fall short.
 

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AFL itching for broadcast rights talks, Ten or no Ten

by Jared Lynch and Dominic White
Negotiations for the AFL's next broadcast rights deal are set to begin before the start of the 2015 football season, with the league appearing unwilling to wait until the future ownership of Ten Network Holdings is decided.

Sources close to the deal say talks are imminent and will start before round one kicks off on April 2.

This is despite the auction for Ten Network – which the struggling free-to-air broadcaster and its advisor Citi had planned to finalise before Christmas – being yet to be resolved.

It is also understood that Nine Entertainment Co, which has the rights to screen rival code the National Rugby League, will not participate in the auction. It dropped out early in the previous AFL process.


The AFL has told the market it values its next broadcast rights deal at $1.75 billion over five years, and held informal talks with television networks late last year.

The league hoped the price could be pushed up further if Ten – perhaps in combination with Foxtel, which has made a joint takeover bid with Discovery Communications for Ten's key assets – joined the bidding. The league had delayed formal negotiations while the auction continued.

But the AFL is hoping to finalise its next broadcast rights deal before the end of this season. The existing $1.25 billion five-year agreement expires at the end of 2016.

Ten, which is in need of a major sporting code in its schedule, is preparing to participate in the process, having enjoyed much-needed ratings success with the Big Bash cricket league. But its financial capacity is limited when compared with rivals.



The incumbent rights holders, Seven West Media, Foxtel, Fox Sports and Telstra, have indicated they want to retain them.

Seven chief executive Tim Worner chose to maintain a "polite silence" on the fprthcoming talks last week, but believes sport, reality TV and news are the "three pillars" of the network.

He has also said Seven would not overpay for the AFL rights. "We love AFL but it is also well documented that we are not going to make an emotional decision on that," Mr Worner said after the company's interim results last month.

Bedi Singh, the chief financial officer of News Corporation, which owns Fox Sports and owns half of Foxtel, also has said the company would be "economically sensible" about broadcast rights.


"I don't think we are looking at getting into negotiations where you see the kind of stuff that's happening in the, UK hopefully," Mr Singh told analysts and investors this month.

He was referring to the record £5.136 billion ($10.17 billion) Sky and BT paid for live English Premier League TV rights for three seasons from 2016-17. This was a 70 per cent increase on Sky at BT's current £3 billion deal.

Mr Singh is not the only media executive who believes Australia will not see a British-style bidding war for AFL rights, with others questioning the $2 billion price tag some analysts have predicted, saying the cost of England's Premier League rights reflected a different sport in a different market.

http://www.afr.com/business/media-a...st-rights-talks-ten-or-no-ten-20150315-1425sd
 
Ten should combine with fox. While Seven still get their 4 games exclusively.

Maybe something like this.

Thursday Night - Channel 7
Friday Night - Channel 7 (Live in Vic, SA, NSW, QLD) (Delayed in Perth)
Friday Night Game 2 - Channel 7 (Live in Perth) (Delayed Elsewhere)
Saturday Arvo - Channel 7
Saturday Night - Channel 10/Foxtel (Airing Live in Vic, SA, Slight Delay in Perth)
Saturday Night - Channel 10/Foxtel (A Queensland or a NSW Team Plays in this slot every week)
Sunday Arvo - Channel 7
Sunday Twilight - Channel 10/Foxtel

The rest are played on Foxtel
 
Ten should combine with fox. While Seven still get their 4 games exclusively.

Maybe something like this.

Thursday Night - Channel 7
Friday Night - Channel 7 (Live in Vic, SA, NSW, QLD) (Delayed in Perth)
Friday Night Game 2 - Channel 7 (Live in Perth) (Delayed Elsewhere)
Saturday Arvo - Channel 7
Saturday Night - Channel 10/Foxtel (Airing Live in Vic, SA, Slight Delay in Perth)
Saturday Night - Channel 10/Foxtel (A Queensland or a NSW Team Plays in this slot every week)
Sunday Arvo - Channel 7
Sunday Twilight - Channel 10/Foxtel

The rest are played on Foxtel
Delayed telecasts are a thing of the past. Coming from a Queenslander who endured Ten's BS with the Big Bash's delayed cast, it'll ****ing ruin the game and they know it. It pissed off the players, the league, the commentators, and the fans. Ten ****ed it up big time last year and won't do it again, that's for sure.

