NRL TV Deal

[eelofwest]

http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/08/21/fu ... l-tv-deal/

The Australian Rugby League Commission has today announced a five-year broadcasting agreement with Nine and Fox Sports that will invest $1.025 billion in the game.

Full release from ARLC:

The largest agreement in Rugby League’s history delivers national television exposure across all games, advanced scheduling, increased programming, and leaves the Commission free to pursue further significant broadcasting revenues in New Zealand and through mobile and other on-line properties.

Both Fox Sports and Nine have committed to ensuring that viewers across the country will experience new technologies that bring NRL fans closer to the game than ever before.

“The whole package is a simply fantastic result for Rugby League,” Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman, Mr John Grant, said after signing a formal heads of agreement this morning.

“The cash that comes from the agreement, used wisely, will provide the funding base for sustainably growing our game from the grass-roots to the elite levels.

“The agreement around scheduling answers the request from our clubs and corporate partners for certainty and the inclusion of national coverage will see our fans across Australia able to enjoy their Rugby League.

“Of great importance, and a factor that played heavily into the Commission’s final decision, is the release by News, Fox and Nine of their rights over future ‘first and last’ agreements.

“It reflects the positive spirit of the negotiation process and allows the game greater control in determining the value of its assets in the future.”

The agreement was signed this morning following several days of intense negotiations with representatives of all commercial television networks.

The formal negotiation commenced with Nine and Fox Sports in February this year.

A meeting of the Commission yesterday evening empowered the negotiating committee to sign a formal heads of agreement with Nine and Fox Sports which was executed at 9.50am today (August 21).

The agreement includes:

A cash component of $925m, $90m of which will be paid prior to the start of the first season;
Advertising packages to the value of $100m;

The Nine Network will broadcast:

Three weekly matches (two on Friday and one on Sunday);
Three Thursday evening matches over the course of the year;
A stand-alone Test and City v Country weekend;
Wednesday night State of Origin matches;
A night-time Grand Final (7.15pm kick-off);
The Roosters Dragons Anzac Day matches;
Two hours of Rugby League content each evening on digital Channel 94 plus two hours of content on Saturday and Sunday morning;
Nine will ensure that all of its matches are telecast on either the ‘primary’ or ‘digital’ station in each state;
The Queensland In Trust Super Cup.

Fox Sports will telecast:

Five weekly matches across Saturday, Sunday and Monday;
Thirteen Sunday evening matches (6.30pm) over the course of the year;
The Storm v Warriors Anzac Day game (other than in 2014);
Three non NRL matches each week played in conjunction with the Telstra Premiership game (which will be shared between Toyota Cup, NSW Cup and GIO Schoolboys Cup);

Nine and Fox Sports will provide coverage of The Four Nations Tournament;

· The first 20 rounds of the Premiership will be scheduled in advance of the season;

· The final six rounds will be scheduled at Round 16;

· Both Nine and Fox Sports will work together to stage two player development academies to train players in media presentation.

Nine Network Managing Director, Mr Jeff Browne, said that the network was over the moon at renewing its long and proud association with Rugby League.

“Nine’s Rugby League telecasts have won international acclaim and are fundamental to Nine’s Wide World of Sports brand.

“We are the gold standard in sports coverage and are delighted to bring the great game of Rugby League to our loyal viewers across the country as the exclusive free to air broadcaster.

“We have outstanding technical people, commentators and a team of experts who live and breathe Rugby League and they are passionate about achieving even higher standards in the next five years.”

Fox Sports Chief Executive, Mr Patrick Delany, said that the rights agreement would be a win for viewers across the country:

“This agreement secures a fabulous line-up of matches for Fox Sports subscribers.
“Super Saturday and Monday Night Football have become a way of life for Rugby League fans and Fox Sports is determined to make that experience more exciting and more interactive than ever before.

“Rugby League is a part of Fox Sports and Foxtel’s DNA and we are delighted to be able to continue bringing the live action to households across Australia every week.”

While celebrating the agreement with Nine and Fox Sports, Interim ARLC Chief Executive, Mr Shane Mattiske, said that there are still further opportunities in broadcast rights for Rugby League:

“As significant as this agreement is there are still substantial broadcasting properties yet to be negotiated.

“These include our New Zealand television rights and our mobile and website properties.

“It is too early to put a figure on these but certainly the value of the overall broadcasting package is going to increase, as will the opportunities that fans have to experience Rugby League.”

