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Report: 10 bid too low on AFL?

Latest press speculation on AFL rights suggests 10's bid may not be enough to wrestle the rights from Seven / Foxtel.

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There’s been further speculation in the press on 10’s bid for AFL rights with The Australian reporting it bid less than $500m a year, “a figure seen by the governing body as underwhelming – putting Foxtel and Seven West Media in the box seat.”

According to the report, the AFL had expected a knockout $3bn bid for a five-year deal from 10 / Paramount+ but 10’s initial offer was in line or even below the $473m annual figure Foxtel and Seven are each paying for the rights for both the 2023 and 2024 seasons under their current contract.

The AFL will reportedly now try to convince 10 to up its financial offer, but if the network’s bid fails to push beyond the value of the current rights deal, sources say it is almost certain that it won’t be seriously considered.

A 10 spokeswoman declined to comment.

  • Tagged with AFL

17 Responses

  1. Buffet recently took a stake in Paramount and there are rumours he will take control of it. They are unlikely to interested in spending billions for the FTA rights to sport only watched in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra. Paramount have bought into Soccer globally. They have publicly stated they would like a popular Australian sport but won’t pay over the odds for it. This bid would seem to make that clear. It’s little more than a hedge against Seven or Nine bluffing and not putting in a serious bid. With Foxtel cable shutting down within a year, most AFL games are going to be streamed on Kayo, the AFL seems happy with that.

    1. Foxtel are still offering an internet only iQ4 or iQ5 box to replace the now NBN owned Cable Network though, so not like it’s going away completely. So will still have AFL on that as it will be the same channels that are on the Satellite service (not free to air though), so it will be same as now with all games on Kayo and Foxtel.

  2. An awful lot to pay for something for three southern states. Viewers 10,000 in Sydney, 202,000 in Melb, 12,000 in Bris, 86,000 in Adel, 46,000 in Perth. Last Saturday night 7 didn’t even show it in Sydney, as far as I can see.

  3. So a newscorp paper, who is also bidding for the rights through Foxtel, is putting out more negative press against its competition.

    Yep, definitely all truth in the article, no ulterior motives whatsoever…

  4. I admit I do not watch AFL at all, but to me these over the top broadcast fees are way too much. These over the top fees saws the demise of “Blue Heelers” All Saints etc because Seven could not afford both drama sports rights.
    I would like to see the AFL paying the networks to take their matches, chop out all expensive player salaries and go back to the basics of $100 a game and $10 for every goal. It will not happen but these so called stars of football earn way too much money and they have put technicians and crew, actors writers and directors out of work.
    The Nine Network had a brilliant show of a Saturday arvo called Nines Wide World of Sport and it touched on nearly everything. I dare say no vast sums of money were spent there, it was just brilliant TV
    But I guess that these huge fees have to be paid by the networks so that AFL stars and the AFL can get rich in their ivory towers. Then the stars can act like fools, with too much money to spend.

    1. I agree the cost of AFL sports rights have increased incredibly over the last 25 years….but networks are prepared to pay it because it rates. Foxtel desperately need AFL. They would be in big trouble without it. Drama is expensive and does not rate. BIG sports (AFL/NRL/Aus Open/Olympics) bring eyeballs to the network to allow promotion of shows. AFL rights would make 10 competitive, like it did in the 00’s.

      1. Yes you are correct the big sports do rate very well, I am just concerned that the huge expensive rights must come at the expense of something else. But I guess that most of us stream programmes now like the excellent Darby and Joan on Acorn.

