Fox Sports will nearly double its investment in Australian soccer to secure the rights to the A-League and Socceroos games between 2017 and 2021.
News Corp reports that its Pay TV sports broadcaster will pay $50 million per annum for four years to become the major rights holder to the A-League and, in separate negotiations, an additional $5 million for Socceroos matches, which won’t include rights to the next World Cup.
Fox Sports is in the final stages of signing off a deal with the FFA, with Optus Sports said to be deterred by broadcast costs that would accompany any rights win.
The free-to-air component, which has SBS, Channel 7, Nine and Ten interested, is unlikely to be finalised until after the BBL rights have been finalised with negotiations opening in February.
The FFA is hopeful the free-to-air component could add an extra $10-15 million per annum, lifting the total rights package to $60-$65 million. This is below the $80 million football chiefs had initially hope for but well above the current $40 million shared between Fox Sports and SBS.
Under the new deal, Fox Sports will broadcast five matches per week with a free-to-air channel to simulcast one match on the coveted Saturday night spot rather than the current Friday night game shown on SBS Viceland.
The FFA could insist that free-to-air coverage occurs on a network's primary channel to maximise TV audiences as past attempts to push the round ball game onto commercial free-to-air have fallen disastrously short of expectations with matches being broadcast at unsociable hours or on minor channels where ratings have been poor.
If Fox Sports secures the A-League, it will represent a major role reversal from the Premier League rights shootout in which Optus stunned Fox Sports with a $60 million per annum bid. For Optus, covering the A-League would require a larger capital investment to broadcast the sport because it would not be able to buy pre-packaged coverage and magazine shows that it has with the EPL.
After Fox Sports lost the Premier League to Optus, securing the A-League, which arguably rates better as it runs during viewer friendly hours, was vital to ensure Murdoch’s sports broadcasting empire retained its position as the home of football sports coverage – a position it also assumes in the UK and elsewhere.
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