Foxtel's acquisition of a 15% share in Channel Ten has "sounded alarm bells" with Australian Rugby League commissioners who were troubled by the Fox Sports and Channel Nine joint bid when the broadcasters and the code last "argued at the negotiating table" in '12, according to Roy Masters of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Then, Channel Ten, led by Exec Chair Lachlan Murdoch, did not "have a bidding partner and was seeking" Saturday night National Rugby League games. This put it in "competition with Fox Sports' highly prized Super Saturday coverage." ARL commissioners were "uncomfortable dealing with a joint Nine/Fox Sports bid, believing it to be anti-competitive." Now, it is "faced with a possible Ten/Fox Sports partnership," which, if News Corp. gains management rights over Ten, effectively means the ARLC is "dealing with a single entity." News Corp. half owns Foxtel with Telstra but has 100% of Fox Sports. News Corp. "covets broadcasting rights to both winter football codes." Ten currently has "zero premium sport, with some upside from Big Bash cricket and V8 supercars." In the "absence of any first-and-last-rights options in either code and with the cash cow delivered via News' investment in Ten, it can launch killer bids" for both NRL and AFL (SMH, 6/21).
