Australia’s Summer of Tennis, on Nine.
Will Nine use Gem for when the news comes on, like they’ve done for cricket?
NINE SECURES EARLY RIGHTS TO TENNIS
NEW SIX-YEAR DEAL TO COMMENCE IN 2019
Nine today announced that it has reached agreement with Tennis Australia and the Seven Network to bring forward its rights deal to broadcast tennis by one year.
The new deal means Nine will be the home of Australia’s highest rating summer sport for six years, commencing in January 2019.
Under the terms of the landmark agreement, Nine has now secured the exclusive rights to all world-class tennis played in Australia from 2019 to 2024.
The rights granted for the one-year extension are exactly as per the original deal, meaning Nine has acquired all audio-visual rights for broadcast, streaming, mobile, digital and social platforms, starting with the coming summer of tennis.
In return for agreeing to take on the rights one year early, Nine was able to secure the 2019 rights for a cost of $48.5 million, compared to $60 million from 2020.
Hugh Marks, CEO of Nine, said: “There’s an air of excitement at Nine about being the new home of tennis, so to be able to start our new deal a year early brings us all much delight. As I said back in March, the timing of tennis and the audience demographics it delivers are a perfect fit for Nine and its advertisers. We’re also mighty pleased to have been able to settle on a price for the additional year that is consistent with our original offer to Seven.”
Craig Tiley, Australian Open Tournament Director and Tennis Australia CEO, said: “2019 marks a new era for Tennis Australia with a new domestic broadcast partner in Nine. We’ve enjoyed a 40-plus year partnership with the Seven Network and are glad we could reach an agreement which is in all our best interests.
“Our objectives throughout this process have been to focus on meeting changing viewer habits, bringing the entire AO event experience to life on all platforms and capitalising on the digital wave.
“We are excited by the move to Nine this summer and the opportunity it gives us to expand our content which will not only fuel further growth of our events but most importantly the sport of tennis in Australia.”
The six-year deal encompasses the Australian Open in Melbourne as well as the lead-up tournaments around Australia – the Hopman Cup in Perth and the Brisbane, Sydney and Hobart Internationals.
The new agreement will provide Nine with an unparalleled launch platform for the television ratings year, which commences straight after the Australian Open.
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It’s a win-win situation for both networks - Nine won’t have a sports void next Summer while Seven can focus solely on launching their cricket coverage. Additionally, the rights being sold for $48.5 million is almost in the middle between what Seven wanted ($60 million) and what Nine initially wanted to purchase the rights for ($40 million) so both parties comprised in that regard.
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And Nine will also get to broadcast Hobart International for the first rights, although Tennis Australia will need to sort the broadcast rights with Eurosport in regards to women’s matches at Brisbane and Sydney International to ensure they are not shown on Foxtel in competition with Nine.
Nine will also need to negotiate a separate deal with Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club to broadcast the Kooyong Classic.
Will Nine rely on commentary from Tennis Australia’s world feed or will it sign up people who were part of Seven’s commentary team this year?
Great outcome for Nine. Hopefully they’ve got some good new shows in the pipeline ready to launch alongside Married At First Sight after the tennis.
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Good luck Channel Nine from January next year.
Wonder if they’ll sign Jim Courier? Will be strange not seeing it on Seven. It is the only network I have ever known to broadcast the Australian Open.
Interesting to hear Tom Malone on Macquarie Sports Radio saying that Jim Courier is a chance to go to Nine. Hopefully he does.
Statement by Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner on the sale of 2019 tennis rights to Nine
We are very proud of the many ideas we brought to our Tennis coverage during our long partnership with the sport. I would like to pay tribute to the hundreds of Seven people who worked with such passion and pride on both sides of the camera over the years.
This deal is a great outcome for Seven, delivering a profit for our shareholders, and freeing us up to
Concentrate on making our coverage of cricket the very best that it can be.We are now turning our full-time attention to the 70 days and nights of cricket we have coming up, kicking off with the Australian women’s T20 match against New Zealand straight after the AFL Grand Final on September 29.
And then it’s into the first of our historic summers of cricket, which will set new audience records, and give us a level of consistency and surety on our content for years to come.
The combination of Big Bash and Test Cricket, live and free, on Australia’s number one network gives us a powerful and unprecedented marketing platform for our own content and advertising partners.
Hoepfully Todd Woodbridge is another pick-up (he’ll no doubt be covering Wimbledon in coming weeks for Seven - will be interesting to see if he says goodbye and thanks viewers on behalf of the network, I suspect he will, even if not scripted)
I agree that the early start to this Tennis Australia broadcast deal is a win-win for both Seven & Nine.
On a general programming note, I’m sure Nine is really looking forward to having the Summer of Tennis (which as I understand it, is more popular with the MAFS target demographic than cricket) leading into the launch of Married At First Sight next year.
Oh great, I’m really looking forward to the inevitable promos during January. 
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Just like Nine has been the only place I have known for the summer of Cricket.
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Nine will use Origin Game III to promote the tennis. Coming soon to Nine in 2019
Just like Seven is using AFL to promote the cricket already
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i thought there wasnt going to be a three the news i heard on 7 said nsw won the orgin
yes but there is always 3 games for Origin, so therefore game 3 is a dead rubber.
I feel like Nine got the better deal because they have exclusivity with the Tennis. Seven is going into cricket with reduced potential audience from the get go because Fox Sports will be broadcasting the same content ad free (and exclusive in the case of some matches).
- The Hopman Cup comes to Perth on the 29 Dec 2018, while the Brisbane International begins on the 30 Dec 2018. So I would expect to see more promos of the ‘Big Summer of Tennis’ coming to Channel 9’ somewhere in late October!
- Someone needs to host the Hopman Cup and the Brisbane International. James Bracey will probably host Hopman Cup, while Clint Stanaway will do the Brisbane International.
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