Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys has warned Nine Entertainment and Foxtel Media against collaborating on a bid for the next NRL broadcast rights.
With the rights coming to an end following the completion of the 2027 season, V’landys has sternly warned incumbent broadcasters Nine and Foxtel that he will take the NRL elsewhere if a joint bid is submitted.
“If they collude, it will be at their peril,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “We will take the rights elsewhere. If they think they can behave as monopolists, they will be in for a shock”.
The NRL are planning on commencing the formal broadcast negotiations after the Australian Kangaroos side has finished its Ashes tour in England next month.
Nine and Foxtel signed a reported $1.7 billion deal with the code back in 2020. With the code in a much stronger position than it was back in the haze of a global pandemic, with a reported revenue of $744 million in 2024, it is expected that the final price tag will be significantly higher.
To put that number into perspective, in 2022, Seven Network, Foxtel and Telstra signed a huge deal with the AFL to see the trio hold the broadcast rights for another seven seasons in a deal that was said to be worth $4.5 billion. V’landys said he is confident that the NRL can match a deal of that size.
But money, he said, will not be the first priority. V’landys has vowed to the code’s fans that the deal wouldn’t come at their expense, through having more games behind a paywall or higher prices charged by pay-TV operator Foxtel and its streaming service, Kayo Sports.
“The deal will be record-breaking because we built the game up and doubled our audience,” commented V’landys.
Nine is not the only free-to-air television broadcaster in Australia, with three regular-season games a week, as well as all finals games broadcast across the network. Nine also has the exclusive rights to air the State of Origin match-up between NSW and QLD.
Given the state of the current sports broadcasting market, it is hard to imagine any other free-to-air broadcaster will be able to come to the table.
Seven West Media already have the rights to the AFL, and having the two biggest winter sports all broadcast on the same network, at effectively the same time, would pose as a logistical nightmare.
Seven may also have its eye off the ball after news broke yesterday that it merged with Southern Cross Media Group Limited (SCA), a move that presumably puts the broadcaster in a tough position to acquire a multi-billion dollar sports rights deal.
The other potential player could be Paramount, the owner of Network 10. The network already broadcasts Matildas and Socceroos matches as well as the A-League, but has struggled to compete against its major free-to-air rivals.
V’landys said a deal with Ten would include a minimum standards requirement that would make sure it was up to scratch for fans. “If I were CEO, I’d be throwing everything at the NRL. The NRL would fix its problem. You need a foundational powerhouse,” he said.
Industry insiders have speculated to B&T that Nine could go for a full rights bid, with several games to take up residence on its Stan Sports platform. However, with the network signing a deal to secure the exclusive Australian rights to the Premier League and Emirates FA Cup just a few months ago, a deal of this size seems unrealistic.
On the other side of things, streaming has made a huge impact on this landscape, with Netflix paying around $240 million (AUD) to stream the Christmas Day clashes between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. This came just a month after 60 million households worldwide tuned in live to watch Jake Paul square off against Mike Tyson live on Netflix.
Prime Video also entered the sports game recently. At the end of 2023, it secured the Australian rights to the next cricket World Cup alongside a range of other tournaments run by the International Cricket Council (ICC) until 2027. The deal was, at the time, reported as being the most significant sports deal ever to go to a streaming service without an attached free-to-air partner.
Foxtel’s sale to UK-based streamer DAZN further muddies the waters. The $3.4 billion deal, announced in December 2024, is expected to wrap up in the second half of fiscal 2025, pending approvals. DAZN—often called the “Netflix of sports” and pronounced “da zone” if you’re wondering—is backed by billionaire Len Blavatnik and has made waves by securing major global sports rights. As part of the deal, News Corp will get a six per cent stake in DAZN and a board seat, while Telstra will receive a three per cent stake, allowing both companies to refocus on other growth areas like digital real estate and publishing.
B&T contacted Nine on the matter, but the network did not respond prior to publication. Foxtel declined to comment.
Joint reporting by Oliver Cerovic & Aimee Edwards.