As for Foxtel only getting selected games each week, I very much doubt the AFL would risk not airing every game on Foxtel. I know it'd make the FTA rights more valuable, but having every game live in HD on Foxtel is something fans love. Unless the AFL offer their own online HD streaming of every game (which is looking very likely!), I can't see it happening!
 
I reckon a Night GF plus Good Friday and a few Thursdays thrown in should boost the total to the $1.8 - 2 billion mark esp if CH 10 get into the act.

I dont see the AFL getting what its expecting this time. Especially if nine stays out and ten dont play.

AFL prorperties on offer currently
  • 198 home and away games + 9 finals
  • 4 games live on Seven
  • All games live on Fox
  • local games guaranteed to local markets on FTA
  • Games streamed outside Australia on pc/laptop/mobile
  • Games streamed inside on Australia on mobile/tablet only
  • NAB Challenge
  • VFL match of the week on 7
  • Under 18s/16s championships
Possible new additions to include:
  • new national womens comp (brought forward to 2018)
  • Good Friday
Take a look for example at the NRL rights
  • 192 home and away games + 9 finals
  • 3 games exclusive to Nine - now all live
  • 5 games exclusive to Fox - all live
  • All games available for streaming inside and outside Australia
  • All games live into NZ on Sky and NZ games on Maori TV
  • Holden Cup/NSW Cup and NSW Schoolboys share a broadcast slot
  • QLD Cup on Nine
  • Origin x 3
  • ANZAC Test
  • Four nations
  • City v Country
  • Auckland Nines
  • Charity Shield
  • World Club Championship
Like it or not, the AFL has no answer to the NRL Origin series, unless it can successfully reintroduce its own origin.


Ten should combine with fox. While Seven still get their 4 games exclusively.

Maybe something like this.

Thursday Night - Channel 7
Friday Night - Channel 7 (Live in Vic, SA, NSW, QLD) (Delayed in Perth)
Friday Night Game 2 - Channel 7 (Live in Perth) (Delayed Elsewhere)
Saturday Arvo - Channel 7
Saturday Night - Channel 10/Foxtel (Airing Live in Vic, SA, Slight Delay in Perth)
Saturday Night - Channel 10/Foxtel (A Queensland or a NSW Team Plays in this slot every week)
Sunday Arvo - Channel 7
Sunday Twilight - Channel 10/Foxtel

The rest are played on Foxtel

I dont see much change from the status quo, unless the AFL can get more from the broadcaster by going exclusive on Monday/Thursday.
 
I dont see the AFL getting what its expecting this time. Especially if nine stays out and ten dont play.

AFL prorperties on offer currently
  • 198 home and away games + 9 finals
  • 4 games live on Seven
  • All games live on Fox
  • local games guaranteed to local markets on FTA
  • Games streamed outside Australia on pc/laptop/mobile
  • Games streamed inside on Australia on mobile/tablet only
  • NAB Challenge
  • VFL match of the week on 7
  • Under 18s/16s championships
Possible new additions to include:
  • new national womens comp (brought forward to 2018)
  • Good Friday
Take a look for example at the NRL rights
  • 192 home and away games + 9 finals
  • 3 games exclusive to Nine - now all live
  • 5 games exclusive to Fox - all live
  • All games available for streaming inside and outside Australia
  • All games live into NZ on Sky and NZ games on Maori TV
  • Holden Cup/NSW Cup and NSW Schoolboys share a broadcast slot
  • QLD Cup on Nine
  • Origin x 3
  • ANZAC Test
  • Four nations
  • City v Country
  • Auckland Nines
  • Charity Shield
  • World Club Championship
Like it or not, the AFL has no answer to the NRL Origin series, unless it can successfully reintroduce its own origin.

I dont see much change from the status quo, unless the AFL can get more from the broadcaster by going exclusive on Monday/Thursday.


Unless the AFL offer their own online HD streaming of every game (which is looking very likely!), I can't see it happening!

This outcome would most likely put the wind up the TV companies.

