Networks coy on Olympics rights
Australian rights for the Olympics are now in jeopardy after three commercial networks decline to make an offer.
- Published by David Knox
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Australian rights for the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2016 Olympics are now in jeopardy after three commercial networks have declined to make an offer.
The Australian newspaper reports Seven has withdrawn from the bidding process after the International Olympic Committee called on the network to raise its offer.
It reports Seven was the only firm bidder among the three commercial free-to-airs, after Nine and TEN declined to make an offer.
The reason is due to the losses Nine incurred in London 2012 at the same time as the advertising downturn continues to bite.
For those rights, Nine paid $72m while Foxtel paid $48m and shared facilities.
Nine is understood to have lost around $25m.
While TEN has previously expressed its desire to have key sports, attention has focussed on the bidding for Cricket Australia rights.
But Sochi 2014 is now only 10 months away.
Foxtel declined to comment.
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30 Responses
IOC is just getting greedy now. $72 million is alot of money for a 2 week event.
I would be very keen on IOC dropping the exorbitant amount. Not even Foxtel can afford that on its lonesome.
Perhaps a joint bid between all FTA Network would generate a nice outcome. I’d love to see Nine, Seven and Ten broadcast the games, imagine all the different sport we could watch across 3 channels.
Maybe the FTAs should make enquiries about how much content sports Aussies compete in is, since that’s all they tend to show anyway – which is why Foxtel’s coverage is lauded as it is because it introduced ppl to sports that either had a low profile or (heaven forbid) had a World Champ/Team that wasn’t an Aussie. When the FTAs are ‘forced’ to show events without Aussies in them, they generally try and make whatever tenuous (and tedious) connection they can, akin to ‘Aussie Kim’…
For those reasons, I enjoyed watching the Games on Foxtel as a neutral sports observer.
“Australia’s best ever free to air coverage”
yep in stunning SD if its going to cost more in HD then Se7en will opt for the cheaper option as always not too sure what after sports will be on Se7en at the same time
The prospect of an Australian station not getting the games leaves me underwhelmed. I’d prefer to watch the main events regardless of whether or not an Australian is actually in them and channel 9’s coverage which was based entirely on which sport featured Australians, was appalling.
@matt_897: The key date for Foxtel to be allowed to negotiate for Sochi exclusivity (no FTAs) is sometime in November.
For those asking: At this time, there is still no new anti-siphoning list (promised in 2010), and it’s meant to be reviewed again in 2014.
I could foresee the govt, holding off on issuing a new anti-siphoning list until 2014, in lieu of a scheduled review.
I have spoken to my Seven Network contact and they say the Seven Network is still in the process of making a bid with the IOC which will see (if successful) Australia’s best ever free to air coverage (use of main plus both digital channels). The seven Network is also looking at possible partnerships with SBS and Foxtel. My contact has told me the Seven Network is determined to re-establish itself as Australia’s Olympic Network.
If foxtel get the rights they should have at least one channel available to all subscribers that provides highlights, medal ladder, news etc.
With it being on the anti-siphoning list, isn’t there only a certain amount of time until the pay tv networks (foxtel) can bid for it themselves? Could see the Winter Olympics being on Pay TV with the way this is going. Summer Olympics will find a FTA sometime.
interesting point being made by past olympians on twitter, this does have much wider implications, if olympics are not of free to air, it can only be assumed there will be very little interest and hype in the games and winning gold, which will mean government funding to athletes gets slashed. whether that is a bad thing or not is up for debate. but interesting nonetheless. id also guess sponsors are less interested.
I honestly couldn’t care less if the Olympics aren’t on free to air.
Just to clarify, under the current anti siphoning regs Foxtel can not buy exclusive access to the games – they have to have a FTA partner. However what has changed is that Foxtel will probably be the senior partner in the next deal, rather than picking up the scraps.
Foxtel/ SBS as they do in the football would be interesting, but Foxtel would have to pick up the tab.
Foxtel/ Ten in Delhi seemed to work well and Ten need something.
