Rugby Australia CEO Rob Clarke reckons rugby union is a tier one sport as indicated by Delany.
1 Like
In early May Optus told News Corp that they were not interested in any Australian sports rights in the short term, and they they were not close to signing a deal for rugby rights early this year. It would be a complete turnaround if they now signed up for rugby.
Optus Sport could do with some more content, of course.
If it is true that the CEO said rugby is currently a tier one sport, then he is delusional.
Rugby hasn’t been tier one in at least 10-15 years.
3 Likes
Neither is Golf or Supercars.
1 Like
Big drop in kayo subscriptions from November '19 to January '20 blamed on end of World Cup. Well after finals of NRL/AFL. While the world cup is different to Super Rugby it shows there’s still appetite for rugby on Foxtel
It is not clear if any broadcaster submitted an expression of interest before the deadline. Fox Sports and Ten are said to be in discussions with Rugby Australia, and Optus are still rumoured to be interested according to the SMH.
The Australian is claiming that Foxtel still wants clarity over the schedule for the next five years, and that the only rugby games they consider “tier one sport” are the Australian Wallabies test matches.
It would be foolish to only chase Wallabies games if anti-syphoning means most of them will be on free to air anyway. And I don’t think rugby fans will get Foxtel or Kayo longer than a month for only a few exclusive games per year
1 Like
Thought Optus would be a good fit for Rugby with lots of subscribers EPL fans like myself having the service since 2016.
1 Like
The Australian are reporting Nine have entered into discussions with Rugby Australia about a potential deal which would see Nine broadcast Wallabies matches while Super Rugby would air either mostly or entirely on Stan.
The sticking point though for not just Nine but other networks interested in the rights is the uncertainty surrounding how the Super Rugby competition will be structured in the future
1 Like
Assuming Nine will show Wallabies matches, what happens when they clash with the Saturday night NRL matches it will cover in the last five rounds of the season? Or even the NRL finals?
If Stan/Nine is the main broadcaster (for Australian-based games), then they can have a big say in when the matches are scheduled. You could play around with the timing so they could flow out of one and into each other.
Not to mention, the Covid-scenario has also forced a rethink elsewhere, with 2x Bledisloe Cup matches to be played in the daytime in NZ.
2 Likes
I would be happy with this as I originally thought this is something 10 should have done with All Access. They could maybe even try and get those Saturday night ratings and put a Super Rugby game on the main channel.
I am surprised that Nine is in interested in rugby union. The last time they had it was a disaster. Delayed, late night screenings. This was the Wallabies games.
I actually think it will remain with 10 for another 5 years.
1 Like
Of course you would say that! 
You also forgot to mention when Nine had it last time it was shared with Foxtel.
Nine now seem to be going for these types of “b” grade sports (take no offence Union fans, using foxtel’s position of A & B categories), in which it enables them to have exclusive rights across all the platforms, this would be the first time that the stream service of Stan would be used, instead of NineNow.
Really smart business and opens the door for other sports to move into the streaming services like this and competition to Kayo.
Indeed. And it positions themselves in an interesting spot the next time the NRL rights come up. 3 games free to access/on Nine a week, the rest via Stan etc
3 Likes
It only lasted 2 years on Nine before they were ultimately forced I think by the ARU to dump it in favour of 10. I hope the ARU doesn’t forget what the Nine Network did when they had it. When 10 has had it they have shown all major games live involving the Wallabies
Was a dog’s breakfast when 9 last had it. Bumped to GEM in AFL States and delayed late at nights
1 Like
I never imagine Stan will be used to show rugby union. Stan Sport?
Having Super Rugby available only on Stan could boost its subscription base though.
1 Like
The big stumbling block with that would be whether Stan would be able to either attract enough new subscribers or convince enough people to upgrade to a NRL tier (depending on what model was adopted) to justify the amount it would cost for a Nine to acquire exclusive rights.
That wouldn’t be as big of an issue if Stan acquired Super Rugby rights because those rights will be much cheaper