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Nine deal does not include Paralympics

Broadcast rights for the Paralympic Games are sold separately, with Paris 2024 yet to have an Australian broadcaster.

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Paralympics Australia has confirmed the Australian broadcast rights for the Paralympic Games are not included in Nine’s Olympics deal with International Olympic Committee.

Broadcast rights for the Paralympic Games are sold separately, but were not part of the IOC negotiation. That sales process is being led by Paralympics Australia (PA) in partnership with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Rights for Paris 2024 are currently in market.

Seven’s broadcast of the past four Paralympic Games including ground-breaking coverage of the postponed Tokyo Games in 2021 set Australian viewership records for the Paralympic movement.

Paralympics Australia President Jock O’Callaghan said: “The broadcast rights for Paralympic Games are one of the biggest responsibilities we oversee to continue to grow the profile of the Paralympic movement.

“With the Olympic rights confirmed for the next five Olympic Games, our work to secure a broadcast partner for the Paralympic Games now intensifies to ensure our Paralympians are also given the biggest stage possible to connect with Australian audiences and inspire future generations.

“Our negotiations for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games broadcast rights are at a crucial and exciting stage.

“The Australian and global broadcast rights for the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games will be sold by the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee. As a member of the Organising Committee Board and a Games Delivery Partner, Paralympics Australia looks forward to contributing towards successful outcomes from these arrangements at the appropriate time.”

Yesterday Nine CEO Mike Sneesby was asked about how diversity and inclusion would be part of Nine’s responsibility as an Olympic broadcaster.

“You may recall the upfronts, last year, we communicated our corporate purpose, our Nine purpose of ‘Australia Belongs Here’ as a broader set of purpose and values in the organisation. One of the things about the the IOC and the Olympic movement it’s a very purpose-driven organisation and that really resonated with us as we were going through the process,” he said.

“In fact, I learned quite a bit, which I didn’t know about the IOC, through that journey around exactly what they do as an organsation globally. So that opportunity for us to partner together is fundamental to how we think about this, this partnership.”

14 Responses

  1. Trying to understand how much of a beat up this story is. Separate agreements and therefore separate negotiations and timing of an announcement? I assume when the paralympics are sold the headline wont be “Deal doesn’t include Olympics”. Surely a more appropriate headline for this article is “All eyes on nine for paralympic rights”

  2. I think it should have been part of the main deal. If it goes to another channel than the main Olympic broadcaster, it loses impetus and it would have a lower profile, when they are saying that they are wanting to raise the profile. Usually there are more viewers of Nine than there are for ABC.

  4. The question perhaps shouldn’t be whether Nine should bid for the Paralympics but whether Seven would be justified in abandoning them just because they don’t have the Olympics.

  5. Surely they’ll still end up on Nine, as new Olympics broadcaster, given Seven recent times, can easily segue and cross-promote. Very poor look otherwise and you’d really have to wonder about Nine’s morals going forward. Would a commercial network (including Foxtel) be interested in Paralympics if fees were still prohibitively high and not having Olympics rights?

  6. Why are people surprised? Nine clearly said last year that they weren’t bidding for the Paralympics. In the past the ABC has picked them up and run afternoon coverage, without ads. which is a win for everyone.

  7. Wow! So disappointing it wasn’t included as part of the deal. Shame on Channel 9 for excluding them.

    What kind of message does this send to Australians?

  8. Disappointing but no surprise from them. Mind you it is early days. We will see. Thing is you would have expected them to announce both at the same time if they were truly interested in it.

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