How TV could divvy up NRL broadcasting rights

Well Said! I think worthy of comment and you did touch on this, is if Victoria had decent coverage (we're not denying here that reasonable coverage will result in favourable ratings) and the Kiwis start paying a fair price as well (they currently pay pittance for excellent coverage) then the NRL would have access to the top four states in Australasia (remembering here that NZ has 4M people and a recent history of solid league exposure). And we haven't even mentioned WA, SA, TAS and NT consumers. If the NRL can get fair access to these markets then the dollars should flow. At the moment it is considerably hindered by FTA hoarding outside of NSW/QLD.

NRL includes NZ team the Warriors.The Pay Tv component includes the under 20 comp also which is a good rater for Fox.Throw in the NRL comp,the SOO series and tests and the All Stars.Therefore from an eyeball perspective on both FTA and Pay,the code rates well when it is shown live .There is therefore a large market for advertisers and the fact that regionals seem to be conveniently ignored (NSW regionals cover 2.3million people) latest stats,only reinforces Roy Masters argument that the code was underpaid.The naysayers jump on board arguing he is having a shot at AFL.He is merely drawing a comparsion,by simply stating here is what AFL gets and here is what rugby league gets.Yes Masters has a shot at times at AFL,which is reciprocated by those of the opposite spoting media bent. I argue that Masters hits the mark(to use a pun) 95% of the time.He is not a lone voice on the matter of the NRL being dudded. Using the argument that AFL goes 1.5 times as long as rl as the main argument is flawed.All the games of each code that appear on the box must be taken into account,the reach,the exposure to a certain market ,the Pay TV component and its popularity,the untouched markets for rugby league (bearing in mind FTA is really out of the current equation for the NRL in the southern states at a decent hour(ie the potential).You cannot ignore over 3 million people in regional NSW and Qld.Check the number of ads thrown in for an injury,a line up for a kick at goal. NSW and Qld are the biggest and 3rd biggest markets in Oz,that is undeniable.Maybe the fact that Stokes,ch10 and ch9 are pushing for a slice of the rugby league,they figure that is also the case.

FYI - Ten Network secures rights to broadcast the National Basketball League .

Good point Mitch, which has been said before, Channel 9 has wasted 10 years not showing the Storm games into Melbourne. No matter which way you look at the t/v rights, rugby league has all the growing to "do" down south. the t/v deal should reflect this or better still, only do a 3 year deal to see how things go. The main point to all this is simple, AFL has issued a challenge to the "greatest game" and we are responding in kind. MC your a peanut, dont question me about Emotive, i show mine, yours is hidden in Rhetoric. :)

Dogz, I agree the solution is simple, however the following e-mail from AUSTAR might (or not) provide clarity on why? Email recieved 17/04/2009 from; [name edited out] Group Manager, Corporate Affairs AUSTAR Entertainment Pty Ltd Dear Ian To answer your questions: 1. Can you explain why the AFL is beamed live into Queensland by Fox Sports when not shown on the local free to air TV provider, yet the AFL is under the same anti-siphoning legislation? Every single NRL and AFL game is on the anti-siphoning list. As such, the free-to-air networks get 'first dibs' on the broadcast rights, which are negotiated on a separate basis with each individual sporting body, so there are different outcomes for viewers for each different sport. To correct you, FOX SPORTS does not show the AFL in Queensland when it's not shown on free-to-air. In 2006 at the renegotiation of the broadcast rights of their code, the AFL sought to broaden the appeal of their sport. This resulted in a very favourable outcome for AFL viewers, so while FOX SPORTS is unable to show Friday night NRL games in Victoria if they are delayed on free-to-air, AUSTAR (through the Main Event Channel) is able to broadcast live AFL games into NSW, ACT and Queensland when local free-to-air broadcasters are not showing these games. 2. What effort has been made by AUSTAR and Fox Sports to actively show the NRL into Victoria when not shown by Channel Nine? FOX SPORTS has approached Channel 9 on a number of occasions requesting permission to play Friday night NRL matches live where their Victorian coverage is delayed, particularly for State of Origin matches and Storm games throughout the finals series, but the permission has been declined, we understand because FOX SPORTS is a nationally broadcast signal and these NRL games are shown in other parts of the country on free-to-air. As explained above, broadcast rights are negotiated on a separate basis with each individual sporting body, so there are different outcomes for viewers for each different sport. In the case of the NRL, the rights to each round's 2 Friday games and 1 Sunday game are held by Channel 9 and contractually FOX SPORTS is unable to broadcast coverage of these games until their broadcast in Sydney has concluded. FOX Sports holds the rights to the other five matches per round, ie: Saturday 5.30pm – LIVE Saturday 7.30pm (two games available on viewer’s choice at times) – LIVE Saturday 9.30pm - Short delay, though this game is mostly available LIVE on viewers choice, except where Saturday games aren't played simultaneously e.g. games from Nth QLD or NZ Sunday 12.30pm – LIVE if game is being played in Auckland Sunday 2:30 - LIVE FOX SPORTS broadcasts at least 4 out of 5 games LIVE into Victoria every regular round, and has done an enormous amount to ensure that viewers see as much NRL as they can, including developing free applications like Viewer's Choice. AUSTAR and FOX Sports will continue acting on our end, and my only suggestion to you is that you contact Channel 9 with your frustration regarding delayed coverage of rugby league matches into Victoria. I trust that you are able to enjoy the rest of the coverage of NRL throughout the weekend on FOX SPORTS and AUSTAR. Regards [name edited out] Group Manager, Corporate Affairs AUSTAR Entertainment Pty Ltd

