It has been nearly two weeks since the news broke that Foxtel had lost the rights to broadcast the English Premier League in Australia and the situation has become even more intriguing.
It has been revealed that Foxtel was simply not willing to pay $50m a year for what they deem a ‘tier three’ sport watched by around five per cent of total Foxtel sports subscribers. This annual subscription is higher than the fee paid for the A-League rights.
The fact of the matter is that English Premier League matches are aired at an inconvenient hour and are out-rated by domestic A-League matches. On top of this, EPL ratings are down by 29 per cent when compared to this time last season.
However the loss of EPL rights has been met with criticism from many fans of the sport. Those fans who feel the $50 a month subscription is not worth it if they are unable to watch both the EPL and the A-League. Many fans have commented on Facebook and Twitter that they will cancel their subscription once this season ends. Whether they actually follow through or not is another matter.
The loss of the EPL rights has seen speculation regarding Foxtel’s next move. It appears as though the recent surge in NRL negotiations has been triggered by the loss of EPL rights.
Foxtel can afford to lose the rights to broadcast English football, it is a relatively small fish in a big pond, domestically. However the company cannot afford to lose the rights to broadcast the NRL. Along with the AFL, it is the biggest fish in the pond.
NRL and AFL matches regularly rate two to three times higher than the highest rated A-League and EPL matches. Whereas the loss of a portion of EPL fans would not be too costly for Foxtel, the loss of a number of NRL fans would be extremely costly.
That is what makes the proposed new NRL schedule so intriguing. A six o’clock match on a Friday night would be an absolute disaster for crowds, especially if it were to be played in Sydney. However it would likely rate through the roof.
Workers would get home from work, turn the television on and enjoy the football. Alternatively they would go for post-work drinks and watch the game from a pub. Either way there is a large chance a lot of rugby league fans would be watching this match.
Foxtel needs to give sporting fans a reason to keep their subscription. Losing the EPL rights gives fans a reason to cancel their subscription. Losing the rights to a Saturday night NRL game also gives fans a reason to cancel.
That is why Foxtel is so desperate to keep exclusive coverage of this match, which was sold to Channel Nine as part of the company’s free-to-air deal with the NRL. Foxtel is reportedly willing to pay $15 million a year for exclusive rights to this match.
At face value this is a huge fee to pay, but in reality it is not so large. $15 million equates to around 25,000 paying customers. If purchasing exclusive rights to the Saturday night match prevents 25,000 customers from cancelling their subscription, Foxtel will finish ahead.
Roy Masters is reporting that Channel Nine will demand $40m a yearfor the Saturday night match. This is a significant increase on Fox Sports offer and it will be intriguing to see what Foxtel ultimately pays for the rights to broadcast this match, if they do end up purchasing the rights.
It’s always fascinating watching media rights agreements pan out. Inevitably there are winners and losers and this situation is no different. Not only have football fans been split into groups of winners and losers, fans of rugby league will also become winners and losers. Ultimately whether you are a winner or a loser depends on how you prefer to watch a game; in person, on free-to-air TV or pay-TV.
Mike
Guest
Bring back Dave Smith. Grant and the commission have lost their nerve. 4 FTA games is what the game needs & they have 12 months to get a deal at least equal in dollar value to this latest proposal for just that. If they do go ahead they need to get to the 2 Bill mark to get a pass mark. Rupert is on the nose with RL followers and needs to pay big time.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
In summary: * value of Nine's rights (now 3 live games) reduces to $650 million * Fox simulcast all games for $900 million * Telstra digital rights about $200 million * NZ rights worth about $100 million Total over 5 years = $1.8 billion or $360 million per annum Might sneak up to $1.9 billion by the time is has all settled down.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
DT reporting: THERE is growing speculation a historic $1.85 billion, five-year rights agreement between the National Rugby League, Fox Sports, the Nine Network and Telstra could be inked as early as Thursday.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Further to what Fairfax is reproting, the Australian now reporting: There are also advanced discussions about a 6pm Friday game to be aired on Fox Sports, with talks proceeding through the night at League Central in Sydney. NRL fans could get eight live television games under a revamped proposal for Nine Network and Fox Sports. Fox Sports would show every game live — three of them simulcast with Nine — including the proposed new Friday night match, which would replace Monday night football. If a deal is inked, the NRL will land a historic $1.85 billion, five-year rights agreement,
Mister Football
Roar Guru
http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/news-corp-swoops-on-nrl-rights-20151125-gl871w.html Fairfax Media understands that the NRL commission will meet on Thursday morning to sign off the deal with an official announcement expected later that day or in the coming days. Estimates suggests the total NRL rights deal could be worth $1.8 billion over five years, including pay television, free-to-air, digital and international. Despite speculation of competition from Optus and BeIN Sports, Fox Sports was always seen as the favourite due to its long history broadcasting the code and the importance of the sport to Foxtel's subscriber base, which is under pressure from cheaper services such as Netflix (which does not broadcast live sport).
no one in particular
Roar Guru
looks like fox sports have secured the rights
Jethro
Guest
Don't u get it - Foxtel not having exclusive Saturday means they wont pay anything
Jethro
Guest
No worse than Grant who has been in the game 40 years and called them the Illawarra Hawks when he was reading from a set piece of paper..
