NRL announce $1.8 billion broadcast deal

Under the terms of the deal, which were being finalised by lawyers on Thursday night, News Corp and Foxtel partner Telstra have agreed to pay A$1.175b (NZ$1.3b) over five years for the NRL’s pay-TV and digital rights in Australia. Nine has extracted a big price from News for that, but it is a canny move by Delany, using the savings from losing the English Premier League rights to Optus recently.

The deal is worth A$1.8 billion (€1.22bn) to the NRL – 70 per cent higher than the existing rights.

With the later sale of global and radio rights, the NRL hope to earn $1.9 billion over the five years.

However, numerous changes to improve the schedule of games will start from 2016 – two years early.

The deal will see Foxtel pick up the lion’s share of the broadcasts – with every game to be shown live, in HD, and commercial free on Fox Sports.

Monday night football is also set to be scrapped for the 2017 season, with a second Friday night match expected to be shown exclusively on Fox Sports at 6pm.

“We have delivered the very best outcome for the game as a whole”, Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman John Grant said in a news release.

In August, Channel Nine signed a $925 million deal for the free-to-air rights that included a Saturday fixture.

That deal was worth 67% more than the current agreement, which expires at the end of the 2016 season.

Rugby league is the dominant football code in New South Wales and Queensland, while Australian Rules is the most popular sport played in winter in Victoria, South and Western Australia. “Our quality coverage of NRL games will this year be complemented by the NRL Rookie – just one of many ways we seek to expand and enrich our fans’ experience on free to air”.

News Corp’s five-year broadcast contract with the NRL begins in 2018. “It’s a big win for the fans and a big win for the clubs, and News is delighted to be a part of it”.

– Super Saturday, featuring three live games, will be retained by Fox Sports. Fox Sports also will launch a dedicated NRL channel in 2017, New Corp. said.

After an often vitriolic campaign by News publications, Smith stepped down as NRL CEO – though some observers argued he was pushed out the door and made a “fall guy” for the Nine deal and the subsequent reaction by News.