Could Football's next media deal be Hurt by RL & AFL

[midfielder]

From the TerrOR today ... it has NRL & AFL being chased by the FTA Networks and to quote David Leckie ... "" Cricket, rugby and soccer will all be sidelined by these deals, Leckie said. Whoever gets the AFL deal will pay too much. Whoever gets the league rights will pay too much.

It will leave nothing for the rest of them.

Interestingly the article has left Ch 10 out of the bidding war... and given they have a sports channel and are showing lots of football and have started their own Football show... HMMMMMMMm

To the article.....

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/dinner-with-a-2-million-bill/story-e6frexni-1225827463735

Dinner with a $2 billion bill

By Phil Rothfield and Rebecca Wilson From:

The Sunday Terrorgraph February 07, 2010 12:01AM


Bidding talks ... David Gallop, CEO of the NRL. Source: The Daily Terrorgraph
A $2 billion television bidding war for rugby league and AFL kicked off inside two trendy eastern suburbs restaurants on Thursday night.

Channels Nine and Seven separately wined and dined football powerbrokers of both sports at famous Paddington eatery Darcy's and the Centennial Hotel, which are just a kilometre apart.

The battle for the football codes - and the massive television ratings that come with them - will be as bitter and intense as anything this country has seen and could even threaten the existence of other sports and their broadcasting deals.

NRL boss David Gallop had dinner with Channel Seven supremo David Leckie at the Centennial at exactly the same time the AFL's Andrew Demetriou and Gil McLachlan were at Darcy's with Nine's Sydney boss David Gyngell and Melbourne chief executive Geoff Brown.

All parties were reluctant to offer a lot of detail when we made phone calls yesterday after being tipped off the footy bosses had been spotted dining with their rival broadcasters.



The AFL rights are up for grabs at the end of next year - and the NRL 12 months later.

The two biggest television networks in Australia are going so hard for the NRL and AFL free-to-air rights that Seven boss Leckie believes other sports will suffer.

"Cricket, rugby and soccer will all be sidelined by these deals," Leckie said. "Whoever gets the AFL deal will pay too much. Whoever gets the league rights will pay too much.

"It will leave nothing for the rest of them."

A seven spokesman added: "It wasn't just a catch-up dinner with David Gallop - we put our cards on the table for rugby league rights.

"We want them bad.

"Everyone knows how much David Leckie loves rugby league."

We can also reveal that Gallop had lunch earlier in the day at Machiavelli with Gyngell to talk about the upcoming rugby league season before moving on to his dinner with Leckie.

"Obviously the TV rights are something we're all preparing for," Gallop said. "But I'd rather not go into what was discussed over dinner."

Gyngell was also reluctant to comment when we asked him about his hopes of retaining rugby league - and getting the AFL.

"I don't want to be seen as someone who leaks stuff from a private dinner," he said. "Ask the other guys."

Seven has already signalled its intention to enter the rugby league market this year with the imminent launch of a new footy show to be hosted by Matthew Johns on Wednesday nights.

Industry insiders are suggesting Channel Seven will be in the stronger position financially to get rugby league, even allowing for the fact Nine retains first and last bidding rights as part of its current contract.

Nine is currently controlled by equity partners who are known to have kept a tight rein on funding for several years, while Seven is cashed up and ready for a serious bidding war.

The rugby league rights, currently worth $100 million a year (including Sky TV in New Zealand), are expected to be sold for at least double that amount next time.

The NRL plans to sell the premiership rounds, Test matches, State of Origin and the finals as separate packages to attract more revenue.

AFL spokesman Brian Walsh told us that Demetriou had a chuckle when we informed him of Leckie's dinner with Gallop at the nearby restaurant.

"Yes, Andrew and Gil were in Sydney and caught up with David Gyngell and Geoff Brown for a bite to eat," Walsh said. "Obviously they've got good relationships with media and business people around the country and it's not unusual for them to catch up for a chat about life, families and the weather - and maybe a bit of football."

 

[MrCelery]

Rebecca Wilson the 'writer'? In the Terrorgraph. Got to be the truth then.

Just the usual ARL & AFL huffing and puffing and blowing smoke up their own arses.

 

[FFC Mariner]

No football on 7 or 9? Yay

 

[Jimmy]

If I had to pick a FTA channel to view football on. It'd be ten. They even play seria A highlights on wed mornings. And were they the only FTA channel to be interested in the syd vs galaxy game? I thought they did an alright job with that.

 

[curious]

Rebecca Wilson the 'writer'? In the Terrorgraph. Got to be the truth then.

Just the usual ARL & AFL huffing and puffing and blowing smoke up their own arses.

The subject was also discussed on the ABC's 'Offsiders' last weekend, with similar figures mentioned. Replay of segment is here http://www.abc.net.au/sport/offsiders/

 

[Jesus]

Nine and seven are insane to bid against each other. If they stuck to their guns both rights would drop in value, the alf more than league though

 

[dibo]

Isn't that anticompetitive behaviour?

 

[Jesus]

Isn't that anticompetitive behaviour?

Media companies working in illegal and immoral ways?

The world WOULD end!

 

[FFC Mariner]

If (say) 9 finds out that 7 have bid for Tardball and they decide for themselves not to counter bid, thats ok.

If 7 finds out that 9 has bid on NRL and they decide for themselves not to counter bid, thats ok too.

Where it becomes a problem is if they collude and decide not to compete with each other to keep the prices down.

Mind you, chances of being convicted following an ACCC investigation is approximately zero as you would never be able to prove it.

(Unless some numbnutes emailed the details of course)

 

[Roy Law]

"It will leave nothing for the rest of them."
Should read "It will leave nothing from channel 9 and channel 7 for the rest of them."
I'm happy if 10 get some, or SBS...

 

[dibo]

If (say) 9 finds out that 7 have bid for Tardball and they decide for themselves not to counter bid, thats ok.

If 7 finds out that 9 has bid on NRL and they decide for themselves not to counter bid, thats ok too.

Where it becomes a problem is if they collude and decide not to compete with each other to keep the prices down.

Mind you, chances of being convicted following an ACCC investigation is approximately zero as you would never be able to prove it.

(Unless some numbnutes emailed the details of course)

There ere issues of explicit and implicit communications though. Would declaring 'priorities' in the newpaper count as collusion, or is it only collusion if there is a two way stream of communication?

 

[midfielder]

Oil companies do it all the time ... they say we never ... very hard to prove collusion... say 9 offer 500 million for the rights ... then 7 can offer 750 million ...hard to prove why 9 should have offered more...

 

[FFC Mariner]

Having thought about it, i'm not sure its anti competitive at all because the public isnt harmed by pricing (its FTA) or availability (its on TV).

not my field so happy to be guided

 

[dibo]

That part of the public that runs sporting codes suffers. *whistles*

 

[curious]

It's a moot point as they both want the two codes. The only thing 9 and 7 have in common is the competitive disdain for each other. On second thoughts, they also share the prize for the lowest of low nightly current affairs (sic) garbage, fighting for the same mentally incapacitated audience.