  5. I think 7/Fox will have the AFL from 2025-30. Good for them, but not good for fans.
    7’s telecast has been stale since 2010 & their camera angles were so poor & didnt get innovations to its coverage. The commentary was so bad & had to suffer through Hamish, JB, BT, etc. BT’s ego was mammoth & yells for no reason. Fans want to watch AFL, not listening to blatant jokes from JB. We want a change in telecaster, however the AFL wants to stick with 7/Fox. sadly we had to put up with 7’s coverage for many years to come. 7 hasnt done anything to change its coverage, apart from new graphics. I wanted to stream AFL on 7+, but they cant instead they show repeats of Border & The Force. I had to pay more on Kayo to watch the AFL. The big problem is Rupert. He wants to protect his businesses & assets. Hence, the AFL says no to free streaming. The AFL only cares about making money more than fans.
    Last time 10 had AFL was back in 2011 – they have good innovations e.g. 5th quarter, Holy Grail…

    1. I think seven wants to include streaming but currently Telstra have these rights (I think). I thought I read an article speculating seven will want to partner again with foxtel but include streaming as they see 7+ as growing importance. I don’t watch a great deal of AFL but do watch the cricket, and JB is painful. I gather his MMM radio show is all very blokey and it seems he thinks this is what his tv commentary should be too – grownups referring to each other with nicknames is stupid; stories about yourself are of no interest (at least not to me). Seems an odd choice when compared to Jim Maxwell, Alison Mitchell etc who are quite professional.

      1. Kayo has the rights, Telstra ended its streaming rights back in 2020. The point is that Mr Murdoch wants to protect his businesses & assets. The point that Kayo is a successful streaming platform and more than 800k people have subscribed to this platform.
        Up until late 2017, fans can’t stream NRL on 9Now as Telstra has the rights. From 2018-onwards, NRL matches were able to be streamed on 9Now and on replay. Telstra ended the rights deal. You can see that more people are streaming the NRL (including the state of Origin) on 9Now for free and that more than 100 million minutes of NRL content were streamed.

    2. Agree with you, but keep in mind some of the commentators will change channels with the rights. Example, Luke Darcy went from CH10 to Ch7 when the rights changed. So I expect we will be stuck with some of the rubbish commentators anyway. It is not what you know, but who you know.

    3. Agree 7’s AFL coverage is tired. We have had enough of JB and BT. If you are serious about AFL you pay the money and have foxtel. 7 have tried to entertain the casual viewer but it is all the same same after all these years. We need a change on FTA. Foxtel offer a great product. Really enjoyed 10 when they last had the rights. Would be great to have Quarters back commentating. Accurate, genuine without the BS. Don’t know if I can believe these reports…why would News Corp who owns Foxtel report these articles about 10 bid?

  6. “Paramount+ is a terrible streaming service” – agree 100%. With the Samsung app you have a 50/50 chance of the show playing or a blank screen. Compared to Netflix, Disney+, Prime it is woeful

  7. You have to laugh about all the leaks and gossip that comes out around this time. News Corp papers dissing Ten, Seven West media creating “panic” in WA around FTA rights. Then all the invested parties issue a “no comment” publicly. So where’s the info coming from???

    1. A few weeks ago, I read through The West Australian and noticed that WA & SA viewers might have to pay to watch Crows, Port, Freo, Eagles games under a new Fox backed deal. Although, I feel that 7 will still show at least one match involving SA & WA teams. E.g. on Saturday night there are 2 games (West Coast v Melbourne (on Fox) and Cats v Saints (on 7) – 7mate Perth will show the Cats-Saints game instead of the Eagles-Dees game (even though it would be played in Perth). If West Coast v Melbourne game was a 7-produced game, then 7 Perth would show the game. For QLD/NSW, I think they will still show their local team, even though these 2 states are NRL states.

  8. Kinda shows 10 isn’t ready to put in the effort, they do this everytime the rights for either the AFL or NRL are up for grabs but it also shows that maybe the AFL might be ready for change too. Mind you Paramount+ is a terrible streaming service. It buffers way too much but if they could fix that, sure why not. I just hope it doesn’t end up at Nine. They’re terrible broadcasters of the NRL and change there has been needed for some time but it hasn’t happened. I would hate to see them get their hands on the AFL too. When Nine and 10 had it last time, 10 was superior by far.

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