Broadcast rights stoush could leave game and Fox bruised and bloodied
By Roy Masters
February 12, 2020
In television they shoot the wounded. It applies as much to a presenter who doesn't engage with the viewers as it does with a sport that doesn't rate.
When the Rugby Australia broadcast negotiations finally are settled there could be some casualties within the hierarchy of the sport and incumbent broadcaster Fox Sports.
Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle.CREDIT:AAP
RA chief executive Raelene Castle has a posse of death riders willing her to fail and she won't survive unless she receives the significant uplift in TV monies she has promised Australia's four Super Rugby franchises, as well as the other SANZAAR nations who have already committed to the next five-year deal.
RA is unyielding on having one Super Rugby match a week in prime time on free-to-air television to "grow the game".
The match would be on Saturday nights, probably on Network Ten, and involve one of the Australian franchises - the Waratahs, Reds, Brumbies and Rebels. Each Super Rugby franchise has seven home games a year. That's 28 matches per season, but with crossovers there could be only one game played in Australia some weekends. The Rebels versus the Stormers on FTA on a Saturday night is scarcely the saviour the sport seeks.
Yet even if the Waratahs and Reds were shown every Saturday night on FTA would it rate? RA's best product, the Wallabies, are already on Ten and it hasn't been the godsend. The best evidence that FTA is not the salvation of a minor sport is the A-League. Last week's match between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory match was relegated to the ABC's children's channel.
The time to put the Waratahs on FTA was back in 2014 when they won the Super Rugby title but RA had already stuffed Rupert's money down its pants like a frenzied participant in a Dash for Cash contest.
Now, with ratings down by 35 per cent this season and the Brumbies the only team to win a game, Fox obviously wants the best Australian Super Rugby game in order to retain its frustrated subscribers.
RA's offer to potential broadcasters in believed to involve:
One Australian game per week of Super Rugby live on FTA TV in prime time;
* All other Super Rugby games live behind a paywall either on an over-the-top service (Optus) or pay TV (Foxtel);
* All games in the Rugby Championship on Pay TV/OTT with all Wallabies games simulcast on pay TV/OTT and FTA TV;
* All Hospital Cup and Shute Shield games on pay TV/OTT. Shute Shield match of the round on FTA TV.
For that package RA are seeking a significant increase in the broadcast rights fee over the current deal of $285 million over five years.
Furthermore, it is likely the RA broadcast rights deal will exclude the British and Irish Lions tour in 2025, inso far as it requires a sign-off beforehand from the British and Irish Lions. So, with RA seeking more money for rights to the SANZAAR competitions, which will stage fewer games from 2021, and offering a non-exclusive deal, wouldn't Optus question the price for the same reasons as Fox?
The Hospital Cup/Shute Shield will not create value for the broadcaster. Shute Shield has a very low non-commercial TV rating of approximately 24,000 per game on Seven, which is paid to broadcast matches. Like almost all expectations in these negotiations, there appears to be no logic why Foxtel would want to acquire these competitions without profound change.
Foxtel is facing dire challenges with falling subscribers on Kayo, Foxtel and Foxtel Now. It has recently announced a 40 per cent discounted Kayo offer for Telstra subscribers.
While Fox Sports chief executive Patrick Delany may personally want to retain rugby, the pressure to reduce costs, including sports media rights, may come from New York.
Rupert Murdoch is entitled to claim only Harry Potter has had a more magical ride than rugby, following his investment of $US555m in SANZAR in 1996.
Furthermore, Delany could argue RA should have accepted his offer last October to roll over the existing deal. It would have meant the same money for one less team (with Western Force culled) and less content (SANZAAR will lose its Japanese team). Significantly, SANZAAR rights are paid in US dollars, which, with exchange rate movement means RA would have received about a 25 per cent increase.
But Fox has demonstrated some petulance at RA's lack of gratitude, just as Castle is recalcitrant over selling a game to FTA in prime time.
If RA signs with Optus for less money, the price tags both Delany and Castle set could end as toe tags on their careers.
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