NRL digital and TV rights offshore - an opportunity?

[Harmless27]

Howdy y'all,

As many of you know, I work in finance and marketing, so my mind has a tendency to drift to revenue opportunities with a slight edge of scepticism thrown in

I can't help but feel that the May 28th restart is VERY driven by revenue/financial necessity rather than a health-related decision.... but that is not the purpose of my post.

IF the NRL pull this off, then the NRL is likely to be the first major sporting competition to re-start GLOBALLY. It may only be a few weeks until other sports re-start.... but my thoughts are:
1. What are the current content agreements in place? Is there an opportunity to perhaps do a pay-per-view option globally in other countries to maximise inflows as people are so thirsty for live sport and content
2. Would the NRL consider toying with match times to make them palatable to international audiences? the US market is the obvious one for scale.... but even for the UK? I can imagine MANY super league watchers would LOVE to see a game kick off at 10pm their time (say midday or 1pm over here?) Surely kick off times mean nothing i a world where everyone is at home already, and there are no live crowds?
3. What opportunities could Manly harness I wonder? Given the unique profile and window available for a few weeks, could we call on our Internationally famous supporters to really get visible on social to help get audiences up for our team internationally? High jackman? Who else?

I've got no actual affiliation/contact with our club (i live in Melbourne these days) but if we can stumble upon any good ideas here for the Manly media team, then it will be a chat worth having to help our club.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[Loobs]

Bundesliga is set to restart in early May and they will make the most out of being first out the gate.

 

[MuzztheEagle]

Could always spam other sport and team forums with the good news that footy (and Manly) are back. I will definitely be forcing Victorians to watch games if the AFL can't get it sorted as quickly as the NRL.
I assume the current broadcasters will switch on as soon games start:

International Broadcasters

Watch NRL overseas. List of International broadcasters of the NRL as well as access to the Fox Sports Watch NRL product.

www.nrl.com

It's also only $2 for a weekly live stream subscription from overseas. I'd be willing to pay that right now, even for some obscure sport from the other side of the world. I was even cheering on Takashi's castle Thailand last night!!

 

[Woodsie]

Mate ... I am certain all you mention will be on the agenda today with the meeting with the broadcasters ... Fox are that desperate for content that they had an American spelling bee on one of their sports channels .... and no, I am not joking .... so they will be well aware of any window of opportunity to showcase the games Globally ....

The challenge for the League is to get an appropriate license fee and royalties for it .... and I think an operater like V'Landy's will be all over it like calomine lotion ...

 

[robbiea]

Nhl plan on restarting soon in empty stadiums also.

 

[40 years an eagle]

This is the biggest opportunity RL has had, and will probably ever get, to showcase our game to a sport-hungry world right now. Fox Sports Asia was showing the first 2 NRL rounds, a game per day, for a couple of weeks. MWSE should free live stream our games globally if the ARL/NRL won't grab hold of this opportunity. Maybe stream future games to overseas people that sign up for some kind of MWSE membership.

The best way to attract OS interest in our game is to give them a taste for free and get them hooked.

 

[Stevo]

There is talk from ScoMo today that the restrictions will be eased in 3 weeks. in 5-6 weeks time there is a good chance they will be further relaxed and life will feel a fair bit more normal. Why woukldn't they be aiming to restart as soon as possible?

 

[Stevo]

Restrictions being eased already.

 

[Loobs]

There is talk from ScoMo today that the restrictions will be eased in 3 weeks. in 5-6 weeks time there is a good chance they will be further relaxed and life will feel a fair bit more normal. Why woukldn't they be aiming to restart as soon as possible?

Will be interesting to see how it plays out in Australia as they ease restrictions just as our traditional flu season ramps up. Last year over 1,000 people here died from the flu. I personally think July/August it will blow up royally but I know nussing...

 

[The Who]

Any idea when the NRL will be releasing the draw for the revised comp?

 

[Woodsie]

Any idea when the NRL will be releasing the draw for the revised comp?

They need to finalise the deal with the broadcasters first .... how many games etc ... meetings this week ...

 

[cava2323]

Could always spam other sport and team forums with the good news that footy (and Manly) are back. I will definitely be forcing Victorians to watch games if the AFL can't get it sorted as quickly as the NRL.
I assume the current broadcasters will switch on as soon games start:

International Broadcasters

Watch NRL overseas. List of International broadcasters of the NRL as well as access to the Fox Sports Watch NRL product.

www.nrl.com

It's also only $2 for a weekly live stream subscription from overseas. I'd be willing to pay that right now, even for some obscure sport from the other side of the world. I was even cheering on Takashi's castle Thailand last night!!

its $2 coz there’s no NRL. 20/30/ 200 week month annual normally.

 

[cava2323]

Howdy y'all,

As many of you know, I work in finance and marketing, so my mind has a tendency to drift to revenue opportunities with a slight edge of scepticism thrown in

I can't help but feel that the May 28th restart is VERY driven by revenue/financial necessity rather than a health-related decision.... but that is not the purpose of my post.

