Speculation "is mounting that Football Federation Australia is trying to engineer an early end" to its four-year A$160M ($130M) broadcast deal with Fox Sports Australia and SBS, according to Jon Stensholt of the AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW. The deal, which includes A-league matches, Socceroo games and the Asian Cup tournament that began on Friday night, "is in its second year." Football authorities "are said to be concerned about soft ratings for A-league matches on SBS, which relies on some funding from the federal government for its share of the rights, and believe they can extract more value from a deal with free-to-air commercial networks such as Seven West Media and Network Ten." Both Seven and Ten have indicated to the FFA that "they would be at least interested in discussing a new deal when negotiations open." Any deal before the present contract expires in '17 "would be contingent on Fox Sports agreeing to bring negotiations forward and SBS, which may not break even on its coverage, giving up its rights." The FFA "could move before the third season of the deal" or even the end of the current '14-15 season. Authorities are said to be confident of achieving a big increase in the value, potentially up to A$80M annually, "though such a rise is contingent on networks believing football can gain significantly higher ratings" than it does now (AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, 1/12).