Mr Grant added that the negotiation process had underlined the confidence that all parties saw in the future of Rugby League:

“It’s been a difficult, complex and at times stressful process and we appreciate the confidence all parties have shown in our game by the innovative proposals they’ve put to us for consideration.

“From the Commission’s perspective we ensured that we engaged the right people to assist us in Greenhill Caliburn and that business-like approach has paid some real dividends.

“Interim Chief Executive Shane Mattiske and his team have been outstanding throughout the whole negotiation as have the other Commissioners – Ian Elliot as Chair of our Broadcast Sub-committee and Jeremy Sutcliffe and Gary Pemberton and our legal advisors.

“I think the entire game is entitled to feel proud of what has been achieved. It is a great tribute to the players and the clubs and the important thing now is to maximise the opportunities we now have for the future.”

Additional notes from The Roar:

- The Grand Final has shifted to a nighttime grand final with a 7:15pm kick-off as mentioned above.
- 3x Thursday night and 13x Sunday night games.

[Xman]

Poor poor NRL.


A howler of a deal for the fans.

I feel most sorry for fans ofteams like the storm, panthers, raiderrs, sharks, titans etc.

They get such poor FTA coverage that without a foxtel subscription they are destined to seeing their team only a hanful of mtimes a year.

Imagine when the storm start struggling on field. With such poor FTA coverage theyll go backwards at a rate of knots.

A black day for NRL fans thats for sure.

[Xman]

heres some reactions from LU fans:

Have to say I'm a little disappointed in this deal. Not the dollar value, but what we the viewers get. Nothing changes for us..

I was really hoping that Foxtel would get simulcast rights on all games. I thought we would at least get rid of the delayed game on Sunday.

Plus showing local teams locally on FTA like the AFL does, not sure how this would work with Sydney though.

No mention of games being at the same time in every state. I imagine fans in NT, SA, WA, and Victoria can expect to still wait until 11pm to see the game on Channel Nine.

No mention of next year's World Cup. I'm assuming another year of mediocre coverage on Fox Sports is in line.

Terrible deal for the fans. Just terrible. Nothing good to mention except for the $. It's the same old deal with inflated cash.

I actually had my hopes up too...

Probably the only good thing about it.
But we still have this bullshit of the TV networks doing the scheduling and the Ponys getting a rails run.

I also find it intriguing that only a week and a half or so ago I'd heard suggestions that Nein were resigned to losing it.

Now we have to put up with another 5 years of this horseshit

I love the approach of "weve got more money and we should be thankful"
Its much like a rapist leaving a hundy behind after doing his dealings.
But hey, we have money to spend on stuff. YAY FOR US.

THis is just 1 page! There are pages of very angry and dissapointed NRL fans. As I said to Dave, dont sell it to me, sell it to the fans its screwed over.

[Beaussie]

ROFL

Where are those NRL fans who said they would get more than the AFL. hahahahaha

RL always destined to be number 2 in this country.

[cos789]

When you consider that the GCFC has higher average home crowds than 5 rl clubs and GWS has higher average home than two rl clubs one wonders about the fate of those rl clubs on the outer never to venture their face on publiuc TV.
Canberra, Cronulla and Penrith guarenteed to get even smaller.

.

[justanotherleaguefan]

ROFL

Where are those NRL fans who said they would get more than the AFL. hahahahaha

RL always destined to be number 2 in this country.

Where are those AFL fans saying the nrl would be lucky to get 800mil?

[Xman]

ROFL

Where are those NRL fans who said they would get more than the AFL. hahahahaha

RL always destined to be number 2 in this country.

Where are those AFL fans saying the nrl would be lucky to get 800mil?

No one could predict you'd take the cash over decent tv coverage.

[Beaussie]

ROFL

Where are those NRL fans who said they would get more than the AFL. hahahahaha

RL always destined to be number 2 in this country.

Where are those AFL fans saying the nrl would be lucky to get 800mil?

You for crying out loud predicted $1.2B as a starting point.

Final result, you're stuck with Channel 9 and Foxtel for another 5 years with no change to the scheduling and broadcasting of matches. Bit more cash but your fans lose out and really, is it that much more cash when you lot continually go on about the value of regionals, SoO and internationals....blah...blah...blah. Way to go ARLC.

