Talking Footy

Nine could go after as many as two AFL games each week, with the sport becoming a higher priority after the company moved to buy the Nine stations in Perth and Adelaide in 2013.

Seven shows four matches live and will almost certainly not lose its high-rating Friday-night and Sunday-afternoon matches. Nine could bid for one or two Saturday matches or any shows on Mondays or public holidays.

Having missed out on the NRL, Ten could be part of a huge Foxtel bid for all AFL matches. Fox Sports had attempted to leverage Ten into the NRL negotiations, while Seven had been particularly keen on State of Origin rights.

Seven remains the firm favourite for the AFL rights, with Foxtel needing to maintain its ownership of the pay-television rights to all nine games each week.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-an ... z3iRtnOGMS

Media buyers have welcomed the NRL deal, which sees the TV network paying $185m a year for the rights between 2018 and 2022, up 76 per cent on the previous deal which saw Nine pay $105m a year, but warned it piles the pressure on the AFL to secure a similar price rise.

“The AFL will become critically important,” Mark McCraith CEO of Maxus told Mumbrella today. “The other networks are now going to have a red hot crack at the AFL.

“For Nine they are the home of the NRL and clearly it is a good thing for them, particularly with the extra Saturday, and as a tentpole for their scheduling it will just reaffirm confidence that buyers have with their network.”

Starcom Medivest CEO Chris Nolan warned: “This puts more pressure on the AFL to get their increase because they are looking for a 50 per cent increase on their rights. This will put pressure on them to get that from Seven and Ten.”

Their comments come as NRL CEO Dave Smith trumpeted the deal today telling reporters it was “the biggest deal in Australian free-to-air history”.

“This deal is worth $925m over a five year period and to put that in some perspective for you that is nearly as much as we secured for the entire rights deal last time,” said Smith, who noted that the pay-TV, overseas and digital rights negotiations were yet to conclude.

Sources have suggested that Nine believes it can break even on the deal, although media buyers have cast doubt on this noting the price rise will put significant pressure on the TV network’s sales team to deliver new value.
Simon Ryan No money left in the kitty...

Simon Ryan

“In terms of the money it is a very high price,” said Simon Ryan CEO of Carat. “At $925m with four games Thursday-Sunday the ratings are going to have to be pretty substantial in the markets that watch the NRL to justify that money.

“They will have to chase pretty hard to get sponsorship dollars to help bridge the gap however, overall ratings are what is important here.”

“I would be amazed if they were able to monetise it,” said Peter Horgan CEO of OMD. “But it is obviously a strategic imperative particularly with the threat they were facing from News/Ten it is an important hold.”

It is thought that Nine is still in talks with the AFL to see if it can secure at least one game per round, although buyers were sceptical whether the TV Network would have the money to secure a Saturday night fixture.

The combination of AFL and NRL would allow Nine to put NRL on in the northern states and AFL on in the Southern states and demand a premium across all markets.

Ryan told Mumbrella: “If they did AFL Nine would have to get Saturdays and that would help bring the gap across the other markets and help them dominate nationally around live sport.

“The issue will be around affordability.”

Starcom Mediavest’s Chris Nolan agreed saying: “You would have to think (Nine getting AFL) would be less likely now.

“What this deal does do certainly put more pressure on the asset to provide a return to the network. Obviously they will get that through increased advertising into the event and that may put pressure on the networks to leverage the asset not just with the NRL but leveraging it across its total formats.”

The NRL has also signalled that the TV network was looking at broadcasting some games in HD, noting that Nine was looking at a “multichannel strategy”.

“I know Nine is thinking carefully about its multichannel strategy and they’ve got some exciting plans,” Smith said.

Nine has previously drawn fire for its previous refusal to put games on HD channel GEM claiming “technical difficulties” prevent the network from utilising the technology.

The new deal also give Nine the streaming rights to those four games it will broadcast, which may make the rest of the NRL rights less attractive for current digital holders Telstra.

However, in the press conference today Smith said they had been “talking to all the streaming companies and technology companies” around the rights, signalling there could still be intense competition for them.

The NRL wants Fox Sports to show all eight games live but will have to compensate Nine for any matches that are simulcast. One source said Nine could save $30 million annually if all four of its matches are also shown on pay television.

