AFL aims at $1 billion for next TV rights deal

[one-eyed]

AFL aims at $1 billion for next TV rights deal
Damian Barrett | April 02, 2009

GLOBAL financial markets may be in meltdown, and television networks are running on empty, but the AFL remains hopeful of receiving a billion dollars for its next set of TV contracts.

With the confirmed addition of a Gold Coast team, and the pledged addition of a western Sydney club, the AFL will have nine matches a week to sell in its 2012-16 broadcast package.

A total of $780 million was reached from the Channels Seven-Ten-Fox Sports arrangement for 2007-11.

Asked if he agreed with the recent assertion made by Australia's premier media buyer Harold Mitchell that a billion dollars could be gained from TV in 2012-16, AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan said yesterday: "We respect someone as important as Harold in the industry, and I'd like to think they would be worth a billion dollars."

"Time will tell. All I can say is we are very confident in our product."

McLachlan said negotiations for the next broadcast rights would not be opened for some time.

"But, we are really confident with our rights, and we understand the marketplace, and we believe our quality content will be to our advantage," McLachlan said.

"We certainly think they are worth significantly more than we are currently receiving."

In the current television deals, a round of matches is generally fixtured as such: Friday night match, two Saturday afternoon matches, two Saturday night games, and three matches on Sunday, including a twilight slot.

McLachlan said the AFL was experimenting this year with fixturing with a view to 2012.

"We're looking at a number of spots (to place the ninth match)," McLachlan said.

"Look at this year's fixture - we are trialling a Thursday night, we are trialling a Monday night and we are also trialling a Saturday twilight in Tasmania.

"So, they are slots that are new as we look to go forward as to where we play the ninth game."

The past two broadcast deals have been for five years, with the 2002-06 contract pulling in $500 million.

"There's no comment on that (the duration of the next deal), we haven't even started on anything yet, and we certainly haven't looked at it with that level of detail," McLachlan said.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25276683-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Nine wants to be a player on AFL game days
Caroline Wilson | May 6, 2009

THE Nine Network last night revealed its ambition to officially return to the AFL broadcast landscape and confirmed its plans to bid for the football rights beyond 2011.

Despite speculation the next round of broadcast rights - Australia's richest sporting TV deal - was in danger of becoming a one-horse race in free-to-air terms, network boss Jeff Browne told The Age: "Of course we're interested.

"Channel Nine would always be interested in talking to the AFL about their product. We enjoyed having football in the past and we did a very good job with it."

It is understood AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and his deputy, Gillon McLachlan, have completed their first unofficial round of visits to all television networks, including Channel Nine, in a bid to clarify the TV football landscape beyond 2011.

Demetriou has told the networks they would be delivered a more definite scenario of how the home-and away-season would work in broadcast terms should the competition continue to boast eight games a week as part of a 17-team competition in which each club would have two byes in a season. The networks will also be given a clearer picture of how a nine-game round would work should western Sydney have entered the competition by 2012, the first year of a new rights deal.

While manoeuvring has already begun for the significantly less-lucrative radio rights beyond 2009, Channels Seven, Ten and Foxtel have paid a total $780 million to secure the broadcast rights until the end of 2011.

Channels Seven and Ten are believed to have officially committed to bid together next time around as part of a contract signed by the two networks, which could see Nine taking on its two commercial free-to-air rivals.

Nine would appear more likely to team up with Fox Sports given that the pair have already joined forces to purchase the rights for the 2012 London Olympic Games, but that decision has not been made with Foxtel still waiting on Federal Government's moves as far as its pay-TV restrictions are concerned. Currently under the anti-siphoning agreement Foxtel cannot bid in its own right for the AFL's product and under the current agreement purchased its weekly offering of four home-and-away games from Seven and Ten. But that network is pushing for more direct access to more content.

Browne last night pointed out Nine's ongoing commitment to the AFL via the game's long running The Footy Show, the highest rating non-match day AFL program along with the Sunday Footy Show, Monday night's Footy Classified and Nine's latest AFL offering TAC Future Stars to be launched on Sunday.

"I think as a non-rights holder we have continued to demonstrate our commitment to AFL football and we will continue to do so," Browne said.

Negotiations are expected to move to the next stage later this year with no network discounting completely the possibility of all three commercial stations having some AFL product.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/nine-wants-to-be-a-player/2009/05/05/1241289172767.html