[ParraEelsNRL]

Naming rights, TV rights for NZ and world wide plus radio rights and internet rights still to be sold and we are only 200 mill at that away from the vFL's big deal

This is funny =D>

Rugby League out does vickykicky again =D> =D> =D>

[Xman]

Naming rights, TV rights for NZ and world wide plus radio rights and internet rights still to be sold and we are only 200 mill at that away from the vFL's big deal

This is funny =D>

Rugby League out does vickykicky again =D> =D> =D>

no. whats funny is you took the money instead of decent FTA and payTV coverage. Desperate much?

[cos789]

No one could predict you'd take the cash over decent tv coverage.

Yes, long term a lot of Sydney NRL clubs are going to be starved of attention.
Meanwhile GWS will be on NSW TV every fornight.

.

[MarkZZZ]

I think somewhere else in this thread I predicted that the NRL would have to get about $900 mil to break even with the AFL based on length of games and opportunity for advertising during the games. I think the $1 billion is a good figure. Don't forget the NRL still haven't finished with the rights. As it states in the report, "

“As significant as this agreement is there are still substantial broadcasting properties yet to be negotiated.

“These include our New Zealand television rights and our mobile and website properties.

“It is too early to put a figure on these but certainly the value of the overall broadcasting package is going to increase, as will the opportunities that fans have to experience Rugby League.”

I would expect a few million still to come so lets not start gloating AFL types, this story isn't over yet and like I said comparatively we are getting more $ per hour than the AFL got. I guess that would make the NRL a more attractive product.

[ParraEelsNRL]

Now that's the truth.

[Xman]

I think somewhere else in this thread I predicted that the NRL would have to get about $900 mil to break even with the AFL based on length of games and opportunity for advertising during the games. I think the $1 billion is a good figure. Don't forget the NRL still haven't finished with the rights. As it states in the report, "

“As significant as this agreement is there are still substantial broadcasting properties yet to be negotiated.

“These include our New Zealand television rights and our mobile and website properties.

“It is too early to put a figure on these but certainly the value of the overall broadcasting package is going to increase, as will the opportunities that fans have to experience Rugby League.”

I would expect a few million still to come so lets not start gloating AFL types, this story isn't over yet and like I said comparatively we are getting more $ per hour than the AFL got. I guess that would make the NRL a more attractive product.

what you fail to see is that the NRL may get similar money but the TV schedule is significantly worse for fans. In fact the AFL have 3 more live FTA games and 4 more live PayTV games in RL heartland than RL!

Furthermore, the NRL crew are crowing that they are on an even keel with the AFL in revenue but their costs are lower. They are forgetting that the AFL earn far more in sponsorship, membership fees and gate receipts than the NRL.

So the AFL are still miles ahead in revenue and miles ahead in TV coverage and exposure.

But they got their billion.

[eelofwest]

Now that's the truth.

This is a great deal. 1.025million.

The NZ rights 20million/PA 100million over 5years and internet rights 150million over 5 years.

Total 1.275million.

16 team competition with plenty of room to grow and increase tv rights in future now that the First and last rights has been given up by FOX, NINE, News Ltd.

Here are the details

The agreement includes:

· A cash component of $925m, $90m of which will be paid prior to the start of the first season;

· Advertising packages to the value of $100m;

· The Nine Network will broadcast:

o Three weekly matches (two on Friday and one on Sunday);

o Three Thursday evening matches over the course of the year;

o A stand-alone Test and City v Country weekend;

o Wednesday night State of Origin matches;

o A night-time Grand Final (7.15pm kick-off);

o The Roosters Dragons Anzac Day matches;

o Two hours of Rugby League content each evening on digital Channel 94 plus two hours of content on Saturday and Sunday morning;

o Nine will ensure that all of its matches are telecast on either the ‘primary’ or ‘digital’ station in each state;

o The Queensland In Trust Super Cup.

· Fox Sports will telecast:

o Five weekly matches across Saturday, Sunday and Monday;

o Thirteen Sunday evening matches (6.30pm) over the course of the year;

o The Storm v Warriors Anzac Day game (other than in 2014);

o Three non NRL matches each week played in conjunction with the Telstra Premiership game (which will be shared between Toyota Cup, NSW Cup and GIO Schoolboys Cup);

· Nine and Fox Sports will provide coverage of The Four Nations Tournament;

· The first 20 rounds of the Premiership will be scheduled in advance of the season;

· The final six rounds will be scheduled at Round 16;

· Both Nine and Fox Sports will work together to stage two player development academies to train players in media presentation.