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Nine seals rugby union deal

Nine reportedly has a new five-year agreement for rugby union with Australia, South Africa and New Zealand teams.

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A deal with the Australian Rugby Union and Channel Nine has been finalised, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Nine has a new five-year agreement for Super Rugby 14 with Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

ARU’s combined rights will net $450 million, an increase of more than $100 million from a previous TV deal.

The new tournament will see five teams from each country in three conferences. In 2011 it will be an expanded Super 15 competition.

FOXSports will continue to broadcast all Wallabies Tests and Super 14 games live, but Nine has taken over from Seven as rugby’s free-to-air broadcaster and will not only show Australia’s Test matches but also bring Super rugby content back to free-to-air.

Nine will broadcast a highlights package of games featuring the five Australian teams, including the new Melbourne Rebels franchise.

The deal is expected to be announced by the Australian Rugby Union this morning.

Corrected.

See also: FOX Sports in Super Rugby deal.

Source: Daily Telegraph

22 Responses

  1. Well, finally they are going to cover another international sport followed by many but watched by few without foxtel. I am sure that this will replace many of the outdated movies that they play in primetime on a 3 month or less rotation.

    I mean seriously guys, have a look at your current programming and at least show something in the 2000’s and not just trying to get ya moneys worth from the old crap.

  2. I also think that 9 is looking to have significant sports content on one of its digital channels – more pressure on the anti-siphoning review if Tests cant be shown close to live because of 9’s other commitments.

  4. If only channel nine owned One HD, unfortunately we only get afl on our only dedicated free sports channel.

    Great news for nine and viewers, although I do prefer nrl over union football, I get a bit sick of the constant scrums.

  7. Too much sporting codes & events, on one channel, can cause non-sport fans to switch to its rival channels.

    Ch 9 – even more sporting codes coverage, heaps of international shows & a minimal amount of local tv produced shows!.

  8. There is a long press release at the ARU website confirming the deal. Interesting to note that Nine will “simulcast” the Wallabies tests in Australia and Tri-Nations series, meaning Nine will probably use Fox Sports graphics and commentary. And there is only a one-sentence comment from Nine Network CEO David Gyngell at the end of the statement, saying “We are delighted to welcome Rugby to our ever expanding Wide World of Sports portfolio.”

  9. Johnson, surely the channel nine people arent that idiotic as to slump mungoball and rugby in the same show, and channel nine had already bid for the world cup before. DC and Leaguefreak, the deal is worth 450 million, spread out evenly between the three unions which equals around 150 million an increase of 57 million dollars. The extra games have to be staged because of the 15th team yes, but there are less travel costs because of the internal structures of the competition. the 10 million dollars is basically on sell rights and the real news here is of the moving of rugby for the next five years to channel nine

  11. Nine have shown their hand. They must be looking to launch a digital sports channel as the room just isnt there on the main channel.

    This is quite some blow for One

  12. With Channel Nine now having the rights to broadcast Rugby Union, League, Cricket, Wimbledon, & the 2012 London Olympics, it’s hard to see how they are going to find any money for a sucessful bid for the 2012 to 2016 AFL Broadcast Rights.
    Channel Seven or Ten I believe will win the next AFL Rights, then they will properly sell a few games to Fox Sports just like the current deal which expires at the end of 2011.

  14. Nine has basically taken over Channel 7’s role of only showing Test matches and a weekly highlights package of the “Super” 15 competition. They are already reported to only be paying $10 million for those rights, and thats over a few years. That puts the Rugby Union test rights on par with the likes of Netball and Basketball in terms of Australian TV rights!

    Considering that Rugby Union in Australia is bleeding red ink, that it gets out rated by the NRL pre game shows, the Under 20’s competition and is even behind the A League in terms of viewing numbers….this deal is a really bad sign for the game in Australia and New Zealand.

    They needed someone to stump up a lot more money for the rights and it just never happened. When you look at the ratings the game gets….they are lucky to even get this token gesture to pay very little and shuffle the coverage around their other more important commitments.

  15. Call me the fly, ONE/TEN wanted 1 game of Super 15 a week on free to air. ARU wanted to do the deal. News threw their toys and halved their offer for NZ, RSA and AUS if they broke out one game from the deal for ONE/TEN.

  16. How idiotic is this?

    Clearly Fox Sports had something to say in this for the simple fact is that ONE HD should have been the ideal place for this if they really wanted free-to-air coverage, as they could have done it justice (since its not on any anti-siphoning lists it can be shown on ONE no worries)

  18. I don’t think Channel 9 is paying $450m for the rights. That is what News Corp is paying. 9 is paying about $10m a year for Tests and a weekly Super 15 highlights package. Considering inflation, exchange rates(the deal is in US dollars), more games, more teams and more local derbys involving Australian teams this would actually be a drop in the amount paid for the broadcast rights.

  20. As I posted on Monday (when the Australian Financial Review broke the news of the deal), Nine’s coverage of rugby union will clash with its commitments to NRL finals (especially next year when the Rugby World Cup is held in NZ in September and October), as well as Wimbledon, British Open golf, the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 Ashes cricket series. Would the deal also mean the (NRL) Footy Show will have a new segment on rugby union too?

  21. Great so if they stay true to form then we will have to tune in at some strange hour to see the rugby and it will probably be a cut-down package anyway!! Don’t they have enough sporting events already??

  22. Well done to the Rugby Union folk. Melbourne Rebels would have played a significant part in this deal.
    Wonder what the dynamics were in the negotiations between RU and Nine/Seven/Fox Sprots and Ten/One Hd.
    Would love to be a fly on the wall of those negs.

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