The Nrl heartland is NSW and QLD with half the Australian population between them and thats why their Origin games rate so well and because it feeds of QLDs hatred of everything to do with NSW.An AFL origin match would not have the same pulling power.
I still think the AFL will get more than last time as the TV companies are in need of live sport which is still up the top of the ratings ladder.
 
Unless the AFL offer their own online HD streaming of every game (which is looking very likely!), I can't see it happening!

This outcome would most likely put the wind up the TV companies.


I'd be all over streaming. I'd pay $10 a week for it. Put a channel on my Roku and I'm away
 
News Corp chief Robert Thomson

With the AFL about to begin tense negotiations with broadcasters for a new TV rights contract, Mr Thomson dashed the code’s hopes they could expect an astronomical rise in the price of rights like their counterparts in English soccer and American football.

“There shouldn’t be expectations of having the sort of inflation you’ve seen in the US with NFL rights where you have a real national audience through the networks and four big networks bidding,” he said.

“In Australia, that isn’t really going to happen. Is it important to get the AFL rights? Sure. But not at any price.”

He said the AFL’s deal with current rights holder Fox Sports, owned by News Corp, enabled the code to extract maximum value from their rights because an AFL game in Melbourne was not necessarily popular in Brisbane on a free-to-air broadcaster.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...asts-mail-online/story-e6frg996-1227257613221
 
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Key take out for me:

“There shouldn’t be expectations of having the sort of inflation you’ve seen in the US with NFL rights where you have a real national audience through the networks and four big networks bidding,” he said.

He said the AFL’s deal with current rights holder Fox Sports, owned by News Corp, enabled the code to extract maximum value from their rights because an AFL game in Melbourne was not necessarily popular in Brisbane on a free-to-air broadcaster.

Good Friday and night GF's etc are all well and good - but the key driver in rights will be national acceptance and enthusiasm for the league. Now, AFL demands of FTA coverage in NSW/QLD would have cost them some dollars in the short term - but there needs to be solid growth in the TV figures in those states.
 
Channel Seven confirms interest in broadcasting A-League and Socceroos


Channel Seven has indicating its interest in purchasing the TV rights for Australian football with the Socceroos' games highlighted by their managing director as a major drawcard.

Lewis Martin, managing director of Channel Seven in Melbourne, gave a major hint that the network is in negotiations with the Football Federation of Australia to purchase the rights of the league and international games and highlighted the growth of the game and their popularity of the Socceroos.

The current TV deal shared between Fox Sports and SBS is set to expire in 2017 and the Football Federation of Australia is understood to be in the early stages of negotiations with other parties over a new broadcast deal.

The FFA is eager to get the A-League and international fixtures on a major network as part of the next TV deal to further football's push into the mainstream of Australian sport consumption. It is hoped the next deal will come close to doubling the current one which could land the governing body up to $80 million each year, providing clubs with an annual cheque of approximately $5 million each season.

Similar to the current package, the A-League is set to be bundled to a yet-to-be determined extent with Socceroos' international fixtures in the FFA's pitch to potential broadcast partners. Speaking at the Money In Sport conference in Melbourne, Martin praised the Socceroos' brand and popularity and confirmed the network's interest in televising Socceroos' fixtures.

"We're going to be there when the business case supports it but I have to tell you that nothing captivates a nation like the green and gold jersey of the Socceroos," Martin said.

Seven has dipped into the football market recently having broadcast the A-League All Stars' events as well as Melbourne Victory's friendly match against Liverpool at the MCG in 2013 which drew a crowd of 95,000. The network previously held the rights to the top tier of Australian domestic football when they broadcasted the National Soccer League from 1998 until 2002. Their past with the NSL is often a sore point for fans as games were televised on delay late at night if at all and mostly on their ill-fated Pay TV station C7 Sport.

However, it appears the network is eager to explore purchasing the rights for the game once again given the enormous rise in popularity since the birth of the A-League in 2005.

"For us it comes down to the discipline of the rights being required and the return we can get, " Martin said. "We all know about the growth of football in this country and the participation rates."
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/...ng-aleague-and-socceroos-20150318-1m21ak.html
 
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