That figure would also help Nine's bid for any AFL matches.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-an ... z3iSBkkQD5

AFLcrap1 wrote:

Lol .
Those 30-50 k home town ratings will halve .

eelofwest wrote:

Yeah nice little puff piece to try and create tension.


Nine’s record $925m NRL deal ‘puts pressure’ on AFL rights negotiations say media buyers

Media buyers have welcomed the NRL deal, which sees the TV network paying $185m a year for the rights between 2018 and 2022, up 76 per cent on the previous deal which saw Nine pay $105m a year, but warned it piles the pressure on the AFL to secure a similar price rise.

“The AFL will become critically important,” Mark McCraith CEO of Maxus told Mumbrella today. “The other networks are now going to have a red hot crack at the AFL.

“For Nine they are the home of the NRL and clearly it is a good thing for them, particularly with the extra Saturday, and as a tentpole for their scheduling it will just reaffirm confidence that buyers have with their network.”

Starcom Medivest CEO Chris Nolan warned: “This puts more pressure on the AFL to get their increase because they are looking for a 50 per cent increase on their rights. This will put pressure on them to get that from Seven and Ten.”

Their comments come as NRL CEO Dave Smith trumpeted the deal today telling reporters it was “the biggest deal in Australian free-to-air history”.

“This deal is worth $925m over a five year period and to put that in some perspective for you that is nearly as much as we secured for the entire rights deal last time,” said Smith, who noted that the pay-TV, overseas and digital rights negotiations were yet to conclude.

Sources have suggested that Nine believes it can break even on the deal, although media buyers have cast doubt on this noting the price rise will put significant pressure on the TV network’s sales team to deliver new value.
Simon Ryan No money left in the kitty...

Simon Ryan

“In terms of the money it is a very high price,” said Simon Ryan CEO of Carat. “At $925m with four games Thursday-Sunday the ratings are going to have to be pretty substantial in the markets that watch the NRL to justify that money.

“They will have to chase pretty hard to get sponsorship dollars to help bridge the gap however, overall ratings are what is important here.”

“I would be amazed if they were able to monetise it,” said Peter Horgan CEO of OMD. “But it is obviously a strategic imperative particularly with the threat they were facing from News/Ten it is an important hold.”

It is thought that Nine is still in talks with the AFL to see if it can secure at least one game per round, although buyers were sceptical whether the TV Network would have the money to secure a Saturday night fixture.

The combination of AFL and NRL would allow Nine to put NRL on in the northern states and AFL on in the Southern states and demand a premium across all markets.

Ryan told Mumbrella: “If they did AFL Nine would have to get Saturdays and that would help bring the gap across the other markets and help them dominate nationally around live sport.

“The issue will be around affordability.”

Starcom Mediavest’s Chris Nolan agreed saying: “You would have to think (Nine getting AFL) would be less likely now.

“What this deal does do certainly put more pressure on the asset to provide a return to the network. Obviously they will get that through increased advertising into the event and that may put pressure on the networks to leverage the asset not just with the NRL but leveraging it across its total formats.”

The NRL has also signalled that the TV network was looking at broadcasting some games in HD, noting that Nine was looking at a “multichannel strategy”.

“I know Nine is thinking carefully about its multichannel strategy and they’ve got some exciting plans,” Smith said.

Nine has previously drawn fire for its previous refusal to put games on HD channel GEM claiming “technical difficulties” prevent the network from utilising the technology.

The new deal also give Nine the streaming rights to those four games it will broadcast, which may make the rest of the NRL rights less attractive for current digital holders Telstra.

However, in the press conference today Smith said they had been “talking to all the streaming companies and technology companies” around the rights, signalling there could still be intense competition for them.

http://mumbrella.com.au/nines-record-92 ... ers-311077


Sorry Pal Smith went early on TV rights to remove that tension away from your negotiating process

Its just Ten and Seven now derpballers.

The_Wookie wrote:

My prediction: everyone is counting chickens before they hatch. Even the NRL folks.

The_Wookie wrote:

I think Nines dream is to get some AFL on the main channel in the South and West