Nine’s Gyngell happy with new NRL deal
Nine Network boss David Gyngell says the new broadcast deal paid in conjunction with Fox Sports to the ARLC of more than $1 billion to show NRL and State of Origin matches for the next five years is a fair price and a contract they had to win.
Incumbent broadcasters Nine and Fox Sports, who had first and last rights, trumped the Seven and Ten networks as rugby league secured the biggest TV deal in the sport’s history.
“We have certainly stepped up and paid as much money as we could,” Gyngell said on Tuesday.
“It is the greatest sport for television in the winter months and perfectly complements our cricket coverage.
“It is part of our heritage and a must-win for us and I think the price was fair and reasonable.”
As part of the deal, Nine demanded the grand final would kick off at 7.15pm and State of Origin would remain in its current Wednesday night spot.
This killed off any hope from players and coaches of stand-alone Origin rounds, but Gyngell insisted they would be well recompensed under the new deal.
“The players and club are all going to get a good drink out of this, there is nothing surer than that,” he said.
“Salary caps are going to increase and the grants to the clubs are going to improve. The most important thing is that with the windfall for the game we grow the roots and get more people playing it and fend off the AFL in Sydney and in Queensland.”
The Sunday afternoon game will also still be shown on delay at 4pm.
Fox will continue with five live games over the round, including Monday night football.
The ARLC was successful in demanding a fixed schedule for the first 20 rounds of the season, something clubs were very keen to address.
Commission chairman John Grant hailed the new agreement as “the greatest deal ever done” by the sport.
“Today we answer the $1 billion question with the $1 billion-plus answer,” Grant said.
The $1.025 billion deal is worth $925 million in cash, with the balance to be made up in advertising.
“We’re still to sell our NZ TV rights and yet to monetise mobile platforms,” said Grant.
“This is a fantastic outcome for the game and starts the journey the Commission was formed to oversee.
“The cash that comes from the agreement, used wisely, will provide a funding base to sustainably grow our game from its grassroots to the elite levels.
“We hope the game’s stakeholders see this agreement as a confirmation of their decision to put in place an independent commission, and one that unlocks the promise that came from this formation.”
© AAP 2013The Crowd Says (24) | Page 1 of Comments
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August 22nd 2012 @ 4:56am
Ronald M said | August 22nd 2012 @ 4:56am | Report comment
I’ll bet he is pleased which is more than can be said for Rugby League fans. Channel 9 has raped the NRL and is now set to rape them again for the next 5 years. Everything that fans wanted, afternoon GF and weekend Origin has been vetoed by Nine. Coverage is set to continue at its mediocre best. Outside QLD + NSW you can pretty much forget it. No wonder we are the AFL laughing stock. The best we can hope for is that Channel 9 goes bust sometime soon.
August 22nd 2012 @ 7:05am
steve b said | August 22nd 2012 @ 7:05am | Report comment
Geez Ronald M you put your thinking cap on this morning , i agree with your comments 110 % , i don;t know about 9 going bust though…
August 22nd 2012 @ 10:03am
Ronald M said | August 22nd 2012 @ 10:03am | Report comment
One can live in hope.
August 22nd 2012 @ 10:51am
Boomshanka said | August 22nd 2012 @ 10:51am | Report comment
+1
Good to see the ARLC getting the money upfront.
August 22nd 2012 @ 4:01pm
BigAl said | August 22nd 2012 @ 4:01pm | Report comment
At least by insisting that the GF be played on a Sunday night, it will most likely deliver League fans bragging rights as to which GF gets the higher ratings !
Sunday nights beats Sat. arvo as a ratings window by miles.
August 23rd 2012 @ 10:15pm
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League said | August 23rd 2012 @ 10:15pm | Report comment
“Outside QLD + NSW you can pretty much forget it. ”
Wasn’t it conformed that the markets outside of QLD and NSW will get the three weekly NRL games on GEM at the same time that they’re aired on the main channel into QLD and NSW?
August 22nd 2012 @ 7:09am
Roarsome said | August 22nd 2012 @ 7:09am | Report comment
Maybe 9 could shell out some more money and get some decent commentators, directors, programmers, producers …… Who know something about sports broadcasting.
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August 22nd 2012 @ 7:48am
Matt_S said | August 22nd 2012 @ 7:48am | Report comment
Has anyone thought that with all this TV money, the NRL will be in a position to strengthen the game, improve facilities, increase crowds etc to a point where it can start to dictate terms like a rival code has achieved?
August 22nd 2012 @ 10:00am
Renegade said | August 22nd 2012 @ 10:00am | Report comment
Yeah mate….unfortunately most league fans only view the glass as half-empty and a lack of long term vision….
August 22nd 2012 @ 10:06am
Ronald M said | August 22nd 2012 @ 10:06am | Report comment
Unfortunately, the money is trivial in comparison to the opportunities we have just lost. Good TV coverage ( which ch9 has consistently failed to deliver ) will grow the game faster than any other single action. This is a disaster.
August 22nd 2012 @ 10:40am
Renegade said | August 22nd 2012 @ 10:40am | Report comment
Mate,
As much as channel 9 irks me…..4 million around the country still tune into Origin every single year…..it’s just hyperbole some of the nonsense people are throwing up.
