Fox Sports Australia and Ten Network Holdings "are set to secure the rights to screen rugby union for another five years" in a deal worth A$175M-A$200M ($153M-$174M), representing a "significant uplift" for the struggling code, according to John Stensholt of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Sources said that "the big rise will not come from domestic rights" but instead from the Australian Rugby Union's share of a large increase in int'l rights. ARU CEO Bill Pulver also "looks set to fail in his efforts to spark a bidding war between the free-to-air networks for the Super Rugby competition, which has been broadcast by Fox Sports since its inception in 1996." No networks "have expressed interest in Pulver's proposal for one match per round to be simulcast on free-to-air." But the new deal, which will begin in '16, "will represent a substantial increase on the current contract" in which the ARU receives about A$25M cash and contra annually. The biggest source of the increase will be from the U.K., where Sky Sports "will maintain its rights but only after a staving off an extremely aggressive bid from BT Sports, owned by telecommunications company BT Group." A source said, "The uplift really is just as a result of a telco bidding up Sky in the U.K." The U.K. rights "will be worth" more than A$20M annually. Fox Sports "will pay about the same annual price it is currently paying in Australia," about A$15M in cash plus several million dollars in contra, "or at best a small increase." It "will maintain its agreement with Ten for Wallabies matches." Ratings for Super Rugby declined by about 10% for Fox Sports this year, and the network is said "to be concerned about ratings for the National Rugby Championship, a tier below Super Rugby" (SMH, 10/6).
