Nine urges cricket deal deadline; swings back to full-year loss on writedowns

Nine’s Hugh Marks is putting pressure on Cricket Australia to get a TV rights deal done by the end of 2017.

Nine Entertainment chief Hugh Marks at their studios in Willoughby. (Hollie Adams/The Australian)

Nine Entertainment chief executive Hugh Marks is putting pressure on Cricket Australia to get a television rights deal done by the end of 2017 at the latest.

Mr Marks said he is pushing for a new broadcasting deal for all forms of the game “towards the end of this year before talks with advertisers” commence as cricket’s governing body seeks to delay the process until next year.

On a call with analysts for Nine’s full-year results this morning, Mr Marks also indicated his desire to snatch the rights to the Big Bash League, and predicted “less competition” from bidders for international cricket.

Cricket Australia is making about $600 million from its current five-year deal — $500m, or $100m a year, from Nine’s international rights, and $100m, or $20m a year, from Ten’s BBL rights.

Ten is the current holder of the BBL rights, which were worth $100m in the previous five-year deal that expires after the coming summer, but are expected to fetch up to $250m in the next round of negotiations.

It’s believed Cricket Australia wants to wait for as much competitive tension as possible between the three commercial networks and pay-TV.

Nine slipped to a $203.4m full-year loss due to previously announced writedowns of assets including its free-to-air TV network. Total revenue slipped three per cent to $1.24 billion but a group-wide five per cent reduction in costs helped Nine lift its underlying profit 2.7 per cent to $123.6m.

Nine (NEC) said its ratings performance improved significantly at the start of 2017, after a low in the September quarter, underpinned by its Married at First Sight series.

The Rio Olympics on rival Seven had hit both the size of the advertising market and Nine’s share of it in the first-half of the year.

Nine Network’s TV revenue dropped 4.4 per cent in the year, with the company blaming a soft ad market and the Olympics.

Nine said the total television ad revenue market shrank by 3.5 per cent in the year, with the metro market declining 3.7 per cent.

But the company on Thursday said, excluding the Olympic weeks, it attracted a commercial network share of 37.1 per cent of the 25-54 demographic and a number one share in all of the key buying demographics for the year. Mr Marks said the options to monetise the network’s content had never been more diverse.

“With a strengthening balance sheet, and significant operational momentum and leverage, Nine enters the new financial year in a much stronger position,” Mr Marks said.

The broadcaster recorded a total $327.1m in impairments — up from $311.9 million in the first half — but left the non-cash impairment on goodwill of its TV network, announced in February, unchanged at $260m. The broadcaster expects TV revenues to grow around 15 per cent in the September quarter, against the Olympic-impacted previous corresponding period, while digital revenues are expected to rise around eight per cent. It forecast group earnings to be towards the upper end of a $186m and $207m range, assuming licence and spectrum fee related legislation, which is currently before the Federal Senate, is passed in its current form. Nine shares were up 4.4 per cent to $1.555 at 11.18am (AEST), approaching the 17-month high of $1.56 reached in early August.

With AAP