More recently,Paramount offered $6 billion over 10 years for the rights to the AFL. The offer significantly drove up the final offer to the AFL by incumbents,Seven and Foxtel.
Paramount and Cricket Australia have spent the last few weeks building out a long-form contract. Seven and Foxtel do not need to do this,as their existing contracts can be amended. Paramount will want a deal to be sorted before the new year,to avoid the risk of becoming a stalking horse.
It wouldn’t be a broadcast rights negotiation without high-level executive meetings and strategic appearances. Foxtel boss Patrick Delany and one of his predecessors,Richard Freudenstein (who happens to be leading the broadcast rights negotiations for CA),met for lunch in the last week,despite a deal being publicly positioned as a sure thing for Paramount.
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Seven,which ishoping to save more than $135 million by proving in the Federal Court that CA breached its Big Bash League broadcast rights contractby reducing the quality and standards of the Big Bash League,has continued to meet with key executives about retaining the rights to Tests. It would also consider airing the Big Bash League if the competition was amended.
Lachlan Murdoch’s annual Christmas party last Thursday was attended by Freudenstein,Seven West Media board director Ryan Stokes,and Delany.
The key point of contention for Foxtel and Seven,according to sources,remains the Big Bash League. The ratings have struggled since the competition was extended to 56 matches and they want it revamped to ensure it can still attract audiences. Cricket Australia is assuring the two media companies that can be done,but there is no binding proposal to do so. Ten does not want the length of the BBL competition reduced.
An increase in the rights package from about $197 million per annum to $210 million is not as large as some recent deals struck between sporting bodies and the networks (the AFL and Tennis Australia),but it is enough to tie up the rights until 2031.
Ratings for the Test series between Australia and the West Indies have sat at around 900,000 per night for matches in Perth and Adelaide across Seven and Foxtel,and are likely to have climbed over the 1 million mark when Kayo and Foxtel streaming figures are added.
As the year moves further into December and peak summer time,audiences for cricket are likely to continue to rise,strengthening CA’s bargaining position on one level. But on another,grim forecasts for inflation and the state of the economy cause pressure in the other direction in terms of what broadcasters are prepared to commit to paying.
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CA chairman Lachlan Henderson has previously said cricket was undervalued in the Australian broadcast market and the rise of streaming services as major rights players should lift the game’s saleability. For CA,a lucrative deal is crucial to ensuring it can keep pace with overseas Twenty20 leagues. The challenge for CA is that broadcasters are limited by how much they can spend.Seven and Foxtel’s historic AFL broadcast deal andNine’s lucrative tennis dealwill tighten the purse strings for all three broadcasters. Nine and Seven are also interested in securing a deal with the International Olympic Committee about its next rights package.
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