The current management wasn’t in charge of Seven in 2018 - that was Worner and co when they (reportedly) significantly underbid to retain the AO rights and then had to go after cricket when Nine snuck in to snatch the tennis off them.
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It’s interesting how that was the industry perception back then, but wonder about now? Could, for example Seven, go summers without any major sport. Nine in recent years in December and early January actually do quite well, regularly winning nights even with BBL cricket or poor contested tests (not to mention rain affected) with fillers and movies, would be much cheaper I’m guessing. Just a thought.
Worner fucked up and rushed a CA deal without any planning or thought just to get the sport and it ended in disaster. Letting fox dictate and look what happened. Fancy not even getting streaming rights for your own games. Ridiculous.
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The thing here was there was no precedent at the time. They also had no real need for it, and a standard was set with their AFL deal that they thought was just the way.
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To be fair, Seven agreed (had no choice?) to this same thing for two AFL deals (2012- and 2017-).
The cash rights for the deal is an average of $85 million a year. It is a significant increase on the agreement struck between the two companies in 2018 and substantially higher than Tennis Australia’s last deal with Seven in 2014, which was worth about $35 million annually.
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Big jump in price but I’m happy to see Nine keep hold of the rights. Their coverage has been great the last few years.
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It will be interesting to see any changes for Nine’s next Australian Open deal to recoup the big jump in price. One speculation is that a majority of matches (especially in week 1 of AO) will be streamed only on Stan Sport, forcing fans to either buy a ground pass to go to the matches, or subscribe to Stan to see them.
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Wonder if this devalues the Cricket rights. Seven don’t want them and Nine arguably don’t need them anymore.
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Good to see Nine continue to be the home of tennis with the Australian Open rights extension for another 4 years
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Awesome result for tennis
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Just goes to show what a fantastic relationship Nine and TA have, including success during a pandemic and lockdowns. No public court threat shenaningans, even when things are going tougher and largely both parties always commercially quiet with minimal leaks, a bit of unreal luck along the way at times too. It’s widely acknowledged in the industry how highly Craig Tiley is regarded (regardless of his coronavirus Djokovic views) - also having been the AO Tournament Director since I think the mid-2000s and not surprised even a new CEO to Hugh Marks in Mike Sneesby and Peter Costello and board (who I think are also all or mostly new since the early 2018 deal) were convinced.
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7 and TA last signed a deal from 2014-2018 without taking it to the markets with 10 putting their hand up with a hearing in the FC. Nine and TA has a strong relationship which will continue well into the 2020s.
I prefer Nine’s coverage to 7’s when they first aired the tennis in 2019 after many years on 7.
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From Tennis Australia
Tennis Australia signs historic Nine Network rights extension
Tennis Australia has announced a momentous five-year extension of its broadcast partnership with the 9Network, ensuring Nine is the home of tennis until 2029.
The new five-year deal (from 2025 to 2029) includes a $425 million cash component plus considerable additional value in contra, retained rights and promotion, making it the biggest in the history of Tennis Australia.
The agreement will continue to fuel the growth of the sport across the country, the Australian Open and other major events.
“This is a magnificent outcome for tennis and ensures everyone in Australia has the opportunity to watch the our major events on free to air television,” Tennis Australia Chair Jayne Hrdlicka.
“Nine has shown a serious year-round commitment to continue to grow tennis,” Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said today.
“Together we have regularly set and exceeded targets for ourselves in what has been a highly productive partnership thus far. This new deal further strengthens that relationship in which our organisations work as a true co-operative on the broadcast, production, innovation and promotion of our events and sport. It will ensure we are reaching audiences of all ages and backgrounds across multiple platforms with high quality product.
“We want to show our sport at its best to continually excite tennis fans, while also appealing to a new generation of fans and players across Australia. This new deal will certainly help us do that.”
“We are pleased to announce the extension of the partnership between Nine and Tennis Australia,” Nine CEO Mike Sneesby said.
“Tennis attracts both a broad and very passionate following, and is a perfect fit with Nine’s schedule, audiences and advertisers. The Australian Open has delivered some of Australia’s most iconic sporting moments and largest television audiences and together, we are committed to bringing these great moments to all Australians live and free.”
The five-year deal gives the Nine Network the domestic broadcast rights for the Australian Open and summer of tennis lead-in events, including the brand-new global teams competition, the United Cup and other special events.
This year’s Australian Open women’s final was the highest rating of all time, watched by an Australian television audience of 3.835 million.*
The men’s final was the highest rating in four years, with a domestic TV audience of 2.333 million* viewers.
The all-Aussie men’s doubles final was the highest rating Australian Open men’s doubles match of all time, with 2.482 million* tuning in across the country. And on 9Now, more than 657 million minutes of Australian Open coverage was streamed, representing a year-on-year increase of 171%.
The new agreement follows extensive negotiations and some spirited competition, with a big focus on having content in the right places for ease of consumer access as well as promotion of the sport.
*According to OzTam
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I think the extension of Nine’s broadcast deal with Tennis Australia shows long-term relationship with a previous broadcaster amounts to nothing, as shown with US Open replacing CBS with ESPN in 2015.
The BBC has been broadcasting Wimbledon continuously since 1937, through radio and TV. That’s no guarantee that the BBC’s partnership with the All England Club will reach 100, if a rival broadcaster offers more money to snatch the rights.
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The BBC operates in a different sphere in the UK to be honest. I agree there’s no guarantee but it’s not the same as a commercial broadcaster bidding.
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9 has been very lucky with their current contract Barty, Kyrgios at the top of their game and big 3 + Serena in their twilight years
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