TEN eyes V8s, Cricket, Australian Open.
TEN signals its interest in expanding its Sports portfolio even further -but not for ONE.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
TEN now has its sights set on more than NRL rights.
New CEO James Warburton met with Cricket Australia in the past fortnight to discuss cricket rights and has had several meetings with V8 Supercars.
TEN will also explore preliminary meetings with Tennis Australia over its next five-year contract from 2014, for the Australian Open, Kooyong Classic, Sydney International, Brisbane International and Davis Cup. It already holds the Hopman Cup rights after ABC abandoned the Perth event.
The NRL and Seven’s V8 Supercars TV contracts come up this year. Nine’s cricket rights expire at the end of the 2012/13 summer season, and Seven’s Australian tennis rights end after the 2014 Australian Open.
But with the tennis serving as a huge promotional platform for Seven it would undoubtedly be very aggressive in its desire to renew that deal. This year Seven also improved the Australian Open coverage with audiences, by utilising multichannels, including Live coverage in Perth.
With so much Sport on its wish list, you would think TEN was looking to revive ONE as a fulltime sports channel.
But James Warburton has previously said TEN was only interested in buying sports for TEN.
Whatever will they tell Graham Norton.….?
Source: Daily Telegraph
27 Responses
@jshaw The more important question is why did TEN dump the AFL? Simple answer, because it rates very well in the lesser populated states but is a total dog in NSW and QLD where more than half the population of the country live. In fact in Sydney and Brisbane it’s outrated by infomercials for the AB Circle Pro. When you combine the NRL season, State of Origin and Test matches, Rugby League is the most watched football code on Australian television… so that’s why TEN want the NRL.
TEN did not want the AFL so why would they chase NRL ? does not rate in Melb, Adel, Perth. Maybe TEN will get supercars but no chance with Aust Open
So TEN delete the sports channel, deletes RPM and yet decides this?
Personally I think TEN has no hope at the tennis as Seven will fight tooth and nail for it, the V8’s are 50/50 while cricket is anyone’s guess. As for the NRL they did say this is what their main goal is and they did deliberately remove themselves for the AFL deal to concentrate on them so I think they might get in well and snatch them from Nine. Surprised there was no mention of the Melbourne Cup and Olympics but I guess they don’t want to get greedy.
They should get their house in order first, ONE needs to be revamped again, MASH, Get Smart, Hogan’s Heroes, Whose’s Line and the movies should all be on ELEVEN.
They’ll target Nine owned sports because CVC is broke. Tennis and V8’s is a hard one because Seven are cashed up even after wasting $1b on AFL. Basically Ten are dead meat with this ownership and management (probably what was intended in the first place)
Network Ten are indeed sending mixed messages, first they Axe, the AFL, NBA and relegate the NBL to late night telecasts and turn ONE into a poor mans 7MATE, now all of a sudden they have changed their minds about sport. My prediction is this: V8’s – yes, Australian Open Tennis series – No, Summer of Cricket – No, and NRL – Yes. The NRL will be shared with FOX and the State of Origin will go to the Seven Network, with Gordon Bray as Commentator. Whether Ten want to admit it or not when the analogue signal is switched off for good in the cities then if they want to air all of their sport live then they will have to utilise ONE sooner or later, or they will do what other networks have done is Air certain sports in markets where Ten can get the most out of them, ie NRL in NSW and ACT and QLD and the rest in the other states and vice versa for delayed. Ten at the moment have no conviction what so ever, that “cost cutting strategy” was all about removing the remnants of the old admin. Ten want to be a ratings leader in the two biggest tv markets Sydney and Brisbane thats why they are going after NRL and not to mention Murdoch junior likes it.
Ten used to do a much better job on the Touring Cars than Seven has ever managed. If they aired it in HD on One, I might even start watching the series again. 🙂
@Dominick – you’re right about Ten being nothing like they were in the early 2000s, but they have recently treated F1 well. Last season, every race was live and we also got to see qualy on the Sat (not live), so I’m prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt. What we do know is that Seven have not treated the V8s well at all, altho’ they made a bit more of an effort in the latter half of last season, but only because the rights are coming up for renewal.
