TELEVISION BROADCASTING OF SPORTS – AUSTRALIA

Cricket chiefs look to post a big score

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 19 : 14-Nov-22

Sources have indicated that Cricket Australia was "underwhelmed" by the initial ­offers for the next broadcasting rights deal and has asked broadcasters to make new submissions. Seven West Media and Foxtel paid $1.18bn for the current rights deal, which expires in two years’ time. Seven and Nine Entertainment are believed to have offered around $50m per year solely for Test match rights, while Ten and Foxtel are said to have pitched for the rights to all international and domestic matches. CA’s negotiations with broadcasters follows Nine’s recent renewal of its rights deal with Tennis Australia in a new five-year deal worth a record $425m.

CORPORATES
CRICKET AUSTRALIA, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Low TV crowd for all-Sydney decider

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Edmund Tadros
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 4-Oct-22

Ratings data from OzTAM shows that the National Rugby League grand final boasted a total audience of just 2.76 million viewers. This compares with 3.2 million in 2020 and 3.6 million in 2021, with COVID-19 restrictions boosting the audience in both years. The Nine Network’s coverage of the 2022 premiership decider had an average audience of 1.67 million metropolitan viewers, plus 696,000 viewers in regional areas; an additional 389,000 people watched the grand final on the 9Now app.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Seven West optimistic of securing AFL rights

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Mark Di Stefano, Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 17-Aug-22

The Australian Football League was hoping to finalise its next broadcasting rights deal after the last round of the home-and-away season this weekend. However, insiders have suggested that the AFL will not rush a deal in order to secure the best outcome. The AFL Commission discussed the competing bids on Monday, and it hopes to sell the broadcasting and streaming rights for around $3bn. Incumbent free-to-air rights holder Seven West Media is confident that its deal will be renewed, with CEO James Warburton noting that it has a "very strong" relationship with the AFL.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED

Sports would be nuts to risk walking away: Foxtel CEO

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason, Mark Di Stefano
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 19 : 10-Aug-22

News Corporation has posted revenue of $US10.4bn for 2021-22, an increase of 11 per cent, while EBITDA rose 31 per cent to $US1.67bn. The Dow Jones financial news division’s EBITDA was up 30 per cent at $US433m, while the real estate services division’s EBITA rose 12 per cent to $US574m. News Corp Australia contributed $US109m to the media giant’s growth in profitability, while Foxtel’s total subscriber base rose to 4.5 million. Foxtel will seek to renew its AFL broadcasting rights deal, and CEO Patrick Delany says factors such as its audience reach and capacity to pay means that sporting bodies should not risk shifting their broadcasting rights to another company.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

NRL could switch TV channels

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by John Stensholt, Jessica Halloran
The Australian – Page: 24 : 25-Aug-21

The Seven Network is said to have expressed interest in the broadcasting rights to rugby league’s State of Origin series. Seven is also believed to be interested in broadcasting one National Rugby League match each week; Ten could also potentially bid for the NRL rights, with the Nine Network’s current deal set to end in 2022. Nine has held the rugby league broadcasting rights for about three decades.

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

Seven strikes gold with Games coverage

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Miranda Ward
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 9-Aug-21

The Tokyo Olympic Games have been a ratings boon for the Seven Network, with new data showing that 19.95 million Australians watched its coverage of the first 11 days of the showcase event. Viewers have also embraced Seven’s streaming coverage, watching more 4.6 billion minutes via 7plus during the first 14 days of the Olympics. Seven now boasts some 9.1 million registered users of 7plus, up from 6.4 million prior to the Olympics. Chief digital officer Gereurd Roberts says the strong growth in uptake of the free streaming service demonstrates the power of the Olympics and the success of Seven’s strategy.

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, 7PLUS

Ten nabs soccer in $200m contract

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 24 : 27-May-21

The Ten Network has secured the broadcasting and streaming rights to A-League and W-League matches for the next five years in a $200m cash and contra deal. One A-League match will be shown live on Ten’s primary channel each week, while one W-League match to be broadcast live on a secondary channel. Every match in both leagues will also be available via Ten’s new Paramount+ subscription video-on-demand service, which will be launched in August. Fox Sports currently holds the broadcasting rights.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, THE A LEAGUE PTY LTD, THE W LEAGUE PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Nine faces ad hit with diminished Australian Open

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 : 25-Jan-21

Ben Willee from advertising agency Spinach says advertisers are worried what impact delaying the Australian Open tennis for three weeks might have on Nine’s audiences for the event. Nine has a $300 million, five-year broadcasting deal with Tennis Australia, on which it has sought concessions because of the delay, and it has won a discount of over 10 per cent on its $60 million payment for this year. Katie Rigg-Smith from media agency Mindshare notes television networks traditionally use live sport in the first quarter of the year to promote new and returning shows.

CORPORATES
SPINACH ADVERTISING PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TENNIS AUSTRALIA, MINDSHARE

Foxtel, Telstra extend AFL rights deal

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 24-Dec-20

Foxtel has secured a deal with the Australian Football League to extend its existing broadcasting rights deal by two years. Telstra has also extended its rights deal to include the 2023 and 2024 seasons, while the Seven Network struck a similar deal earlier in 2020. The three companies will pay a combined $946m for broadcasting and streaming rights for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Telstra will also become the official technology partner of Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, which is owned by the AFL.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD,TELSTRA COMMUNICATIONS PVT LTD,AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE,SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED,SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM

Cricket Australia discussed shifting broadcast rights to Nine

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Zoe Samios
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 21-Dec-20

Sources have indicated that the bitter legal dispute with Seven West Media prompted Cricket Australia to hold informal talks with Nine Entertainment about taking over the broadcasting rights. The informal talks are believed to have ended when Cricket Australia recently received a $12.5m instalment payment from Seven. The media group pays about $70m a year for the free-to-air rights, as part of a six-year deal with Cricket Australia and pay-TV group Foxtel. Amongst other things, Seven is seeking a discount of about 20 per cent due to coronavirus-induced changes to the cricket schedule for the 2020-21 summer.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, CRICKET AUSTRALIA, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD