Anger at the National Rugby League's "premature decision to shut other media organisations out of its new broadcasting deal with the Nine Network will result in a windfall" for the Australian Football League, according to Michael Bodey of THE AUSTRALIAN. Negotiations to conclude a new AFL broadcast deal with Foxtel "accelerated last week" as a response to the NRL's A$925M ($682M) deal with Nine to broadcast four games a week from '18. News Corp. Australia and its anticipated free-to-air partner on the post-'17 deal and partner on the current deal, the Seven Network, "would not comment on negotiations." The NRL-Nine deal is "likely to lead to a lower overall deal, with the value of subscription TV and digital rights for the code now diminished." It has "no chance" of reaching the NRL's anticipated A$2B ($1.48B) total. The NRL's "seeming abandonment of the benefits of round-the-clock coverage of its sport" on Fox Sports and in News Corp. newspapers and digital sites, including the Daily Telegraph and Courier-Mail, is "likely to see" News Corp.'s attention "swing to the AFL." It is not clear whether Foxtel (a Telstra and News Corp. Australia company) will "even share NRL broadcasts with Nine" in the post-'18 deal. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan "will deliver on his hope of a substantial increase" on the record A$1.25B deal signed in '11 between Seven, Foxtel and Telstra (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/17).