I hope that the V8s do go back to Ten and that Neil Crompton goes with them. I’d be happy if Larko came too altho’ he seems to be a dyed-in-the-wool Seven fanboi. A major benefit would be not having Matt White. He adds no value to the broadcast and is just irritating. Why Seven insist on thrusting him upon the V8 audience is beyond me.
However, if Ten is so keen on motorsport, why would they axe RPM? Late last year we were told that it was going to be on earlier in an expanded timeslot so this 180 degree turnabout is slightly bizarre and at odds with Ten’s apparent interest in the V8s. It’s pretty cheap to produce and has an easily identifiable advertising demo so I doubt that it was losing money. Sometimes it’s like there are two bosses at Ten, pulling in different directions.
Nooooo they can’t get the tennis! Seven has a great team and broadcast…don’t want to see someone else muck that up
TEN dropping the AFL was not due to a lack of commitment to sport it was simply so they had a budget to be able to bid for some new sport – AFL will always be shared with Seven and I’m sure TEN were sick of only getting the Saturday night games – they want sport that can prop the network up – Ten need a winter sport and they desperately need a summer sport to get more eyeballs watching.
NRL is Way Better!!! NRL is the Best Sport in the World!!!
Cricket belongs to Nine.
Tennis belongs to Seven.
That’s been the tradition for summer for a long time. It wouldn’t be bad if Ten actually broadcasts matches that nine doesn’t.
I think Ten’s best bet will be getting the rights to the NRL & the V8 supercars, can’t see them getting the Tennis off Seven & the Cricket from Nine.
How are they going to pay for all these sports assuming they get any or all?
TEN did the V8’s much better than 7 do them, thats a out and out fact. If they can get the tennis it would be a massive coup. I wouldnt bother with teh cricket, out of rating season, usually during the day. I can see the T20’s been last on the calendar in future to allow it to drop into the ratings season for 9.
Well I said it here a few weeks ago. Seven’s joy at the massive ratings for Tennis could come back to haunt them since it will only push up the price of their next contract.
At least TEN’s new CEO was formally the GM of sales (I think) therefore he already has the advantage of knowing Seven’s strategy when it comes to purchasing tv rights..
If they are successful with the V8s lets hope they keep Neil Crompton as an expert commentator.
What with football being Seven’s main focus, they may just want to concentrate on the football, as opposed to screening the V8’s around the football
I think people are delusional if they think Ten will treat the V8s better than 7.
No matter how second-place the V8s are to 7; at least they are committed to them.
Ten is likely to drop them after a month, because they got bored of ’em…
Ten several years ago (which wasn’t always better coverage than 7) is not the Ten today.
It won’t be better for the V8s on Ten.
Do Ten have a strategy??? First they give up the rights to the AFL and now they say they want NRL, Cricket, V8’s and Tennis. If they think sport is so important, why give up the AFL?
What the feck are Ten doing? First they dump basically all of their spot and forget the idea of an all-sports network, now they want all these huge events they probably can’t afford?
What a joke of a network they have become.
For the love of god just give it all the Foxtel! Why? Because they seem to be the only network who take live sport seriously.
What is Ten thinking? They had a sports channel but the got rid of it because they didnt have enough content that people wanted to watch. Now they want to buy the content but try and shoehorn it on to just one channel. Insanity!
I think Seven will defend the tennis coverage to the death! I’m not sure Ten will get cricket and V8s, although I think the V8s are Ten’s strongest possibility.
I really want TEN to get the V8s once again so they can show them live on ONE in HD. Time will tell what Seven is planning for this season.
Yes!!!. I have always said Ten did the V8’s better than Seven. This is fantastic news. I hope they get the rights.
Ugh wasn’t this what ONEHD was for before they changed it. I do like some sports. But I really don’t like my regular shows being interrupted.
Speaking of Graham Norton. TEN really need to replay it on ELEVEN or ONE during the week. I asked them on twitter awhile back but they only suggested I watch it on catch up tv.