Expect behind the scenes prep for Sochi to be happening right now, but a deal not to happen until about 6 months out.
If Foxtel gets the exclusive rights there will be a lot of pissed off people in this country, I just hope if that happens they have at least one channel at no extra cost to subscribers.
Also isn’t the Olympics on the anti-siphoning sports list?
I reckon Foxtel will take a major gamble and stump up a huge amount for Rio 2016 exclusively. They will then go on an advertising blitz as ‘the only place to see the Olympics’ etc. It would give them the major advantage over the FTA’s that they have so desperately wanted for so long. Until now they had very very little you couldnt watch for free on FTA or by torrenting but the Olympics are a totally different matter. It will convince a huge number of people to sign-up to Foxtel for the first time. I thought 9’s London coverage was appalling (couldnt find anything except swimming I actually wanted to watch and why did they have the same footage on all 3 channels simultaneously?) but heard nothing but good things about Foxtels coverage.
Good on the majors for refusing to bow to the IOC’s demands. Why does a sporting body need to make massive profits?!?!?!
If Foxtel get all rights they should hopefully release some sort of package on XBOX or whatever else is out at the time to stream Olympics on the internet for a decent price.
The main problem with Rio is the time difference. There is nothing worthwhile in Primetime so it is not worth much money to Australian commercial broadcasters. Even London was only worth a fraction of what the IOC charged.
The IOC asked for bids, then said the highest bid was too low and demanded more money. The Networks know the IOC will have to cave in the end and they will force them to accept an even lower bid. A major industrialised nation not covering the summer games would be disastrous for the @l^mp!c myth.
No one is particularly interested in 2014. The IOC makes money by forcing the summer broadcaster to buy the winter games whether they want it or not.
Foxtel’s coverage wasn’t great. Many of their commentators were poor and their filling and linking dreadful. What is was was complete, allowing fans to watch the sporting events whole instead of just the spectacle.
Enjoyed the London Games on Fox and managed to see events I rarely see in full- weightlifting, badminton, table tennis and the men’s Marathon with no ads.
but i want to watch the olympics … free
I agree with the others who have said that Foxtel should get the Olympics rights. Their coverage of London was superb – entire events shown uninterrupted, even sports that the free-to-airs refuse to touch such as wrestling and hammer throw.
Perhaps something should be done about getting the swimming onto free-to-air as this is the main interest for Aussies but we should ensure that we get the 21st century coverage on Foxtel and not have to suffer the garbage we had to put up with on Seven with its Yum Cha and Roy & HG crap.
that is a lot of money, Ten should put in a bid, it could be the thing to relaunch the network, they can broadcast on 10 and One and if Foxtel makes a bid they should pay the same amount as Ten or split the difference with them.
Well this doesn’t look good, if they end up on Foxtel, half the country won’t be able to watch them. What will be the point of that? I’m not a sports nut, and hate cricket, football & tennis, yeah I know it’s unAustralian to say so, but I like watching the Olympics & Commonwealth Games. Hopefully the IOC will come to their senses and drop the price. So what channel are the next winter Olympics going to be on?
Sochi 2014 David, not 2012 🙂
Personally being the multicultural broadcaster I think SBS should get the rights and actually use the waste of bandwidth that is SBS3.
It’s about time a sporting body was put in their place and realised they can’t just peddle out any astronomical price tag and expect the networks to bend over. The Olympics are a white elephant, with declining ratings and the dime difference in brazil is really bad so the ratings will continue to decline. The ball is not in the IOCs court.
That logo for rio is trip-py, took me a few seconds to get it though.
I don’t follow sport at all so don’t really care either way the 3 main networks declined to make an offer.
Get it on Foxtel, they have multiple channels so more equipped to cover the games better!
Offer a free to air highlights package that screen in prime time perhaps!
Here’s hoping Foxtel buy the rights exclusively as their coverage is brilliant!
Bravo to Seven for standing tall and not giving in to the money hungry beast that is the IOC.