Nine to pay record $425m to keep tennis rights

The deal is the most expensive in history for tennis in Australia, and means Nine will broadcast the Australian Open until at least 2029.

Nine is paying a record amount to keep its tennis rights

Nine Entertainment will pay a record $425m cash to broadcast tennis for the rest of the decade, in a deal that will have major implications for rights deals to cricket, rugby union and the Olympics.

The tennis extension, first revealed by The Australian in late September, means Nine will broadcast the Australian Open each January through to 2029 in a new five-year deal worth $85m cash annually.

At that figure, the deal is worth at least 40 per cent more than Nine’s existing deal – which does not expire until the end of January 2024.

But with at least another $10m in contra annually and other services and promotion aspects, the total package of the deal is likely more than $500m over the entire agreement.

Nine and Tennis Australia had entered an exclusive negotiating period in recent weeks under Nine’s “first and last rights” clause contained in its current $300m five-year broadcast deal signed in 2018.

It discussed the terms of a $500m five-year deal during its exclusive window, though Tennis Australia also gauged interest from Nine’s rivals such as Seven West Media before the new agreement with Nine was announced on Friday morning.

The tennis deal is likely to be the first of several new sports rights to be clinched in the coming months.

The free-to-air networks and Foxtel will next week lob second round bids for cricket rights, with officials from the International Olympic Committee also visiting Australia to drum up interest for the rights for events through to the Brisbane 2032 Games.

Nine and Seven have both indicated preliminary interest with Cricket Australia for the rights to test matches, one of four packages that cricket authorities have put on the market as the end of their groundbreaking $1.2bn six-year contract with Seven and Foxtel nears.

Cricket Australia has also called for interest in a package around Australian international limited-over matches, including Twenty20 games, and a package each of Big Bash League and Women’s BBL matches.

The BBL and WBBL are likely to go to one bidder.

Cricket Australia has also received interest from Foxtel for all four packages, and also from Network 10 and its Paramount+ streaming service.

Seven is currently paying about $75m annually for its free-to-air rights, including most BBL games, but is also mired in a legal dispute with Cricket Australia over the quality of matches in its current deal that could drag out in at least the middle of next year.

Nine and Seven are likely to have told cricket authorities they would pay about $50m annually for tests, though Cricket Australia – which could clinch a deal by Christmas – is confident it can get more for its entire rights package than it did when it last held a tender in 2018. Broadcasters have played down the prospect of paying big amounts for cricket given the BBL’s ratings struggles.

Whether Nine can afford tennis, rugby league, rugby union and cricket or the Olympics remains to be seen.

Nine has free-to-air rights for the National Rugby League, State of Origin and international games through to the end of 2027 in a $650m cash and contra deal.

It is also paying $100m over three years for rugby union rights in a deal expiring at the end of 2023, though the network has the option to take up two additional seasons.

Seven has held Olympics rights, but is keen not to pay a big price for the next two Games in Paris and Los Angeles in 2024 and 2028 before the Brisbane event.

Mike Sneesby, Nine’s chief executive, said tennis “attracts a broad and very passionate following, and is a perfect fit for Nine’s schedule, audiences and advertisers”.

Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said Nine has “shown its serious intent to a year-round commitment to continue to grow tennis.”

Nine will gain exclusive free-to-air, pay-television, streaming, mobile and social media rights for the Australian Open, lead-in tournaments and other Australian team events such as the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.