Tennis in Stan’s sights after securing rugby broadcast rights deal with Nine

The streaming service will establish a new sports channel, at an additional cost for Stan subscribers.

The Wallabies and the All Blacks in action at Suncorp Stadium last Saturday. Nine and Stan have sealed broadcast rights with Rugby Australia for the next three years. Picture: Getty Images

Sports such as tennis, soccer, boxing and basketball could end up behind the paywall of Nine Entertainment’s Stan as a part of a loss-leading strategy to attract more subscribers to the streaming ­service.

Stan is banking on the halo ­effect of sport to maintain its audience and grow it into the future under heavy competition from global players such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime, after it and parent company Nine clinched a $100m broadcast deal for rugby union on Monday.

Nine will now turn its attention to other sports and probably announce deals for events such as Wimbledon and the French Open tennis for its new Stan Sport service, which will be offered at an additional monthly cost to Stan subscribers estimated at between $5 and $10.

It could also place some matches from the Australian summer of tennis, even including lesser matches of the Australian Open tournament each January given Nine gained pay-TV and streaming rights when it clinched a $300m, five-year deal with Tennis Australia in 2018.

Under the terms of the new rugby union deal — as exclusively revealed by The Australian in mid-September — Nine will show the Wallabies’ international test matches and Stan the majority of the Super Rugby provincial competition for the next three years, the sport announced on Monday.

Stan will place Super Rugby, which will also have one Saturday night game on a Nine free-to-air channel, on Stan Sport and probably also show the Sydney and Brisbane grade competitions on the new service.

While Rugby Australia executives hailed the Nine and Stan deal as groundbreaking, it is likely the sport took a deal worth slightly less in cash terms than Fox Sports (which had held rugby rights for almost a quarter of a century) and Network Ten had offered.

Fox and Ten are about to finish the last few matches of an existing contract that was worth $285m over five years before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The two networks are understood to have offered a combined $30m in cash annually to Rugby Australia plus contra.

Nine is estimated to be paying slightly less in cash for its new deal, which chief executive Hugh Marks told staff was part of a “whole-of-television” approach that would result in free-to-air channels sharing rights with Stan in the future.

“By Nine acquiring the rugby rights we will have flexibility — we can put on a game of rugby a week on air and continue to grow and develop that code. But also for the true rugby fan, Stan will be the place they turn to to watch the key games, all live and ad-free, that they want to see as part of a Stan Sports extension on their existing Stan subscriptions,” Mr Marks said in a note to staff.

Stan is planning to produce 30 new local television series and movies each year and could also bid for second-tier sports content such as boxing pay-per-view matches and A-League soccer when that league’s deal with Fox Sports expires next year.

Nine also has one more year of a Super Netball broadcast deal left on its contract with Netball Australia, another sport that could be a contender to move in part or entirely to Stan.

Nine also has a two-year option for it to extend its rugby union deal, for which it will also need to pay for production costs and build a capability to deliver live sport streaming via Stan.

Rugby Australia will also need to strike a deal with its counterparts in New Zealand for the structure of a new Super Rugby competition, and the number of Australian teams taking part.

Nine closed up 5c at $2.34.