Report: Telstra unhappy with NRL’s deal with Nine
Telstra is reportedly considering dropping its naming rights to the Telstra Premiership.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
In the wake of AFL‘s $2.5B deal with Seven, News and Telstra, observers have been questioning the NRL‘s ability to land a deal that is anywhere in the same league.
Nine recently secured 4 games a week plus 4 streaming rights for $925m.
Reports today suggest Telstra is furious it only learned of Nine’s deal via a Nine press release on Monday.
Telstra is reportedly considering dropping its naming rights to the Telstra Premiership, valued at an estimated $25-40 million over its current five-year contract, due to expire in 2017.
Telstra executives have said privately that last week’s announcement was not the first time they had been blindsided by the NRL about Âdiscussions that concerned them. Foxtel is also reportedly unhappy while Rupert Murdoch’s presence at the AFL deal, describing it as the premier code, raised further questions.
The NRL and Nine will be hoping to sell the remaining four games each round, simulcast and online rights for as much as $700m.
Foxtel, Google and Netflix have all been mentioned as potential alternatives, while ESPN is also open to negotiations.
“We are not currently in discussions with the NRL but of course always open to discussions around available rights,” an ESPN spokesperson said.
Nine’s bid which NRL accepted was said to be a once-only offer.
Source: Daily Telegraph, The Australian
Share
- Tagged with NRL
10 Responses
A lot of talks going on between 9 and Telstra! Telstra is one of the largest telecommunication companies in Australia and they decided to sign another deal with the NRL! That’s like a dogs breakfast.
There is nothing that confirms Telstra signing another deal with NRL. The talks are between Telstra and NRL (or even ARL if you prefer), not Nine.
Easy! Just call it the Channel Nine Premiership! With the Gyngell Medal to replace the Clive Churchill medal.
Dave Smith as made a big mistake. This seems like a “mates” deal. Nine are fearful – but you do not lock out such big companies in these deals. This will result in the NRL getting much less money than the AFL – and so the fans and grassroots NRL fans will pay the price. I would love to see Netflix get one game…
Foxtel is just trying to drive down the price for the 4 games. They will have to buy them to stop NSW and QLD subscribers dropping the sports package.
But by doing things separately, instead of all at once like the AFL, the NRL may end up with less money than they could have gotten.
Dave Smith will be lucky to keep his job after this debacle.
A lot of chest thumping from Foxtel and Telstra. We all know they’ll skulk back to the NRL – this is just hot air. Telstra cant afford someone like TPG or Optus buying the rights off them, and Foxtel cant afford someone like Google/streaming services buying it either – because there is the huge realistic potential for a new pay provider to enter the market – people claim streaming doesnt have sports rights, well if they do, coupled with the entertainment component, makes someone a serious contender
I, for one, hope the rights do go online/streaming. It will be the best thing ever
ESPN? LOL, where would they find the time in their schedule with the Little League, juggling, old darts tournaments and Little League replays
Espn & espn 2 are available on certain plans with foxtel and fetch. If espn got the rights then nrl viewers would have a choice between foxtel and fetch?
This is what happens when you let one TV Channel rule almost everything about the game…the NRL needs to get it’s head out of the sand