Nine to face fight for NRL rights as V’landys seeks to capitalise on TV stability

The Australian Rugby League Commission is expected to allow all three television networks to bid on free-to-air rights for the National Rugby League following early stage talks with incumbent broadcast partner Nine Entertainment Co.

Nine executives made a formal presentation to ARLC chairman Peter V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo last week, proposing a renewal of their existing rights deal with the code and outlining their plans for the future.

Where will the NRL be broadcast? That’s the (multi) million-dollar question.Credit: NRL Photos

According to industry sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential, Mr V’landys did not accept or reject the proposal, but raised concerns about a lack of promotion for rugby league by the company. Nine is the owner of this masthead, and also controls radio, streaming and digital assets.

Mr V’landys and Mr Abdo’s expected decision to take the NRL rights to the market aims to to capitalise on the renewed financial stability for Nine’s free-to-air rivals, Seven West Media and Network Ten, which were challenged during negotiations last year. The pair have also indicated they are considering splitting the free-to-air rights for the NRL and other tournaments - like State of Origin - between multiple networks, an option Nine strongly opposes.

Nine and Mr V’landys declined to comment. Nine and the NRL renegotiated their existing contract last May in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The television company secured a discount on its deal due to a lack of crowds and temporary suspension of games.

Tensions between the NRL and Nine erupted when former Nine CEO Hugh Marks launched a stinging attack on the code’s leadership last April, describing it as a “bloated head office completely ignoring the needs of the clubs, players and supporters.” Those comments put pressure on then-NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg, who stepped down from the role 11 days later. Mr Marks resigned from Nine last year.

The NRL free-to-air rights are the biggest television rights property to be up for grabs this year. Foxtel, which provides 66 per cent of the NRL’s broadcast revenue, decided to extend its pay TV deal with the code to 2027 during last May’s negotiations. Nine did not extend its agreement, but said at the time would save $27.5 million in 2021 and again in 2022 under its renegotiated deal.

Seven and Ten have not received any formal documentation about the rights. But both networks have held informal talks with the NRL, multiple industry sources said. ViacomCBS and Ten executive vice-president Beverly McGarvey said in an interview with this masthead this week that the network would look at the NRL rights.

“Well, we have always said that we will look at all sports on a tactical basis, which remains the case and continues to be the truth. I think the interesting thing now is the tactical basis on which we examine the opportunity has moved,” she said.

“Every time the big sports come around, we have a really good look at them. These things only come around once every four or five years so you’ve got to do a good bit of analysis on anything.”

Interest from all broadcasters is not unusual in the early stages of rights negotiations. Networks and sporting negotiations typically fight over a range of terms, but it is rare that long term relationships between major sports and broadcasters are not renewed. Nine has held rugby league rights for more than three decades.

For its part, Nine believes it has a strong proposition because it can cross-promote the NRL and State of Origin across its other assets, such as radio and print newspapers. The company remains hopeful it will secure an extension of the rights.

Failure of Nine and the NRL to secure an extension was despite a decision by the NRL to block Telstra from broadcasting games for free to its customers, which was considered a way to increase the value of the rights for a potential free-to-air partner.

The financial stability of media companies has changed substantially since last May when the deals were secured. NRL clubs were told in February that Ten was not in a position to make a bid last year, while Seven’s offer was only half that of Nine. But the NRL has since said that it was expecting Nine, Seven and Ten to all bid for the league’s free-to-air rights as it prepared for a profit in the new financial year.

When the NRL locked in an extension with Foxtel and Kayo Sports last year, the News Corp- controlled pay TV company was the only major player in the sports streaming market. Since then, Amazon Prime Video, Nine’s Stan and Paramount+ have entered the sports arena and successfully acquired the rights to sport. The inability for Nine and Ten to secure a deal for their own streaming services will likely limit the amount they are willing to bid.

With Karl Quinn

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