Chief executive Dave Smith has hailed the NRL’s new broadcast deal with Channel Nine as a boon for fans with twice as many games to be shown on free-to-air TV as previously.
The NRL announced on Monday that Nine had secured the rights to broadcast the NRL from 2018 to 2022.
After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, Nine will screen matches four days a week starting in 2018, in a deal worth “up to $925” million, the NRL said.
NEW NRL FREE-TO-AIR TV DEAL DETAILS RELEASED
The number of live games on free-to-air TV will increase from the present two to four, with matches to be played during prime time on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday at 4pm.
“For our fans, I want to make sure this is all about the fans, this is a huge step forward,” Smith said at a press conference at Rugby League Central.
“It means that our fans will get four live and free matches in prime time. I am very excited about this announcement. I think this is a very big day for our fans.”
Smith said the deal was almost worth the same as the entire current deal across free-to-air TV, pay TV and digital broadcasts.
The former banking executive said the deal had secured the long term future of the game.
“We still have simulcast rights, pay TV, New Zealand and international television rights to be negotiated, so the future of the game is in great shape,” he said.
Channel Nine boss David Gyngell welcomed the news.
“This is a transformational outcome for supporters, rugby league and Nine,” he said. “It will enable viewers to see the best of the NRL, live and free, four days a week, anywhere and on any device.”
Under the new deal the second match in each State of Origin series will be played on a Sunday night as part of a stand alone weekend of representative football which will also feature Pacific Nation Tests.
The premiership will be played over 25 rounds, one less than the current model, while international rugby league will be given a new priority and played in a dedicated window after the NRL season.
The annual City/Country representative fixture and Monday night football are set to be axed under the new deal.
“In other words, we are preserving Origin as a marquee event of the year while minimising disruption to the premiership,” Smith said. “This will not only improve player welfare but it will be fairer for the clubs and fans.”
The NRL has also regained control of the premiership schedule from broadcasters.
“We will be able to schedule the best games when fans want to see them and ensure all clubs receive the coverage they deserve on free-to-air television,” Smith said.
The news will come as a blow to Channel Seven and Channel Ten who had been in the running to secure at least part of the broadcasting rights.
The move will affect pay TV operator Fox Sports’ coverage of the NRL.
They currently have a monopoly on Saturday night which they will no longer enjoy.
Smith said Fox Sports could simulcast all eight games, but that was yet to be decided.
roosters15
Guest
The most likely result I can see for the rest of the rights carve up is fox showing 7 games per round, driven by a ninth game from increasing to 18 teams. Saturday night will most likely be simulcast and possibly sunday 4pm as well so they can market super Saturday and super sunday effectively off the back of that. Only Thursday and Friday will remain exclusively with nine. Smith has backed Foxtel into a corner and they will know that rugby league drives subscriptions in nsw and qld no matter what the Grinch Murdoch says he prefers. So I expect some hard negotiating to come but an extra game on fox with Monday changing to sunday night will bring maybe $800m over 5 years from fox, then add in internationals, NZ, digital and the games media revenue will explode past $2b until 2022. Compare that to the afl which is $2.508b over 6 years and pound for pound its almost parity Just cannot see any VoD services like Netflix taking on any Australian code in this decade. We will find that like most things it will happen in the states 10 years before it comes to Australia. I can see the NRL furthering its own digital arm and increasing the quality and coverage it provides including live streaming. The news ltd reaction to the nrl and subsequent afl deals has shown them to be immature and reactionary. Also, any future articles on afl in the NSW and Qld publications should be labelled clearly as advertising since part of their agreement is to promote that code in the "northern states". Let them try, no mater how many pathetic auburn giants articles they re-run will ever increase its popularity here
Robyn
Guest
Agree. I don't mind paying to watch football that is ad free with commentators not telling us how great The Voice or 60 Minutes will be that week. I wonder if Channel Nine will continue to drag out Ray and Phil four nights a week.
