Ash Barty at centre of unprecedented $500m TV war

The Australian sporting TV landscape is set for a major shake-up on the back of Ash Barty’s fairytale Australian Open triumph.

Ash Barty is at the centre of a looming shake-up of the Australian sporting TV landscape after her historic triumph at the Australian Open.

The World No. 1’s final against Danielle Collins was the most watched women’s final since the current TV ratings system began keeping records in 1999 with a record peak audience of 4.2 million.

In a dream result for broadcast partner Channel 9, the 2022 Open also featured a mixed cocktail of Rafael Nadal winning the men’s singles crown and Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis teaming up to win the men’s doubles event.

The Special Ks attracted a peak audience of 3.1 million — a record for a men’s doubles final.

However, The Australian Newspaper now reports the record ratings are coming back to bite the broadcaster with whispers behind the scenes suggesting Tennis Australia (TA) will now be able to command a massive upgrade on its current deal with Nine, which expires in 2024.

Ash Barty is queen of Melbourne Park. Photo by Michael Klein.

Columnist Nick Tabakoff reports there are already rumblings TA will push for a deal worth up to $400m when it begins its broadcast rights negotiations.

The report details Australia’s TV broadcasters could be forced to cough up as much as $500m ($100m-per-year in a five-year-deal).

TA has the upper hand in negotiations with Seven recently publicly declaring the network is interested in winning the Australian Open rights back after its bombshell move to steal the cricket rights from Channel 9 in 2018.

Cricket Australia (CA) and Channel 7 have fallen out in recent years.

Seven signed a $450 million deal in 2018, but demanded a significant cut in its annual rights fees as a result of the pandemic.

Cricket Australia refused.

Seven CEO James Warburton called CA “the most incompetent administration I’ve ever worked with”.

Seven’s $450m deal was part of a record $1.2 billion cricket rights deal that saw Foxtel and Kayo pay around $670 million.

The feud is a dream for TA, which will now be able to benefit from a bidding war.

Pat Cummins speaks during the Ashes Test in Tassie. Photo: Linda Higginson.

The Australian Open rights are currently worth $60m annually ($300m across five years), but it seems inevitable that the figure will rise when the next deal begins from 2025.

“Diary has received word that the winning bidder could now be forced to go as high as an unprecedented $100m a year – or $500m over the next five years – for the tennis rights,” Tabakoff reported.

The report details TA could even look to kick off negotiations early in the broadcast cycle because of how hot the product is on the back of the 2022 ratings success.

Cricket, meanwhile, is in a desperate situation heading into the next round of broadcast talks — highlighted by a ratings malaise surrounding the out of favour Big Bash League.

The current deal with Seven and Foxtel (worth a staggering $1.2 billion) blew the previous rights deal shared by Nine and Network 10 (worth $590 million over five years) out of the water.

Now it appears time for a reality check on the back of the BBL’s struggles.

The Daily Telegraph reported this month BBL games have lost an average of 450,000 TV viewers per game compared to an average of 1.1 million viewers-per-game when the BBL was broadcast by Ten in 2016.