Nine CEO Hugh Marks' decision follows the broadcaster's loss of cricket rights earlier this year.GETTY IMAGES
Tennis fans will not be tuning into Channel Nine to watch the 2019 Australian Open after Nine Entertainment CEO Hugh Marks "walked away from negotiations with Seven West Media," according to Jennifer Duke of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The two rival free-to-air networks "have been in lengthy discussions about whether Seven would sell the rights to its final year of tennis" to Nine. Marks' decision to abandon negotiations "means Nine will be without a mainstream sport this summer" -- it lost the rights to broadcast cricket to Seven and Foxtel earlier this year -- "but has more money to invest in other programs." Marks said that he chose to end the Australian Open talks after a "very fair" offer for the next Australian Open was rejected by Seven. It is understood the offer represented a A$10M ($7.4M) premium on Seven’s current deal with Tennis Australia, which is worth about A$40M ($29.7M) a year. Marks: "We haven’t been able to get to an agreement." Sources close to the discussions said that Seven wanted closer to A$60M ($44.5M) a year, which is the amount Nine paid for the '20-24 seasons of tennis after a "surprise deal" in March ended Seven’s "40-year stranglehold on the sport" (SMH, 6/17). ADNEWS' Josh McDonnell reported Seven "is now stuck with the rights to two major Australian sporting codes" after nabbing the media rights for cricket from Nine and Ten in a deal worth at least A$1B ($742M) over six years. Under the deal, Seven has the rights to domestic test matches, including one Ashes series and the majority of the Big Bash League. The BBL and Australian Open run concurrently, with the BBL's first game "generally taking place a week before Christmas and ending in early February." If Seven were to hold onto the rights for both events, "it runs the risk of having to evenly spread both the Open and BBL finals across its main, and multichannels, in the same week" (ADNEWS, 6/18).
