Have they actually confirmed that they will both be FTA. Seems like an 8th v 9th “final” is prime opportunity for a Fox exclusive. Would be the only way this would be any real uplift on the rights. I assume there would have been something nominal for State of Origin as well?
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I don’t think AFL is at the stage of making finals series as ‘Fox exclusive’
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A new article
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Interesting article. The AFL should be nervous. The NRL shouldn’t be dealing with this company.
They’ve paid too much for the rights. The paramount bid pushed them to the brink and they bit. The AFL would’ve been happier with paramount in the longer term if this all goes to hell. One hopes it does so they can learn a lesson. Sports shouldn’t be beholden to foxtel.
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If they do get any kind of lowering of payment in renegotiations Paramount should sue the AFL.
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Might help explain all the desperate gimmicks the afl have been rushing in lately trying to prove value to DAZN.
The NRL rights puts DAZN in a tricky situation, they can’t afford to lose them and yet know the nrl won’t take less than what they’re paying the afl. For DAZN, they may need to reduce the afl rights to be able to afford the nrl rights.
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Don’t see what benefit would be for Paramount - the AFL is not obliged to go with the highest bidder, they did obviously after the Foxtel bid but it was always clear they would rather not deal with Paramount anyway.
Going with Paramount would have not been smooth sailing, and that’s before a potential Saudi PIF investment in its WBD bid.
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I suspect Paramount will be rubbing their hands as DAZN’s dealings at the moment, with the AFL nervous and NRL hopefully thinking twice before joining back to Foxtel/Kayo
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I personally feel this was by 9 to undermine the position of Fox with NRL. So they can get everything on 9/Stan by selling any rights deal with Fox as being risky.
I do think there is financial pressure with Fox but this feel like a minor hit job
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Yeah, I think how much DAZN values the AFL is clearly different to the value News Corp placed on it. However, the article is speculation for speculation sakes trying to link 2 and 2 together.
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This article feels like a hit job, however DAZN have hardly helped themselves when it comes to developing a reputation for not following through on their end of contracts (with Ligue 1 and now the Belgian Pro League).
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If Paramount can complete the HBO Max takeover, I’d expect them to go hard at the rights and the AFL on P+ worldwide
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The AFL is not a global product - it would make little sense to go after global rights.
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If DAZN want to kill their platform by removing the AFL, then so be it. Channel 10/Paramount can easily take over the rights and likely we will be given more games on FTA as a result. TV Sports is the only thing that is thriving right now in the FTA market, and the AFL can easily find another alternative. Meanwhile, DAZN would be basically on life support without the AFL.
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I feel NRL is more important to Fox. They are both super important but I think NRL typically rates better than AFL.
I don’t think they will get out of the contract, at least not yet. Maybe towards the end if they are really in a big money crunch
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In the unlikely hypothetical where DAZN did walk away from the AFL, what actually happens? Is it a situation like the cricket ODI’s & T20I’s where 7 actually have the rights to the whole package and technically on-sell to DAZN? Or something else?
I assume the AFL would first go to 7 and see if there was some impossible way for them to broadcast the entire season. When that doesn’t work, look at a way for 7 to partner with a streamer probably not affiliated with a FTA broadcaster. Then if that doesn’t take, try to find a way for 7 to work with Stan or Paramount? And finally if nothing else is working, find a way to get out of the contract with 7 and go to 9/Stan or 10/P?
Or would it be something completely different?
I doubt it. The only game to rate higher on Foxtel platforms this season was the last game of the season (broncos and panthers match). Besides that, we have only heard about AFL figures on Kayo this season whereas it was silent on the NRL front. Likewise, 1 season isn’t an accurate sample size. Anyway, Foxtel has never used the language that NRL was more important for them. In fact, when they signed the AFL broadcast deal before DAZN took over, they were saying the exact opposite.
I’m pretty sure on average Fox NRL tends to be higher rating compared to Fox AFL @SportsindustryAU do you have any numbers of this season or past seasons?
Fox and Kayo TV ratings are incredibly hard to find these days. It’s not 2015 when we could compare the codes, instead we have to wait for press releases now. All we know is that the broncos vs panthers is the highest rated game of the season, while AFL dominates the rest. And like i said above, Kayo has only been reporting on AFL tv ratings this season which suggest AFL had the better year. Also, the differences between the two codes are so minimal that suggesting one is more important than the other would be wrong anyways.
Also, I don’t think 7 could ever attain the full rights. Reports are they’re already struggling with the money they’re currently spending on the rights. The best bet would be 10/Paramount. The only issue here is that 7 gets to pick the best games because they’re the FTA broadcaster. With 10 in the picture, that would change. If 10 were paying more than 7 for the rights, they would be demanding 7 to get the lesser games. We also know that 7 are on record saying that they’re overpaying for the AFL rights because they’re afraid of becoming the next channel 10. We also know that tv stations suffer massively when they don’t have a major sporting code, so 7 would have to make sure whatever scenario comes from this that they’re still able to broadcast AFL games. However, unless Netflix comes in with a huge bid, the only viable contender would be 10/paramount. And that would have a negative effect on 7.
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AFL games have simulcast with 7 for most local games. NRL does not. So I think for Fox the loss of that would lose more viewers or users 
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