Seven set to sell TV rights to postponed Tokyo Olympic Games
Holding the TV rights for an Olympic Games is considered the pinnacle of sporting coverage, but strong rumours out of Seven’s Martin Place bunkers suggest they’re about to offload the rights to the Tokyo Games.
Confidential
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Could one of the biggest media offloads be about to rock Australian broadcasting?
Strong rumours have begun bubbling out of Martin Place that Channel 7 is seriously considering selling its rights to the postponed Tokyo Olympics now slated for August 2021.
Insiders at its parent company Seven West Media say that the COVID-19 crisis coupled with a crashing share price has forced the almost-unthinkable move to dump the rights in an unprecedented fire sale.
Seven paid $170 million for a three-Games rights package back in 2014, starting with Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the Pyeongchang winter Games in 2018 and ending with Tokyo.
And in a stunning twist it seems Channel 10, with the backing of its US parent company CBS, is considered the most likely contender to snap up the rights in what would be the network’s first broadcast of a summer Games since Seoul in 1988.
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The stunning scuttlebutt comes no less 11 weeks since Seven gleefully announced its Tokyo on-air commentary line-up headed by Bruce McAvaney, Mel McLaughlin and Sonia Kruger.
Just days later the world plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic and, according to one Seven insider, ‘everything changed’.
“I don’t think anyone would have ever anticipated a scenario where the Olympic broadcast rights would be relinquished but these are not normal circumstances,” a source close to the potential deal said.
“Simply the cost of pulling a Games together … it just feels beyond Seven at the moment.
“You have a network which is half a billion in debt … it’s profits are falling. It’s not sustainable and something has to give.”
This potentially mind-boggling sell-off also raises the question of who would helm the coverage at a rival network and whether or not the current commentary line-up at Seven would be handed over as part of the deal.
McAvaney, who has called every Olympics since Los Angeles in 1984, is an integral part of Seven’s sports team and fronts both their AFL and racing coverage.
Contacted for comment yesterday the office of Seven CEO James Warburton issued a swift ‘no comment’ with regards to a sale.
A rep for Ten’s Chief Content Officer Beverley McGarvey also declined to weigh in on the speculation.
“Network 10 will decline to comment on this one,” a spokeswoman said.
SHUT UP SHOP
And he’s out! Four years since visionary restaurateur Maurice Terzini pioneered the relaunch of The Dolphin Hotel in Surry Hills, the Bondi local has confirmed he has sold up his stake in the pub.
Speaking with Confidential in the wake of rumours of a split with partners at the venue, Terzini said he opted to cash out of the business having “achieved all I wanted” with the award-winning pub. However the fashion-designer-slash-restaurant bossadmitted the lockdown “played a part”.
“When you go through these periods in your life, in this case COVID, it sometimes forces you to rethink and regroup,” Terzini said.
“I decided I need to give myself a bit more time and free myself up to think about other new projects I’ve got my mind on.”
Terzini was one of five partners in The Dolphin, two of whom he remains in business with at Bondi beachside eatery Icebergs.
“It will be business as usual at Icebergs once we re-open,” said Terzini, who also holds a stake in Balinese mega-restaurants Da Maria and Luigi’s Hot Pizza as well as the Bondi Italian joint Ciccia Bella.
He said it’s too early to say what any new venues may entail.
“More than anything we just need to focus on reopening the current venues and get back on our feet,” he said.
It’s understood Terzini’s Balinese ventures are closed with around 500 staff awaiting reopening on full pay.
Former publishing mogul Deke Miskin, who is a silent partner in all of the Terzini venues, said the shutdown had been catastrophic for their Indonesian business.
“We had some money in reserve from last season,” Miskin told Confidential.
“So we are making it through.”
Originally published as Seven set to sell TV rights to postponed Tokyo Olympic Games
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