Justthetip
Guest
Totally agree king cowboy and you're spot on cass
daniel anderson
Roar Rookie
the NRL will overrule Nine on that you can bet...
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
Yes sorry my bad. Indian Super League is what I meant. However I wouldn't think the IPL would rate that highly over here either tbh. How do they do in the Australian market? I blame MTV and Pokemon for my short attention span.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I hope you mean the Indian Super league which is football, the IPL is their cricket version of WWE.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
I'm aware of the French population,I'm French descent have a brother living and working there for many years.And rugby league is now getting into the schools in France ,and the RLIF/RLEF are pushing the game with limited resources in addition. I am fully au fait with the dark history of Dec 1941 and what followed. It would warm the cockles of my heart to see French back to the strength it used to be,so in fact I agree GI with your French sentiments. Rugby league did not exist in Fiji prior to the World 7s RL tournament in Sydney. The femora PM Rabuka was responsible;le for getting it established in Fiji after the 7s. The fact it has grown to clubs all over the island,played in schools,gets govt support and the NRL has established an academy there indicates there is a decent amount of interest.The time i spent there ,and judging by the people I met and the space given in their print media and TV, the interest surprise me.Considering union is there no 1 code. I don't pretend to speak for the 45% of the Fijian Indian population ,and I'm amazed you are aware of what they are "all " interested in. By the same token,using you argument about "45% never expressing an interest in playing or watching" we may as well pull up stumps in Victoria.
Glenn Innes
Guest
One last thing Crossscoder France has sixty five million people and a gdp of 2.5 trillion us dollars.Fiji has about 860 000 and a gdp about 3,7 billion. And remember 45% of Fijians are ethnic Indians who have never expressed the slightest interest in playing or watching Rugby in the all the time they have lived in Fuji To lose France and gain Fiji (if it happens which as yet it has not ) what a coup.
Glenn Innes
Guest
My gut feeling is the AFL got about what they are worth and Rugby League will yet again get significantly less than it is worth.The only difference is in the past it was by design this time by accident .When Fairfax papers are running News LTD figures .... bullseye.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Also Mr Football that is a silly statement from a usually sensible man.The idea that Rugby League should be happy because it's latest media deals is vast compared with field hockey is stupid, Rugby League has been the dominant winter sport in QLD and NSW since the end of world war one , the current administration can't take credit for that. The AFL deal is the benchmark, if they can't match that questions need to be asked as why not (as our core states have a bigger population,) not taking comfort in being number two with a big gap to third.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Smith was a banker. they make money by borrowing money cheaper than they loan it, (and as the GFC showed they can't even get that right as greed gets the better of them, the western worlds taxpayers picked up the bill for their losses) they are glorified pawnbrokers...parasites. Smith sold the fourth game to nine too cheap because he got sucked into the hype about new media and what might happen as against the reality of what actually exists because he was dealing with an industry he knew little about,, goodbye and good riddance. e.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
The ball is in 9s court. If their terms aren't met they can easily keep a high rating game either on 9 or gem in HD. As for your opinion on ads, it's like my hostel manager always used to say. Tough titties. How do you think networks afford all this money being thrown at sports? Hopes and dreams?
Edward Kelly
Roar Guru
They may say that but I can not see Foxsports agreeing to that. AND there is everything wrong about ads during a game.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
Me and a couple of my friends got around having a good chat about this the other night. We came up with 3 reasons Fox Sports more or less dropped the EPL. 1. Too expensive for a relatively low drawing attraction on at an unreasonable time. Counter arguements being that most football fans don't have Foxtel for the A-League, they have it for all (most) of their football in one place. 2. Foxtel were happy with their purchases of the NBL and Indian Premier League and decided that those sports would more than cover the loss of the EPL. Counter arguements being an outburst of snide laughter from all parties. 3. They overpaid for the AFL and have backed themselves into a corner with the NRL and in an act of desperation are trying to free up cash for it by cutting back on luxury expenses. Counter arguements being drowned out in the drunken cries of rabble rabble rabble.