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Seven still keen on NRL

"We are interested in the NRL but not at any cost," says Seven boss Tim Worner.

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Seven is putting out noises that it is still keen for the NRL rights, but not at any price.

It follows Seven West Media raising $440m amid an advertising downturn.

AAP reports that Seven Network CEO Tim Worner said yesterday, “We are interested in the NRL but not at any cost.”

In February 2011 when I asked Worner as Head of Programming to nominate a programme from another network he would like to see on his own, he also picked NRL.

“I just think there’s so much that Seven could do with that sport,” he said at the time.

The Australian Rugby League Commission is expected to make a decision on the television rights in the next couple of months.

Seven, Nine, TEN and Fox Sports are all currently vying for the right to screen some or all of the games in the 2013 season, with speculation the State of Origin may licensed separately.

Source smh.com.au

  • Tagged with NRL

19 Responses

  1. This is really the wrong attitude to take, and they’ve just made life much easier for Nine in announcing this.

    What they should be saying is “We’re very keen on the NRL. At any cost”.

    The more they bid up on it, the more Nine will end up paying, because Nine can’t afford to lose the NRL. But Nine also can’t afford to pay for the NRL either, so the higher Seven makes them bid, the greater the chance they’ll go broke. And they’re not far off it.

  2. @kimbeth
    Channel 7 don’t film in HD therefore whether 7mate is a HD channel is irrelevant, it’s an upscaled SD broadcast.
    GEM shows the league in Melbourne and it *is* HD as channel 9 film in HD (although the bitrate is so low it’s almost un-watchable)

  3. Bill- I think you will find you are incorrect. 7 mate is channel 7’s HD channel like Gem and One are for 9 and 10 respectively.

    Battetstyle- yeah I agree, ch9 constantly plugging other shows. I have not heard one single plug on ch7’s AFL coverage. It’s about the game and not an opportunity to promote your network endlessly. Ch9’s values are just so wrong in my IMO.

    Has anyone else notice that many of the questions on Hot Seat have had some sort of Olympic theme? And then Eddie will mention something about their upcoming coverage. It really is irritating. Ch9’s ego is too big for its own good. Ch7 are the better run network by far.

  6. @ damo: You must be joking! You have made a rediculous comment and have not even explained why you made it.
    7’s AFL and recent Rugby coverage has been top rate. It is for a start in HD as it should be! The camera angles are suberb and the presenters gel well. The presenters at 9 are constantly bickering, they must hate each other. That is the unprofessional image that comes across on air. Then there were the political statements about pokies and Club reform on air by Ray Warren and Phil Gould. Really?
    Also the directors constantly select camera shots i.e. from behind the goal line at ground level.

  7. JM! are you serious? Which planet have you being living on for the last 20 years. 9 suck full top when it comes to nrl coverage. the nrl on abc would be even better.

  8. Yeah I agree ch9 have been a disgrace. Yay one live game per week. The NRL better realise that they need as many games on FTA as possible in order to promote the game and attract new fans. Ch7 are doing great with the AFL, they show the Sydney games live every week and I must admit I have become a big fan again, having stopped watching the past few years. It’s consistent coverage, you know it’s always live and on the same channel (7mate), in HD! Look at 9 with all games in SD and one game live on Friday night. The 2nd game could be shown live on GEM and then replay both games. Sunday afternoon needs to be live. And I think it’s vital that a Saturday night game is on FTA. A minimum of 3 live games per week on FTA on Fri, Sat and Sun. That way they can compete with AFL as far as having that TV presence is concerned.

  12. I really don’t understand why people don’t like the coverage on 9. But then again i live in Sydney and get the games live. Aren’t the games on Friday live on GEM now in other states?

    The commentators make the game for me and the 9 guys are the best at that. Ray Warren needs to be calling NRL and if he isn’t the game won’t be the same.

    The Footy Show sucks but has to be there i guess. And the Sunday game has always been delayed…. hopefully in the next rights that will be fixed up.

    Apart from that Fox have the rights to the rest of the games. Not sure how that is 9’s fault.

    After the way 10 have treated the rest of the sports they cover…. i use the term “cover” loosely…..there is no way i would want them to have the rights. Why would the NRL want to be on the lowest rating of the commercial networks. And saying that i don’t think they would want to be on 7 and have to compete with the AFL.

  13. The real question is can they afford it? Or can any of the fta chs afford it as they are all struggling a little financially….

  16. they will make 9s coverage look like an academy award winning production. they will murder it just like they do with the afl. i reckon they’ll go in with 10

  17. Seven would absolutely kill all competition if it got its hands on NRL. I really hope they get it i really do. Although TEN would be a great alternative. Anyone but Channel 9 is good with me. Now we have a waiting game.

  18. Yer, Anyone but 9, but I don’t want 10 either.
    Hope Seven get the rights to every game, highly doubt it, but imagine if they did have both AFL & NRL. Nine would hate that.

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