Nine Entertainment drops a ‘fortune’ on Australian Open tennis broadcast deal

Nine Entertainment has reportedly stumped up a record sum to extend its broadcast deal with Tennis Australia, securing the rights to the Australian Open until 2030.

Nine Entertainment is set to ink a $500m agreement with Tennis Australia to secure the rights to air the Australian Open until 2030. Picture: Getty Images

Nine Entertainment has reportedly stumped up a record sum to extend its broadcast deal with Tennis Australia, with the network set to ink a $500m agreement with the sport’s governing body that will secure the rights to air the Australian Open until 2030.

The apparent deal, which was reported by Nine’s own newspapers on Sunday night, represents a 66 per cent price hike on the value of the current deal, which expires after the 2024 Open.

In 2018, Nine wrested the broadcast rights to the Australian Open away from Seven, which had covered the event for four decades, with a five-year deal worth $300m.

But the looming $100m-a-year deal, which would stretch out until 2030, would dwarf the 2018 contract.

One senior industry executive expressed astonishment at the reported figure of $500m over five years. “They have paid a fortune,” the senior media figure told The Australian.

As the incumbent broadcaster of the Australian Open, Nine had the right to trigger a “first rights” negotiation period with Tennis Australia.

Nine already holds the rights to broadcast the other three grand slam tennis championships, both on its broadcast channel and its streaming service, Stan.

Ash Barty wins the 2022 Australian Open women’s singles title. Picture: Michael Klein

A spokesperson for Nine declined to comment on Sunday. A spokesperson for Tennis Australia denied that a deal with Nine had been finalised. “We continue to have productive conversations. No deal has been done.”

While the Australian Open has been a ratings success for Nine over the past three years, some TV insiders believe that the sport may be “between golden eras”, with the recent retirements of local hero Ash Barty and longtime fan favourite Roger Federer, and the career of injury-plagued Rafael Nadal drawing to a close.

The reported deal comes less than two months after Nine’s failed bid to win the broadcast rights to the AFL – the most lucrative sporting TV deal in Australia.

The AFL ultimately renewed its deal with Seven and Foxtel (65 per cent owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian), in a $4.5bn agreement that will keep the sport’s broadcast rights with the joint partners until 2031.

Nine’s reported deal with Tennis Australia paves the way for the next sports rights bidding war, with Seven’s deal with Cricket Australia expiring in March 2024.

Free-to-air rivals Nine and Ten, and their respective streaming platforms Nine and Paramount, are understood to have expressed interest last week in the next broadcast deal with CA, as has Foxtel.

In 2018, Seven paid about $75m ­annually for cricket over six years, gaining the rights to domestic Test matches and most Big Bash League games.

But the union between CA and Seven soured over the governing body’s handling of the BBL.

Seven lodged documents in the Federal Court earlier this year alleging Cricket Australia had failed to meet its contractual obligations in the scheduling of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, which had resulted in diminished promotional opportunities and weaker commercial returns for the media company.