NRL TV Rights Deal

[Crazy Sam]

4 live games on FTA compared with the current two is good news. I think we can be fairly certain that even though NRL regains 'control' of the schedule, the Broncos will still be on FTA for the majority of the season - just not on Fridays every week.

It will be interesting to see whether Fox Sports would be pushing for two extra teams in the comp so they can retain a 5th exclusive game each week.

 

[Unbreakable]

That sounds good to me, i wasn't looking forward to Channel 10 getting games.

Thursday - 1x Nine
Friday - 1x Nine
Saturday - 1x Nine, 2x Fox
Sunday - 1x Nine, 1x Fox
Monday - 1x Fox

 

[abashii]

I think it'll be three games Sunday and no more Monday games.

 

[Foordy]

That $925m deal is a long way short of the $1.7 billion they were talking about

 

[Nashy]

All games live on Foxtel is all I want. And 9 to have absolutely no control over the draw.

 

[Fozz]

So Origin stays on Wednesday night for Origin I and III but is played on Sunday night on Origin II. FFS, just play it in the afternoon you dipshits.

 

[Unbreakable]

And 9 to have absolutely no control over the draw.

I watched the Dave Smith interview this morning, he said from 2018 onwards the NRL will have complete control over the draw. So that's good news.

 

[Big Pete]

I'll wait until the NRL have negotiated the Fox Sports, Sky & Digital deals before judging whether or not they got the most value. The former and latter is of particular interest, because there's word that the NRL could receive it's own channel again for the first time since 2002 when they had a deal with Optus and could make for some great coverage. However, if they can't get that off the ground, they maybe getting a weaker deal since Fox Sports will receive one less game each season.

From a fan perspective, I believe it's a good deal. I wouldn't go as far to call it great just yet, as we'll see how fair the NRL is in terms of scheduling sides but the idea of 4 FTA games, a fairer Origin period and a competition conscious (as opposed to ratings conscious) schedule is a good win for the fans.

From a Broncos perspective, I can still see the team receiving a lot of FTA games, but I think we'll see them less and less on Fridays. Hopefully it means more Saturdays and Sunday games but it will probably mean more Thursdays which is a negative.

I could give or take Monday Night Football. Some of the best games took place on Monday Nights and I thought the Fox Sports coverage was first class, but there was definitely a fatigue factor there as a viewer. Personally, I like a day to reflect on the round that was, where people fire up on the call-back stations and you get all the judiciary, injury & referee reviews out of the way. As it stands, it sort of feels like that happens, we put it in the back of our minds while we wait for the final encounter which at times can be really important, especially if it's teams like Melbourne, Souths or Manly playing (as they tend to receive a lot of Monday games).

 

[Kimlo]

I'm loving the sound of the new deal!

Shame they couldn't go all out on origin, but having the middle game as a stand alone weekend is a huge improvement on its own, because between game 1 and 3, that's 6 weeks of uninterrupted club football which means we don't have a 6-8 week period of competition football with missing players and byes and all that rubbish that usually comes with origin. Ideally this means, there's 2-4 origin interrupted games per year per club, with the two byes covering half of those.

Four FTA games is great, and every single game being live is great, it means I don't HAVE to give Foxtel my money to get decent NRL coverage. More importantly though, I'd love for someone like Google to pick up the rights and have world class digital coverage, because Telstra's 2003 video quality streams are just a joke.

I think they'll likely get 400m-500m or so out of Foxtel, to get all 8 games simulcast live in HD, and likely 150m-250m or so from Skysports and the digital rights is an unknown, depends how many players want to take a shot at it. We could conceivably see a company like Netflix take a stab, having all Rugby League games streamed live on Netflix would be a huge win for them. I just hope Telstra doesn't end up with it.

 

[Unbreakable]

Webcke just confirmed on 7 news that Monday night games have been axed, I don't recall reading that anywhere, not sure if it's an inside scoop or if I've just missed it.

3 Saturday and 3 Sunday games like the good old days.

 

[Super Freak]

It was in an article on The Roar not long ago.

Monday nights, as well as the City vs Country fixture are set to be axed under the new deal.

 

[tommy]

NOOOOO!!!!!! Not City Vs Country!!! Whatever will we do .

 

[The Strapper]

While the NRL have said there will be 4 games live on free to air with the new deal I have my doubts as previously when NSW has been on daylight saving time any game that was broadcast live in NSW was not shown live in QLD because of the time difference.
I would expect the same thing to happen again. I don't think games played in NSW will be shown live into QLD until daylight saving finnishes.
Would like the NRL to clarify that. :suspicious:

 

[Super Freak]

While the NRL have said there will be 4 games live on free to air with the new deal I have my doubts as previously when NSW has been on daylight saving time any game that was broadcast live in NSW was not shown live in QLD because of the time difference.
I would expect the same thing to happen again. I don't think games played in NSW will be shown live into QLD until daylight saving finnishes.
Would like the NRL to clarify that. :suspicious:

I would like to think they would work around that by scrapping the half hour pre-game stuff and putting it on a bit earlier

They did that for Broncos games.

 

[Unbreakable]

They specifically said all games would be live on free to air for everyone in Australia, it's feasible that they make 9 news on Thursday/Friday night only 30 minutes and play ACA after the game or something, during daylight saving matches. Not sure how flexible that sort of thing is.

 

[The Strapper]

I would like to think they would work around that by scrapping the half hour pre-game stuff and putting it on a bit earlier

They did that for Broncos games.

I really hope your right SF but I can't help having a nagging doubt about this.

 

[Waynesaurus]

I think this FTA deal is pretty damn good actually, it rewards the fans who can't or won't pay for Foxtel and it will still give Foxtel a chance to focus on offering a 'premium' NRL service in the form of HD, pre-match stuff and ad free for those fans who are happy to pay.

Hopefully the NRL will also come up with something worthwhile in the streaming rights department as well but I don't think Foxtel will be too happy if this offers better value than their service.

I'm sure Foxtel also aren't so pleased about the loss of a Saturday match and Monday nights tho so it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Tera]

I might be in the minority here but I'm disappointed to see Monday night footy go. I found it made the working week less of a drag, bugger.