Nine, Fox Sports upscale NRL coverage in a battle to win over fans

FOX Sports will go head to head with Channel 9 by boradcasting all NRL games live in 2016. REBECCA WILSON investigates how this impacts on fans.

• Fox Sports to televise all eight NRL matches each week with own commentary

The biggest winners out of the Fox Sports decision to dramatically upscale its rugby league coverage in 2016 are the viewers.

Channel Nine has been blindsided by Fox Sports’ late decision to create what is essentially a wall-to-wall rugby league network, with no use of Nine’s call or commentary. It will feature eight games, all with pre-match, half time and post-match coverage.

The league fare will also include two Matty Johns show a week — one on Monday and the other in prime time on Friday — as well as a boosted investment in programs like Peter Sterling’s On the Couch and NRL360.

Will Ray Warren be challenged as the voice of rugby league?

Viewers will have a choice between Nine, with the brilliant Ray Warren and the astute Phil Gould, or the new, younger brigade at Fox Sports. Nine will have no choice but to bolster their league coverage, meaning every fan will be offered something better in 2016.

Sports media experts I spoke to on Monday say Nine had “lost their speed and skill”, allowing the pay television network to sneak in under the radar. “They really dropped their guard,” he said.

Nine insiders claim, however, that Fox Sports did not sign a contract that allowed them to use Nine pictures with their own callers and panellists. That feud will be played out in coming weeks as both networks furiously prepare for a season that will see unprecedented coverage of the game.

Fox Sports is now one of the few television networks in the country hiring on and off air television talent.

“I’ve never seen so many new talent contracts,” Fox Sports chief of League, Gary Burns said. Given they had no deal with the National Rugby League until late last year, and Nine appeared to have stolen the jump, the turnaround is nothing short of remarkable.

The Matty Johns Show will run two times a week on Fox Sports.

“It’s the best television rights deal I’ve seen in my career,” Burns said.

He should know. Burns was the man who lifted NIne’s league coverage to huge ratings and developed programs like The Footy Show around Nine’s prized winter sporting product.

While Fox Sports doesn’t boast a Ray Warren, it does have the benefit of Burns‘ skill in developing new talent. Braith Anasta and Mark Gasnier were spotted by Burns late in their football careers and each one has become a star in the making on commentary duties.

Nine will fight back. They have Rabbs, Phil Gould, Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler but they also have rising star Yvonne Sampson, who has proved herself to be a genuine star on the panels she hosts during the network’s league coverage.

Nine and Phil Gould will need to step up their NRL coverage as a result of Fox Sports.

The big selling point for any free to air network will always be that the league on Nine is free, albeit for only three matches. It will cost $50 a month on Fox Sports.

“Eight matches, advertising-free whistle to whistle, all of that panel discussion and programming adds up to a pretty good buy at that price,” Fox Sports chief Patrick Delaney said.

Struggling to overcome the disasters of last year, when former NRL boss Dave Smith left the pay television network out of rights discussions, Delaney finally has something to crow about.

Game on in the NRL broadcast wars.

His decision to put Matty Johns head to head with his younger brother over at Nine on a Friday night will be the crucial battle of the winter. Matty will be accompanied by Gorden Tallis, Nathan Hindmarsh and Bryan Fletcher. Lara Pitt will offer news segments while Sampson will spearhead the pre-match show with Andrew Johns on Nine.

The AFL Footy Channel has delivered a vastly improved, blanket coverage of AFL that has elevated the code to number one in Australia. The Seven Network’s free to air television has improved accordingly. Fans are spoilt for choice and quality.

Rugby League is on the brink of a similar revolution, long overdue but one which will deliver every rugby league fan with almost unlimited choice, fresh faces and a free to air network that will have no choice but to join the party.