Nine Set To Go Sports-Free This Summer After It Fails To Snare The Tennis From From Seven

Nine Set To Go Sports-Free This Summer After It Fails To Snare The Tennis From From Seven

Channel Nine has conceded it won’t have any sport over the coming summer after it lost the cricket rights to rival Seven and failed to get the rights to the tennis a year earlier.

The two networks had reportedly been in discussions for some time regarding the possibility of Seven relinquishing the last year of its rights to the tennis to Nine.

In late March, Nine shocked everyone when it bought the rights to the Australian Open for $60 million, however, the deal doesn’t start until 2020.

Having lost the cricket to Seven, Nine was desperate to fill its sports hole and began negotiating with Seven to start broadcasting the tennis a year early.

However, Fairfax Media is today reporting that negotiations have broken down and Seven will broadcast both the tennis and the cricket over the 2018-19 summer period despite a clash in times.

According to Fairfax, Nine CEO, Hugh Marks, offered to take Seven’s final year of the tennis for $10 million, however, it was rejected by Seven bosses who apparently wanted closer to $60 million.

Nine now has a large surplus of cash to spend on programming over the summer period, however, what exactly that may be is yet to be determined.

There had been talk that the netowrk may resurrect the Big Brother format, however, Marks has denied the claim.

“We’ve decided that we are going to take the opportunity to commission some additional local programming, which is both an investment in the schedule for next year plus the overall schedule for the future because we get to try a number of things which may or may not succeed,” Marks told Fairfax.




Please login with linkedin to comment

Channel Nine Channel Seven Hugh Marks

Latest News

Scroll Media Recruits Costa Panagos From Twitch
  • Advertising

Scroll Media Recruits Costa Panagos From Twitch

Digital publisher network Scroll Media has employed ex-Amazon Twitch gaming executive Costa Panagos (lead image) to strengthen its Scroll Gaming capability. Panagos is highly experienced in game advertising and media sales professional with two years in account management at Twitch and three years in media sales at News Corp, so will bring his extensive media agency […]

Year13, Microsoft & KPMG Australia Launch AI Course For Gen Zs
  • Technology

Year13, Microsoft & KPMG Australia Launch AI Course For Gen Zs

School-leaver service Year13 has launched a new Artificial Intelligence course to upskill young people in AI, made in collaboration with Microsoft and KPMG, at an event to rally industry support behind youth AI fluency. The free online course AI Amplified which is part of Year13’s Academy aims to provide all young people with the opportunity […]

General Motors Snares Heath Walker From Scania
  • Advertising

General Motors Snares Heath Walker From Scania

General Motors has announced the appointment of Heath Walker (lead image) as the new marketing director for GM Australia and New Zealand, effective April 23, 2024. Walker brings a wealth of marketing and communications experience gained from working across various industries, including IT, sporting, and auto – notably Tesla, Nissan and most recently, Scania in […]