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Report: TEN chasing NRL rights

Is TEN about to make a bid on NRL rights at the expense of Nine?

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There is speculation today that TEN is poised to make a bid on NRL rights ahead of Nine.

TEN is said to be keen about either the Friday game or even the Monday night match. NRL CEO David Gallop has held top-level discussions with acting TEN CEO Lachlan Murdoch in recent months.

Murdoch has also passed on the opportunity re-enter negotiations with Seven West Media for AFL games. Seven commercial director Bruce McWilliam lunched with Nine managing director Jeff Browne yesterday, sparking speculation Nine and Seven could do a deal over football rights.

NRL is looking for $1b for its free-to-air and pay-television rights.

But Nine has a first and last refusal on NRL rights and Seven is also keen to enter the negotiations.

If TEN grabs Monday night football, that could leave Fox Sports with its Super Saturday coverage.

Should TEN win the rights for Friday night, it would leave Nine with only the Sunday afternoon game.

Source: Herald Sun, The Australian

36 Responses

  1. 7 would have been asking for at least half of what they had to pay for the afl rights. i doubt 10 would have been able to fork that kind of money

  3. To be honest it is a public injustice that us footy fans do not have access to 100% live coverage. Ch 9 Sunday footy is a complete joke. If you want to show it delayed and littered with ads then clearly you don’t deserve to have the rights. The scheduling needs to change so fans have the chance to watch their team live if they wish. This 2 game rubbish on Friday nights is typically pointless because they tend to show the same game live into all markets.

  4. On the day that The Australian reported Lachlan Murdoch didn’t even bother to talk to Seven West about purchasing some AFL games because of “cost cutting,” Mr Murdoch seems willing to splash out big cash for a sport that only 2 out of his 5 stations will reap any significant rewards from.
    AFL has at least 2 teams in all 5 Ten markets, but NRL is non-existent in two Ten markets, Perth and Adelaide.
    If Murdoch was serious about keeping costs low at Ten there would be no foray into NRL, still a very expensive sport with low margins, at least before AFL where you can sell significantly more ad space.
    (I dont even know how revenue can be high for NRL given limited ad space in a 2 hour broadcast compared to AFL)
    As a result of slashing AFL, Ten will lose significant market share in Melbourne, the most watched market for Ten programming. AFL provided a very good platform to promote shows like MasterChef in the early days, and Melbourne would probably not be the success for a show like MasterChef if it wasn’t for big cross promo during AFL coverage.
    But I guess its no surprise for a man who reportedly “hates AFL”
    This man is killing Channel Ten’s chances of long term success because of a personal bias.

  5. Unlike Bruce & Secret Squirrel, I really hope that 10 don’t bid for the V8 supercars. There is already Far too much boring motor sport on ONE all weekend, I don’t want to see anymore.

    If they are going to air sports I’d prefer to see real sports not this “motor sport” crap.

  12. It is a shame for TEN to lose AFL – Would be nice if they could’ve kept at least 1 game; I would’ve liked to have seen Ten continue on with the Saturday game and have NRL Monday Night matches.
    Ten struggle in Sydney and Brisbane (especially Sydney) so having something that could help Sydneysiders relate more to the network might help the overall performance of the network out.
    Prehaps this is what Lachlan’s intent is? To get Ten out in the public eye more in Sydney and Brisbane and increase the viewership?

  14. @ Johnson,

    TEN will be able to afford the NRL rights because they worth be worth as much per game compared to the AFL. Once you remove SOO & International games from the NRL rights it will easily be affordable for TEN to get two/three NRL games a week especially if with the money freed up from losing the AFL rights.

  15. i am not surprised they won’t be buying any afl games. 7 would have been asking for a fair bit. as for the nrl, 9 has the last bid and they won’t want to lose any games and they will more than likely get the rights back and more games. 4 fta games a week now

  21. While I’m sure some people from AFL states will be disappointed that Ten will no longer be airing AFL games, if Ten win a few matches in the next NRL rights it can surely only make the free-to-air NRL coverage better.

  22. If Ten can’t afford to buy AFL matches from Seven, then how can it afford to pay for an NRL match every week? It just shows Lachlan Murdoch’s bias towards rugby league. Getting the NRL may be good for Ten in Sydney and Brisbane, but not so in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (even if Perth gets its own team in 2013).

  24. Its a shame TEN will no longer be broadcasting AFL football – their coverage was second to none and of the highest class – first with HD and 5.1, interesting variety shows and strong stable of calling talent

    Oh well, NRL fans are in for a treat if TEN shows even 50% of the dedication they showed to the AFL for NRL. And perhaps Melbourne might see some live sports on ONE HD?

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