Amen to that...

Fine. If not aerial ping pong, then cross country basketball. This is pretty typical of the arrogance of the stereotypical (not all) AFL fan. A sherrin so far up their rear ends, skewing their point of view, not realising that is it perfectly possible to watch more than 1 sport. If every supporter of the game in Melbourne is at the game, why is it that year after year, more Melbourne people watch the NRL grand final than Sydney people watch the AFL grand final (and I know what your reaction to this will be...helps that Melbourne are in the NRL GF. Well, in that case, why did the NRL outrate the AFL in 2005 in Sydney, when Sydney won the ping pong gf?) Again, typical of the arrogance of the stereotypical AFL fan, thinking that his sport is all high and mighty, and for some reason has a god given right to act the way they do. Why then did the NRL have more people watching it across all of Australia in all forms across all TV platforms in 2009 than any other sport...including the precious AFL??? Again, typical of the arrogance of the stereotypical AFL fan, believing that there sport comes before any others. Even to the point of wanting to throw our World Cup bid off the tracks. Not realising that the World Cup would mean an upgrade of Geelong's home ground, an MCG touchup, and the opportunity to show their sport off to the hundreds of thousands of visitors that would be coming here, and wanting to do 'what the locals do'. That's fine. All the more for the NRL then, who see the bigger picture of how much good the World Cup would do for Australia. Of course Demetriou wouldn't see that. A brick has more IQ than him. He may just be doing his job, and that's fine, but if he can't see the bigger picture, instead of looking after the bogans (who you can just hear scream "Where's my 'footy'???), he's not much of a leader. The AFL definitely has some marvellous skills, athletes, games and personalities. However, what is missing is choice. Choice for those who have the ability to watch and enjoy more than 1 sport. Choice to allow the fans to support who they want, when they want. Choice, to help both games grow. Unfortunately, the stereotypical AFL fan (of whom we have 1 here) doesn't see that...

thus far - the AFL has their time slots and they're effectively selling those off and there's a relatively complex division then of the 'lesser' games.....but, the 'lesser' games in the Melbourne context are the main games in Perth and Adelaide. There's still the element that Roy keeps referring to the top Fox programs but these are A. dominated by the largest existing market (NSW/QLD) and that the AFL feeds are far less likely to be common across the country (because the WA and SA clubs/matches will often get split)......Masters never refers to the total viewership per code on a weekly basis. (not that I know what that is, but, it would be more interesting and more telling). At any rate - - I wasn't going to get into that logic/rationale - - - however, the stats that Roy served up were clearly one dimensional and wrong on two fronts - i.e. per hour (which favours AFL) and 16 extra matches with favours NRL.

Nice suggestion Ian. You could probably have every Storm match scheduled at 5:30pm Saturday (even away matches), with a replay on Channel 9 scheduled for 9:30pm in Victoria (and another on GO at 10am on Sunday morning). Would really help increase the support for the Storm down south.

The solution is very simple - just the AFL gets shown on the Main event channel in Northern states, the reverse should happen for League in teh Southern states - I'm really not sure why it doesn't happen.

