TELEVISION BROADCASTING OF SPORTS – AUSTRALIA

National Football League comes to Melbourne and millions of Australians are likely to be watching

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Original article by By Michele Levine, Roy Morgan CEO
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Sep-26

If you’re in Melbourne this week, you’ll have noticed an influx of Americans for the NFL season opener between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams. Roy Morgan’s latest data on sporting viewership shows why the Americans are here – with almost 1.2 million Australians watching American Football regularly or occasionally – and nearly four-fifths (940,000) are men compared to only one-fifth (240,000) being women. By age, Millennials are the biggest audience – numbering 320,000, just ahead of Generation X (310,000), and Baby Boomers (280,000). In addition to those likely to watch, a further 4.5 million Australians are willing to watch if someone else in the household is watching – almost 20% of Australians. In addition, around 400,000 Australians already bet on American Football – and this is even more heavily skewed to men (340,000) over women (60,000).

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS, LOS ANGELES RAMS

2030 World Cup to remain on SBS, the spiritual home of football

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Original article by Calum Jaspan
The Age – Page: Online : 2-Sep-26

SBS’s CEO Jane Palfreyman says the FIFA World Cup brings Australians together across cultures, languages, and communities. The public broadcaster’s coverage of the 2026 men’s World Cup attracted more than 18 million viewers, and Palfreyman says she is "thrilled" that SBS will be the tournament’s Australian broadcaster again in 2030. SBS is believed to have paid about $30m for the 2026 broadcasting rights, and sources have indicated that the cost of the next World Cup rights will exceed this. The 2030 World Cup will be jointly hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

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SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

Foxtel goes global to fund record NRL deal

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones, Zoe Samios
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 8-Jul-26

The Australian Rugby League Commission’s chairman Peter V’landys says the National Rugby League’s new seven-year broadcasting rights deal will "future proof" the game. He adds that the record $5.3bn deal will allow the NRL to grow both in Australia and internationally. Incumbent broadcasters Foxtel and Nine Entertainment have retained the rights; every match in the regular season and the finals will be televised by Foxtel and its Kayo Sports streaming service, while Nine will show three matches per week and have exclusive rights to the NRL grand final and the State of Origin series. New Zealand pay-TV network Sky is also included in the deal. The NRL and Foxtel owner DAZN will establish a revenue-sharing deal which is aimed at launching the league in new markets.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMMISSION LIMITED, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SKY NETWORK TELEVISION LIMITED – ASX SKT, DAZN

NRL rights tiebreaker looms as Nine plots eleventh-hour pitch to V’landys

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Original article by Steve Jackson, James Madden
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 1-Jul-26

Recent media reports indicated that the National Rugby League is poised to finalise a new seven-year rights deal with its current broadcast partners, Nine Entertainment and Foxtel. However, Nine CEO Mike Stanton is believed to be planning to hold further talks with the Australian Rugby League Commission’s chairman Peter V’landys in London, with a view to securing exclusive linear TV and streaming rights. Stanton is expected to argue that splitting the rights will limit the NRL’s growth.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMMISSION LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

V’landys lures NRL bids from Amazon, Seven

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 3-Jun-26

The Australian Rugby League Commission’s chairman Peter V’landys has previously stated that he wants the National Rugby League’s next broadcasting rights deal to be finalised by 15 July. The ARLC has confirmed that Amazon Prime Video and the Seven Network’s parent Southern Cross Media Group have submitted bids for the five-year broadcasting rights deal from 2028. Sources have indicated that both groups are seeking the rights to one match per week, while Southern Cross will also seek the State of Origin rights. Current NRL broadcasters Nine Entertainment and Foxtel will seek the rights to all matches, although anti-siphoning laws would require Foxtel to on-sell some matches to a free-to-air network.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMMISSION LIMITED, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Nine buys Premier League rights in Australia as Optus Sport shuts down

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Original article by Martin Pegan
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 1-Jul-25

Nine Entertainment has struck a deal to acquire the sports broadcasting rights that are currently held by telco Optus. They include the English Premier League, the FA Cup and the National Women’s Soccer League, which will all shift from Optus Sport to Stan Sport. The deal is said to be worth about $300m in total, and Optus is believed to have agreed to contribute about $40m to the estimated annual cost of $100m per annum for the final three years of its broadcasting rights deal for EPL matches. The Optus Sport platform was launched in 2006, but it will be shut down at the end of July; this will allow Optus to focus on its core business.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, STAN SPORT, OPTUS SPORT, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE, FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, NATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCCER LEAGUE

Piastri factor puts heat on Formula 1 TV rights race

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Original article by Calum Jaspan
The Age – Page: Online : 8-May-25

Nine Entertainment’s CEO Matt Stanton says the media group is interested in securing the broadcasting rights for Formula 1 racing. Foxtel currently holds exclusive rights to all F1 races except the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, which is also televised by the Ten Network under the nation’s anti-siphoning laws for major sports events. Foxtel is believed to be in the final year of its current three-year rights deal, and F1 would be a good fit for Nine’s Stan Sport streaming platform. The success of Australian driver Oscar Piastri so far in the current F1 is likely to have boosted local interest in the sport.

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NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, STAN SPORT

AFL fans expected to fork out as Saturday live coverage goes behind paywall in 2025

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Original article by Jack Snape
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Feb-25

Foxtel and its Kayo Sports streaming service will have exclusive live broadcasts of AFL matches on Saturdays in Victoria and Tasmania during the 2025 season. The live and exclusive coverage will also apply to the first eight rounds of the home-and-away season in other states, under the new $4.5bn broadcasting rights deal between the AFL, Foxtel and the Seven Network that began this year. Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany is confident that fans will be willing to pay to watch live coverage of AFL matches.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM

Optus may sell sports streaming to Nine

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 21-Jan-25

Sources have indicated that Optus has sought expressions of interest from potential buyers of its sports streaming platform. Amongst other things, Optus Sport holds the Australian broadcasting rights to the English Premier League and the Women’s Super League. The potential buyers that Optus has approached are said to include Nine Entertainment, which owns the rival Stan Sport streaming service. Optus is believed to be keen to focus on its core telecommunications business amid growing competition in the streaming sector and the rising cost of broadcasting rights.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, OPTUS SPORT, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, STAN SPORT

A numbers game: how NRL can claim it’s the most watched sport

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Oct-24

Data from OzTAM shows that the NRL Grand Final on Sunday attracted a national television audience of 3.4 million. The AFL Grand Final a week earlier was watched by 4.06 million people. However, the NRL’s premiership showdown was viewed by 762,000 people via the Nine Network’s free 9Now streaming platform, compared with a streaming audience of 654,000 for the AFL season decider via the rival 7plus app. NRL CEO Andrew Abdo contends that rugby league has a larger TV audience than any other sports code in Australia. The NRL will soon begin to negotiate a new broadcasting rights deal beyond 2027.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, 9NOW, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, 7PLUS, OZTAM PTY LTD