You think people are just not going to watch rugby league now because the game doubled its revenue from TV….. that’s just absurd.
August 22nd 2012 @ 2:36pm
Ronald M said | August 22nd 2012 @ 2:36pm | Report comment
No they are not and that is part of the problem. The other problem is the proportion of that 4 million that would like to watch NRL games but can’t thanks to CH9.
August 22nd 2012 @ 3:03pm
Boomshanka said | August 22nd 2012 @ 3:03pm | Report comment
Nines coverage of this years Origin was still third rate.
Watching the final game on a two hour delay in Perth, hearing Rab’s raving on that it was “live across Australia” – felt like kicking the TV in.
Having to turn off all internet access, kick the kids off their phones, not watch or listen to any media so we can enjoy the game without knowing the score is hardly top delivery.
Sure, it outrated both the NRL and AFL grand finals, but as recently as two years ago, Nine delayed the last SOO game by two hours into Melbourne because “it wouldn’t rate”.
This article speak volumes about Nine’s commitment to delivery rugby league to Australians: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/dictatorships-and-holiday-isles-get-origin-live-but-not-sa-and-wa/story-e6frexv9-1225739610369
August 22nd 2012 @ 4:49pm
Hamish said | August 22nd 2012 @ 4:49pm | Report comment
THe AFL and NRL GFs outrated SOO in the last few years which is a good result because they were spring afternoon games when the SOO is on a mid winters weeknight with lots of sts on…
August 22nd 2012 @ 7:55am
Meesta Cool said | August 22nd 2012 @ 7:55am | Report comment
Believe me, Nine will do nothing different to what they have done in the past, my experiences with the staff that I pleaded with when NO Storm games were being shown ‘live’, tells me that this Station is only waiting till they can get AFL back.
They have bought the rights merely to prevent 7 and 10 getting their viewing population in Queensland and NSW.. the rest of the country will start to get midnight NRL again very soon. Gem will go back to showing old worn out episodes of American sit coms and the Ch 9 employees will tell us what a crap game we watch..
Meanwhile Foxtel will immediately increase their viewing fees for the Sports network channels to pay the extra outlay, The money has to come from somewhere and the fans will be the ones paying it!.
But they paid excellent money for thee rights to do all this!. Time will tell if this is a good deal or not!.
August 22nd 2012 @ 8:46am
Football United said | August 22nd 2012 @ 8:46am | Report comment
“Salary caps are going to increase and the grants to the clubs are going to improve. The most important thing is that with the windfall for the game we grow the roots and get more people playing it and fend off the AFL in Sydney and in Queensland.”
I wish TV execs would shut up about stuff like this. There business is to broadcast games they have rights for. (which they can’t even do properly). Participation, Salary Caps and Grants are things for the ARLC to discuss, not Channel 9.
August 22nd 2012 @ 9:06am
Dillan said | August 22nd 2012 @ 9:06am | Report comment
I thought David Gyngell’s performance was a bit bizarre. He came across as bit of an angry ant when responding during question time…
August 22nd 2012 @ 10:55am
Boomshanka said | August 22nd 2012 @ 10:55am | Report comment
Nine only believe the crap they extol and shun public scrutiny.
August 22nd 2012 @ 1:57pm
Vic said | August 22nd 2012 @ 1:57pm | Report comment
A bit pathetic this Gyngell bloke. Any sane media analyst could see his company paid ridiculously over the odds for RL. They should have left it to Seven and let them be saddled with it.
They would have been better off building up an el cheapo sport like union. It would only take 5 or 6 years to get similar interest levels to what NRL has today.
August 22nd 2012 @ 4:06pm
BigAl said | August 22nd 2012 @ 4:06pm | Report comment
Only 5 or 6 ! – what happened in the last 100 ?
August 23rd 2012 @ 10:19pm
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League said | August 23rd 2012 @ 10:19pm | Report comment
You’re a laugh a minute!
If you think it would only take 5 or 6 years to make rugby union as popular as rugby league then you’re nuts!
August 22nd 2012 @ 10:26pm
marco said | August 22nd 2012 @ 10:26pm | Report comment
Channel 9 are only interested in their own business not the welfare of league. It really makes me laugh when writers like Roy Masters try to hype up this deal. The money might be good but the fans and game are no better off.
The AFL must be loving 9 for this. Imagine,your main rival sport only getting one game televised live on FTA per week.!
This whole deal is baffling to so many people. I suspect that in 5 years time the league administrators will look back and say “why did we do that for”?
channel 9 might say the same thing.
August 23rd 2012 @ 12:36am
JimC said | August 23rd 2012 @ 12:36am | Report comment
All the channel nine haters assume everyone wants wall to wall coverage. I think sometimes rationing the FTA coverage keeps people hungry for more. Sports that get overexposed (see domestic rugby union in NZ as an example) often find people getting jaded.
I like C9 coverage overall – I hope Vossy gets more airplay.
obviously i feel sorry for people in Victoria and WA and that issue should be addressed.
August 23rd 2012 @ 8:10pm
Rellum said | August 23rd 2012 @ 8:10pm | Report comment
What is really disappointing to me is the lack of a Sat arvo game. Unless you have Fox(Which isn’t most of us) kids can only get to see one game a week.