Also elbusto, the smh itself came out to correcting figures used in one of Roy Master's articlers in which he asserted that the NRL had beaten the AFL in the TV ratings for the first time in 2009.....don't trust me - look at the paper he writes for.... the smh corrected him but curiously they'll still allow him to keep repeating an assertion they know is untrue.... the person i do admire on this issue is Gallop - over the years you've never hear him falsely claiming that the NRL has a larger national TV audience - that claim has never passed his lips even though it is almost a compulsory article of faith amongst RL journalsists and RL followers.... Roy will keep peddling his nonsense all the way to the next broadcast deal ... and as i said, he's already sprinkling his articles with weird home-spun theories explaining away why the NRL will receive less than the AFL.... he's anticipating the worst... and when it happens there'll be more moaning and more conspiracy theories....

you say 'acreditted journalist' as though that's a compliment?!...and his reputation doesn't protect him from senility does it?.. I honestly think Roy needs some help... I truly do... I don't think he is well...if you've been paying attention to the anti-AFL tirades he regulalrly churns out over the last few years you would know that Roy has serious issues....serious issues. In this latest piece of garbage he asserts that legislation relegates Ch9 to considering the bottom 4 games - wrong twice. Who says they won't go for the overall broadcast rights and offsell some games to Ch10 and Fox, liike Ch9 has done in the past? So why are they relegated to bottom four games? And what does he mean by 'top 4 games' anyway? It is a meaningless categorisation and shows he has absolutely no understanding of how the AFL games are broadcast He asserts that the AFL is seeking to sell off games to Foxtel that are currently FTA in WA & SA - wrong... the AFL has never said that it plans to do this, it has never done this...is Roy on the AFL commission all of a suddden - how does he know what the AFL is plannig to do I wonder....of course he has no idea, and it shows....i think what Roy seems to have confused is that the AFL argues it should have to 'right' to do this, not that it will do this... history shows that the AFL will be showing two 'top' games into WA/SA/QLD/NSW in the next deal which are the games involving teams from those states.... by all means don't listen to me elbusto but for your own sake I wouldn't swallow any of the nonsense that Masters regularly spews out about the AFL... when it comes to AFL I have not read a single article of his that is without factual/logical error, distortion or unfounded assertions...and like I said before, he seems to think it he repeats something often enough and forthrightly enough it somehow becomes the truth... most of the stuff he writes on the AFL is utter nonsense the first time he writes it, and the fiftieth time ..

And what would that 'good point' be ? He seems all over the place to me !

If you saw something in the media last year, some stats company added up all viewing numbers across free to air & pay tv, for all AFL & Rugby League in 2009, and overall rugby league was the most watched sport in Australia. Not bad for a sport which is being held to ransom by some little weasels at Channel 9 in Melbourne

Totally agreed fellas. As a new Melbournite, having moved from Sydney, I just can't believe Channel Eddie's ineptitude and arrogance in not showing the NRL at an earlier time. They MUST be held accountable for their complete stupidity. I have a facebook group dedicated to just this cause: "Better NRL Coverage in Melbourne". Find it & join, and vent the frustrations on there. Hopefully people power can do something to hold the idiots at 9 accountable.

Unless they change the Anti-Siphoning laws, the FTA channels are not allowed to shoe live sport only on the second digital channels. This year Capital wanted to show the AFL on Friday night only on ONE but were not allowed to and it will now be back on Foxtel's Main Event.

A start could be made by denying Channel Nine the chance to pick Melbourne Storm games so fans in Victoria can have better access to their team through Foxtel or Austar. Last year was a disgrace, with Channel Nine picking Melbourne so many times effectively denying the Storms fan base live coverage.

It's probably a lot to do with what is causign those teams to lack support. If you want to follow those clubs you need to have foxtel. Much easier to support a club that is on free to air most of the time. I think one of the things that needs to be done is that all clubs have a minimum amount of free to air games made available to them. Something like 5 games min is a lot better than some like Canberra are currently receiving.

Mitch Aren't those Saturday night fixtures going to involve the lesser supported clubs? There's no denying the fact that Cronulla, Penrith, Canberra are rating poison unfortunately. Also visiting non-Sydney teams to Sydney find it hard to generate interest in Sydney with the possible exception of the Broncos. Perhaps the present FTA/Pay TV ratio might not be too bad after all. The occasional game on a Saturday night might be the way forward. For example the Broncos & Cowboys if they were scheduled for a Saturday night game in Townsville should be screened to Brisbane audiences. Don't forget you're going to have competition from some Wallaby games in Saturday night timeslot late in the season.