Andrew
Guest
I;d go to a Thursday night game before a Monday night game. It's only one day left in the week. Monday nights are hard because the working week has only just started.
Andrew
Guest
I would be surprised as the Wests Magpies side of the joint venture is flush with cash. Balmain unless they come up with some serious cash loses the licence to that side of the joint venture, and at that point the club can become better run. They are not moving to Perth any time soon.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Broncos CEO stated ATT last year ,he sees no problem with a 2nd Brisbane side. And Laclan Murdoch is the no12 ticket holder for teh Bronocs,yet his Tv ch10 missed out on bidding for the NRL FTA. News don't have the hold over the NRL, like they used to.
marco
Guest
Maybe Gyfox should of said "twice as many nights or days" rather than "twice as many games". Still seems a good deal. But why channel 9 again? That sucks.
Hayley
Guest
Do you know what they didn't do though. They didn't discuss this with the NZRL. Bit of a dick move. You can see who they care about.
Bruce
Guest
Fussball, I will never buy a widget off you. I don't think you would know the price of a widget if it poked you in the eye. Now, if you've got a gadget to sell me I'll listen to what you've got to say, but only if the price is a multiple of a widget minus one gadget. Simple really.
Ian
Guest
Tried Premier Sports HD? One doesn't need a Sky Sports package, just a SKY HD box and valid card.
The Link
Guest
You can't get Premier Sports on Sky? Certainly can on Virgin.
steve b
Roar Guru
Epiquin yeah its ok if you live in area with good int reception but where we are its hit and miss so its the rip offs for a while yet.
BA Sports
Guest
I live in London now, so it doesn't affect me because you literally can not watch NRL matches (not on Sky, not on tablets, nothing - while the AFL shows at least 4 games a week on BT/ESPN). But from a local perspective more live footy is about time. Hopefully clubs get more money and the pressure of more live games means they drop - or at least don't increase- ticket prices to keep people coming to the games. So the only down side I see with Ch9 showing more live games is more Tim Gilbert. Hopefully Smith got it written into the deal that Gilbert is not allowed to commentate games or even be in the ground during a match..
steveng
Roar Rookie
Ch 9 getting the TV rights again is not going to do any viewers any favours, their current commentators are way behind the game and the game comes across as second rate.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
"perhaps my views on the matter should be left for the front porch." for Harold Holt to look at it when the Sharks when a Premiership.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Hey Steve. A cheaper alternative to Fox if you want to watch your team every week is to get the digital app (about $80 per year). You are limited in screen size and definition but its a hell of a lot cheaper than Fox.
Jackson Henry
Roar Guru
Exactly mate.
jamesb
Guest
So there will be 24 games in 25 rounds for every side. When there's Wednesday night origin, it would appear to be unlikely that a Thursday night game will be scheduled a day after. I could also imagine that the split rounds would follow Which means 23 Thursday night games.
Midfielder
Guest
Gyfox In any language a FTA 925 million and wedging Fox into bidding by holding the digital rights etc is by any measure very impressive... Smith has coped heaps from many of the fossils in the NRL media... he will get somewhere between 1.5 and 2 billion for a 16 team competition... Now RL has had News removed from its ownership structure its starting to grow and his ideas of expanding into the PI nations is the obvious way to go... of all sport codes in Australia I think RL will grow the most over the next five years and a large part of that is down to Smith... he is an excellent CEO ..
TahDan
Roar Guru
Jimmy, I'm a big Union fan but it was pretty clear Sheek was talking specifically about Rugby in Australia. It's great that the game is going great guns in Europe, but the fact is it's being run into the dirt here, so how does success in Sweden and Ukraine help us?
Scottyvee1986
Roar Rookie
Not to mention the promotion for their programs throughout the game. (voice, hotplate, reno shows e.t.c) The cost of getting eyeballs on these sort of promotions are priceless.