Good one, Rusty
You can probably blame Russell Crowe for this one. He was the one who first said the NRL deserved a better deal from networks for TV rights, which he said in early July. Crowe was crowing over the ratings for NRL, over 2m viewers, compared to AFL.
He was promptly told to butt out by NRL chief executive David Gallop. “The AFL has teams in more states and draws crowds more than twice the size of ours,” he said.
This week Fairfax journalist Roy Masters claimed that Foxtel, Fox Sports and News Limited had underpaid the NRL for its television rights. Masters said NRL nabbed 64 of the top 100 of the most popular programs this year, compared to the AFL’s 23. But Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams has hit back, in a News publication no less.
“Roy Masters argued that because NRL games out-rate AFL, their TV rights are worth more.
“Wrong. The value of the rights is based on how many new subscribers will be attracted by the coverage.
“When rugby league first appeared on pay-TV, a huge sum was paid for the rights but there were no subscribers.”
Williams said the market penetration of pay-TV in NSW and Queensland has been as much as 25 to 40 per cent higher than in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
“This is because our coverage of league began eight years before our coverage of the AFL, and even today we still have more games of NRL than AFL each week,” he said.
“The value of the latest AFL rights reflects the growth potential for new subscribers in the southern states as well as the growth still available in NSW and Queensland, given the support for the Swans and Lions.
“The total national audience for AFL is bigger than it is for NRL. That’s a fact.”
So far the score is Fairfax 1 / News 2 / Viewers 0.
Source: news.com.au
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Well, of course, Kim Williams would say that|
I find it a bit fishy that News Ltd part-owned Fox Sports would say on News Ltd owned Daily Telegraph that the News Ltd part-owned NRL did not get underpaid for pay tv rights.
Bring on the next round of negotiations and let’s see the best sport for TV (as Kerry Stokes said to John Ribot) get the best contract.
Foxtel would be much worse off if they lost all the subscribers who subscribe to them for NRL. These subscribers should not be underestimated.