The Australian Rugby Union "is on the verge of announcing the details of a more valuable long-term broadcast deal that will give the sport a bigger free-to-air television presence, helping to reduce the financial pain the sport has been suffering," according to Darren Davidson of THE AUSTRALIAN.
Although the ARU "failed to spark a bidding war between the three main Australian commercial networks, it has secured an increase from Fox Sports Australia and Network Ten, boosted by a more lucrative contract with SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby), the governing body that operates Super Rugby." It is understood the ARU "will make public within weeks a new agreement that will see Fox Sports maintain live coverage of all Super Rugby matches, and onselling the replay and rights to all Wallabies matches to be simulcast on Ten." It will mark the first time Super Rugby "has had a presence on free-to-air television since the competition’s inception 1996." Under the new contract, the ARU will reap about A$40M ($30M) in annual income from a new deal starting in '16. Presently, the ARU generates about A$25M ($18.5M) annually from its media rights.
Sources close to the talks said that "the vast majority of the increase is derived from a bigger outlay by British satellite broadcaster Sky Sports" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/10).
POWER TO THE CLUBS: In Sydney, Phil Rothfield wrote the next broadcasting deal "has given power back" to the National Rugby League clubs "in their fight to get a bigger share of funding from annual grants."
None of the TV networks will sign-off on a A$1.7B ($1.26B) deal "unless the NRL has participation agreements locked in with the 16 clubs."
At this stage 12 of the clubs which are not aligned to the NRL "are standing firm and refusing to sign extended agreements beyond 2018." Until they sign, NRL CEO Dave Smith and his TV negotiating team "cannot do a deal" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 8/10).
BACKING OFF: Also in Sydney, John Stensholt reported Australian telecom company Telstra "is poised to pull back from paying big fees for digital sports broadcasting rights," a move that will come as a blow to the NRL and Australian Football League, which "are both in the market for billion-dollar rights deals."
Telstra "believes the digital rights are too costly and instead will seek to partner with sports and stadiums on technology and production services, while acting as an aggregator for other rights holders to stream content through its upcoming Telstra TV service." One source, who noted that the sports "would increase the pressure on broadcasters such as Seven West Media, Foxtel and Nine Entertainment Co to pay big money for digital rights to complement their free-to-air and pay-TV live rights," said, "This is driving the sports crazy." One broadcast exec said, "You will definitely see broadcast rights also coming with digital rights from now on" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 8/10).
