$20m TV gold: Shock broadcaster fighting for RL World Cup rights
The NRL is chasing a $20 million global TV deal with four interested networks for next year’s Rugby League World Cup on the back of the boom in international football.
Channel 9, Channel 7, DAZN and streaming giant Amazon Prime have already expressed interest in the tournament to be played between October and November next year in Australia.
IMO, if Seven were to gain the domestic FTA rights it could be a potential stepping stone for them in their bid to land the NRL rights from 2028, which would also prove to be a game changer and boost the league markets (Sydney and Brisbane) which have been loyal to Nine for quite some time now.
Seven did televise the 2013 and 2017 RLWCs, whereas Nine televised 2008.
Why weren’t these stepping stones?
No interest from 10/P+? Have they given up on getting sports?
Strange that Amazon is interested in the RLWC rights given it has never shown live rugby league.
DAZN will be looking to acquire the rights for Fox League given the channel missed out when the tournament was last held in Australia in 2017.
Surprised IMO.
Not having shown something before didn’t stop them acquring the ICC rights.
I remember Seven’s 2017 coverage, it was rather good IIRC and got generally positive feedback. Also rated strong and contributed to their end of ratings year, a year where Nine surged a bit thanks to Ninja as well as Married’s rapid growth, plus no Olympics or Comm Games that year and the AFL GF was well down. Seven’s only major highlight was probably January’s shock ‘Fed-al’ Aus Open final epic.
They’d have to be a strong contender, at least in NRL’s eyes. But yes they’re not an NRL partner and have long-standing AFL ties, as well as other rival bids, so guess we’ll see how it plays out.
They don’t have any money. Just keeping the lights on until the inevitable.
So the host broadcaster has to produce the coverage for this right? Because I’m not sure how much Amazon is interested in setting up production down here. Could see them going after the UK rights though.
An FTA would also have to be involved as anti-siphoning gives them first rights to the Kangaroos games for World Cup games hosted in Australia and Papua New Guinea (and New Zealand, but that’s not relevant here).
Seems like it.
Yet ironically will never make money or be relevant again without a marquee sport to drive eyes to the network for its entertainment programming. They’re useless.