Football Federation Australia "is set to formally test the market" on broadcast rights to a suite of its "products" now that its exclusive period of negotiations with current broadcaster Fox Sports is over, according to Michael Lynch of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. FFA will be hoping that free-to-air networks Seven, Nine and Ten "are interested in bidding for the A-League and other games which it holds the rights to," such as the W-League and Socceroos friendlies. In an "ideal world" for FFA there would be a "bidding war" also involving pay broadcasters such as beIN Sports and Optus to "drive the price up to its ambitious target" of A$80M ($61.3M) a year, "a doubling of its current deal, which expires at the end of this season." Fox holds the "first and last rights to any bid" and it held a period of exclusivity to conduct negotiations until Sept. 30. The A-League "is the main attraction, as it provides the bread and butter" of Australian football content and runs from the end of this week to the grand final on May 7. One "fly in the ointment" is the inability of FFA to sell Socceroos World Cup qualifiers. While many of these matches "take place at viewer unfriendly times in the middle of the night," home games, such as the one against Japan due to be staged in Melbourne on Oct. 11, "rate highly." The World Cup qualifier rights-holder is Lagardère and it has "opted to sell this property independently." Potential broadcast partners "will also be monitoring ratings and attendances at games in the early weeks of the season to see if interest is mounting" (SMH, 10/2).
