Murdoch, who arrived in Australia last Monday as the NRL was outlining details of its $925 million free-to-air deal with Nine, clearly didn't appreciate being forced to play second fiddle for the rights to a code he only agreed to relinquish control of when the ARL Commission was formed three years ago.
In a show of strength after appearing to have been outmanoeuvred by the NRL, the AFL wheeled out Murdoch, Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, Telstra chief executive Andy Penn and executives from their media companies to a press conference to announce the $2.508 billion, six-year deal.
The size and haste of the deal are indications of how angered Murdoch must have been as there is a belief that News Corp paid well beyond market value for the AFL rights.
KEY POINTS OF THE DEAL
$2.508 bIllion over six years from 2017.
$1.3 billion from News Corp. Foxtel (jointly owned by News and Telstra) to maintain rights for all nine games.
$300 million from Telstra to broadcast over its planned Telstra TV service and to handsets and digital devices.
News Corp will also have the right to sub-license a Saturday afternoon game, believed to be worth around $30 million per season.
$840 million in cash and $60 million in contra from Seven for an average of 3.5 matches per round free-to-air.
NRL officials could not recall Murdoch ever attending a press conference when he began the three-year Super League war in 1995 after failing to secure any rights to the code for his pay-TV venture or when News Corp maintained its stranglehold on the game from the 1998 peace deal to 2012.
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