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Nine in “secret deal” with SBS for cricket if WIN goes black

Nine forges back-up plan to ensure it doesn't breach Cricket Australia obligations, as tussle with WIN continues over fees.

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Unless a deal is struck between Nine and its WIN Corp affiliate soon, regional viewers could be watching cricket coverage on SBS.

Fairfax reported a “secret deal” was signed some months ago to avoid Nine breaching its obligations to Cricket Australia.

Nine and WIN are locked in “high stakes negotiations” over transmission fees.

Unless the two can agree new terms, WIN’s regional network could “go to black” at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Other Nine programming would be affected by WIN being forced off air.

WIN mogul Bruce Gordon will resume talks with Nine this week.

27 Responses

  1. Ever since Nine upgraded to HD and realignment of channel numbers, I haven’t be able to access any their programs since I have a really old digital TV from over 10 years. Do I miss Nine? Not at all! Since I have not watched any of their programs for years now. It was only taking up valuable time when I was skipping through their channels.

      2. Thanks for the reminder, the TV automatically detected there was a change in the channel numbers and “updated” them accordingly – however it did not complete for some reason and I could not be bothered to go into the menu and rescan to get those channel again. However, I am tech savvy, just pointing out the fact that I have not missed WIN/Nine.

          1. My point still remains valid. I have not updated my top-of-the-line TV circa 2005 as a result of a network decision to rearrange their LCNs. I totally agree with you that 9 hasn’t changed at all… Not Informative Not Entertaining… If people want to skip commercials they dislike with their PVR, why can’t I choose to skip whole channels I dislike as well?

  2. I am form Canberra and the only thing I watch on the Win/9 Network channels is US Survivor on Go! and I can very easily move to online means to view the show if need be. Basically it Win was taken off the air I would be cheering because I see less Block/Voice/other crappy 9 programing.

  3. I guess Nine is just doing everything it can to make WIN’s business model unsustainable so they can make the argument that they need to provide the regional services to make it viable – minus any regional content of course!

  4. Southern Cross’s deal with 10 expires around July/August this year. When it expires I assume 9 will do their deal with southern cross and win will be left with channel 10. Although there are some regions were southern cross is linked with 7, does anyone know when that deal expires? there’s a chance regional viewers could be left without any programs from 9 for the first half of the year

  8. Remembering it was Rupert Murdoch who sold WIN to Bruce back in ’79, Bruce’s history in US program sales, content available that’s no longer tied up in output deals. In the mid-60s WIN played 7 & 9 at their ransom game, and won, buying Australian rights to the best overseas content, forcing 7 & 9 to buy from WIN for quite some years. History could repeat itself, in some form or another.
    Meeting Australian-made points may be a problem, but then the weird NZ-made-Australian content could solve that, or produce a few soaps for Fox and the UK market. No doubt there are contingency plans in hand.

    1. Back then the money was in buying US shows cheaply. People don’t watch US shows anymore, they are interested in expansive locally made contest shows and events from the capital city networks.

      Cartoons and syndicated TV during the day and NZ TV at night would be the only option. Leaving Nine having to stream The Block etc into WIN’s areas.

      1. I don’t think it’s entirely accurate to say people don’t watch US shows any more. They certainly do (look to Streaming take up as evidence of viewer frustration with this). When they are played out in low-level timeslots, with inconsistent schedules, or ‘buried’ on multichannels, then the numbers will reflect the playout. We can’t expect a show at 9:30 on FTA with limited promotion, late starts and interrupted weeks to do what Desperate Housewives or CSI did a decade ago. But Timeshifted shows there is still an appetite for dramas, Streaming take-up has been impressive. Have a conversation with any considered viewer and they will tell you why they are remain a fan of House of Cards / Game of Thrones / The Good Wife / Fargo / Ray Donovan / Homeland / Transparent / Hannibal / The Americans / The Blacklist etc. Granted network TV has not produced the broad hits of previous years, and the uptake in Australian content is wonderful. But it doesn’t make it an either / or situation.

      2. Back then…networks produced a plethora of watchable local productions, unlike now, where 7 & 9 in particular seem to be unable to find an original idea, cloning some overseas show or cloning cooking/renovation shows, dashcam/highway/cops shows from each other. WIN4 snapped up the hours of US content they needed for primetime. This was exchanged for daytime and local programs WIN4 needed, and there was a hell of a lot of it produced before the 5am-5pm news/advertising/chat programming of now. Bandstand, Sound of Music, Don Lane Show, IMT, Division 4, Young Talent Time, Temptation, Humphrey, Skippy, Mike Walsh, plus of course Rugby League, Nine News, ACA, etc., etc. Chasing programs around the schedule, with weird start times due to stretched out convoluted “reality” drivel, each trying to be one up on the competition, pushes viewers to downloading o/s programs, and to PVRs and DVDs.

  12. Not good news for WIN viewers watching Cricket. I worry that regional viewers will be forced to watch the remaining cricket via SBS. This could have an affect on the A-League matches.

  13. WIN once again caring more about the bottom line than their viewers. On the upside Nine has the worst schedule of all commercial networks so no real loss. Besides maybe Prime or Southern Cross can take a note out off WIN’s playbook and buy Nine affiliation. I’m in a WIN monopoly so I for one would be glad to have someone else enter.

  14. No doubt Bruce will be reminding Nine that WIN is no longer #1 in the Illawarra, Prime now promoting that it has the #1 crown in the region. Actually, can’t remember the last time I watched anything on WIN (yes, do live in Wollongong and can’t receive Sydney).

  15. A public broadcaster striking a deal with a commercial network? The obvious “flick-a-switch” option would be to put the cricket on SBS HD and make better use of the channel than merely simulcasting SBS 1 or 2.
    I’d assume that WIN also have a back-up plan which isn’t fade-to-black.

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