NRL Free To Air TV Rights 2023-2027 (Nine)

Would you like a second go?

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On one hand, itā€™s curious that the NRL didnā€™t go to the market to a) See if Seven and/or 10 might be interested in the rights and b) Keep Nine honest in terms of how much they would have to pay to maintain the rights.

On the other hand, the league really boxed themselves in when they did the long-term extension with Fox last year in terms of the FTA component of the rights. That might prove to be a bad strategic mistake considering (by contrast) the AFL will be able to go to market in 2024 with their full set of rights and capitalize on any changes in the broadcast landscape (eg; Amazon, Stan Sport, Paramount+, etc establishing themselves by then as significant, long-term players for sports rights).

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Do you mean onerous? I know seven have many of these onerous sports deals but what does 10 have?

Perhaps they arenā€™t going for externals just yet given they canā€™t offer non-simulcast rights until 2027. 10 probably not interested in simulcasting games with fox. You really need to get FTA and streaming rights to be able to monetize and profit off the high rights fees.

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reminds me of Billy Brownless trying to say Wrinkliest:

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And his sure showed when he went down the slide the other week :wink:

Yeah thatā€™s the one

Melbourne cup is way over what itā€™s worth.

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Football (A/W/Y-Leagues, FFA Cups, Internationals, etc.).

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Yeah I was getting at Melbourne Cup and also now soccer.

And besides, as for major sports (the cup not included as it was done by previous management/ before their strategy change) havenā€™t 10 virtually walked away? Assuming soccer was a Paramount Plus play - did catch many off guard I think.

Itā€™s a big stretch to say Tenā€™s Football rights count as ā€˜onerousā€™ - especially given the Paramount+ component and likely lots of contra in the deal.

The problem for Ten with NRL is that they couldnā€™t buy the digital rights, so a Paramount+ focused deal wouldnā€™t work - so that just leaves broke Seven. NRL are right to lock Nine in ASAP.

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Not really onerous yet ā€¦ they havenā€™t started but theyā€™re linked to paramount+ so thereā€™s already a revenue stream for it.

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Nine has bought the digital rights with its current deal with the NRL, so why canā€™t 10 do the same?

Fox.

Perhaps he means the SVOD rather than the BVOD rights.

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What happened to splitting origin, and the nrl premiership rights?

Probably thrown in the ā€œtoo hardā€ basket, just as previous attempts to separate the Origin/Test rights were.

And look at the shocking digital rights Seven have with cricket and the AFL (none!)

Which, as Nine executives publicly said to media and in articles, digital/live streaming was vitally important. And its gone gangbusters with the tennis and rugby league.

Seven finally get a chance (first* event since Gold Coast 2018 - actually no Melbourne Cup 2018) with Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016 seems so long ago.

*not including niche like VFL, etc

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I reckon if you strip out origin itā€™s worth far less for the FTA broadcaster. Theyā€™re live and exclusive rights as opposed to the premiership games. So thereā€™s a value add there. The rights fee for the home and away games shared with fox would he too little for the NRL. So it needs to be in the package so they can charge a premium and extract value for the shit component of the deal.

The NRL are fucked with their rights. The audiences are getting worse and worse under these simulcast deals.

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Are you sure they have all that? Iā€™m pretty sure the rights are only A-league and W-league as for FFA cup and Internations (Aus) I dont think any thing as been said about these. As far as I know they could still be sorting these out.

Anyway im off topicā€¦

10 signed a deal as part of their contract with A-League saying they canā€™t bid for any NRL / AFL deals for the next few years, right?

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Thatā€™s bizarre