Tennis Australia is "under investigation by the corporate watchdog over allegations" a A$200M ($152M) deal to sell the broadcast rights of the Australian Open to Seven West Media "may have broken the law," according to Vedelago & Houston of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The revelation "comes just days before the finals in Australia's premier tennis tournament, which will be televised to a massive international audience." The Australian Securities & Investment Commission is investigating Tennis Australia's decision to sell the '15-19 broadcasting rights to longtime partner Seven in '13 "without launching a competitive bidding process." The deal is "estimated to have cost Tennis Australia" up to A$50M ($38M) in lost revenue. An ASIC spokesperson said that the agency "does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations." Tennis Australia "did not respond to a request for comment." Seven Commercial Dir Bruce McWilliam denied an ASIC investigation was underway and said that the media group "had not been asked to participate" (SMH, 1/24). THE AUSTRALIAN's Mitchell Bingemann reported Seven's TV rivals "were critical of the deal when it was announced, with some, including global sports group IMG and Ten saying they would have stumped up" between A$40M ($30.3M) and A$50M annually for the rights. It is understood that ASIC has served current and past directors of Tennis Australia with "notices to produce documents and answer questions about the negotiations surrounding the deal." A Tennis Australia spokesperson "would not comment if ASIC was investigating," but "defended the decision to award Seven the broadcast rights." The spokesperson said, "The current domestic broadcast contract is the largest in Tennis Australia’s history. It was rigorously negotiated in 2013 and created a platform upon which the organization has grown global broadcast rights exponentially. A lot of public speculation about the deal is seriously misinformed and without any understanding of the true value of the deal, which was unanimously supported by the board" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/25).