IF the NRL pull this off, then the NRL is likely to be the first major sporting competition to re-start GLOBALLY. It may only be a few weeks until other sports re-start.... but my thoughts are:
1. What are the current content agreements in place? Is there an opportunity to perhaps do a pay-per-view option globally in other countries to maximise inflows as people are so thirsty for live sport and content
2. Would the NRL consider toying with match times to make them palatable to international audiences? the US market is the obvious one for scale.... but even for the UK? I can imagine MANY super league watchers would LOVE to see a game kick off at 10pm their time (say midday or 1pm over here?) Surely kick off times mean nothing i a world where everyone is at home already, and there are no live crowds?
3. What opportunities could Manly harness I wonder? Given the unique profile and window available for a few weeks, could we call on our Internationally famous supporters to really get visible on social to help get audiences up for our team internationally? High jackman? Who else?

I've got no actual affiliation/contact with our club (i live in Melbourne these days) but if we can stumble upon any good ideas here for the Manly media team, then it will be a chat worth having to help our club.

Any ideas anyone?

10pm Uk is 7am Sydney. More like breakfast/ lunch time footy here in Europe.

 

[jbb/james]

Broadcasting is changing like never before. Many more options for the league in the future.

9 knows this and is throwing the toys out of the cot to try to underpin a more lucrative deal moving forward without having to compete.

Good times

 

[Eagles2nv]

Will be interesting to see how it plays out in Australia as they ease restrictions just as our traditional flu season ramps up. Last year over 1,000 people here died from the flu. I personally think July/August it will blow up royally but I know nussing...

Yeah that is the real risk that alot of people seem to be ignoring. They're so desperate to get back to normal life they forget this can get a whole lot worse quickly.

A second lockdown will be harder to take cause people will already know what is was like.

You would think Sydney will be ground zero if it blows up again.

Flu vacs are through the roof apparently.

 

[Captain Moondog]

NRL could get five-year extension to TV deals with Foxtel and Nine
Brent Read, The Australian
May 5, 2020 8:27pm

Rugby league bosses are willing to contemplate a whopping five-year extension to their current broadcasting deals with Foxtel and the Nine Network as they look to future-proof the code and ensure their clubs and players have a billion-dollar backstop for protection.
On the same day Nine boss Hugh Marks warned the station’s love affair with rugby league may be coming to an end, News Corp can reveal the idea of a new deal that would secure the game’s broadcasting rights until the end of 2027 is in the mix.
ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys was reluctant to discuss the broadcasting negotiations, although further talks will be held this week as the parties attempt to strike a deal for the remainder of this season.

The slow progress of broadcasting talks have delayed an announcement on the draw and hampered efforts to set the salary and football caps for next season and beyond.

Marks has been a thorn in the NRL’s side during talks and he continued his aggressive commentary at the Macquarie Australia Conference 2020 on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s not a given that NRL has to be part of our future,” Marks said.

“It has to just pay its way like all of our content does, and if it doesn’t, well … again, we are less reliant on that as a revenue source.”


Marks said he wanted to get out of the way and allow the NRL to restart this season. But he added that beyond that, nothing had been set in stone.

“We have to be hard … we have agreed to nothing this year,” he said. “There is no agreement on value or for how long.”

Both the Nine Network and Foxtel are attempting to drive down the value of rights this season, citing a shortened schedule, as well as the lack of crowds and subsequent atmosphere at games.

At the same time, V’landys is doing his level best to extract as much as he can from the broadcasters to secure the game’s future.

He provided an update on the talks to the commission on Tuesday night but was well aware of Marks’ comments when he emerged from those discussions.

“We’re comfortable with where we are with Channel 9 and we will continue to work with them to get to the end,” V’landys said.

“I am not going to go into public with commercially sensitive negotiations but all I can say is the discussion with Nine continue to be fruitful.

“It is a complex process that is not easy to explain to people.”

The frustration is palpable in clubland as officials struggle to plan a future with so much uncertainty surrounding the code. V’landys is determined to get a deal done, hence the game’s willingness to consider another five-year term so soon after agreeing to their existing deal, which is worth close to $2 billion and runs until the end of 2022.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Tricky for the NRL which needs some lengthy deals to provide a bit of much needed financial stability right now. However it could be a big mistake to tie itself long-term to dying platforms?

Foxtel was struggling to survive before COVID-19 but the lack of sport is speeding up its demise - ABC News

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Will be interesting to see how it plays out in Australia as they ease restrictions just as our traditional flu season ramps up. Last year over 1,000 people here died from the flu. I personally think July/August it will blow up royally but I know nussing...

If we open up too much too early then yes that could make us look more like Italy or Britain.

I don’t expect things to be fully opened up until 2021.

It will be slowly slowly and see what happens with the ability to shut down again very quickly.

 

[Loobs]

If we open up too much too early then yes that could make us look more like Italy or Britain.

I don’t expect things to be fully opened up until 2021.

It will be slowly slowly and see what happens with the ability to shut down again very quickly.

The government expects infections to rise as social restriction measures are eased, with the deputy chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, warning that lockdowns could be reintroduced if further waves of Covid-19 are recorded.

Kelly said the decision to keep the rules relaxed would that require authorities were satisfied with a combination of factors, including that the virus’s effective reproduction rate remained below one and there was a low growth rate of infections.

If local health districts became overwhelmed to a point where they couldn’t respond to an outbreak, lockdowns could be tightened.

I'll put a lobster on more restrictions for August thanks

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

The government expects infections to rise as social restriction measures are eased, with the deputy chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, warning that lockdowns could be reintroduced if further waves of Covid-19 are recorded.

Kelly said the decision to keep the rules relaxed would that require authorities were satisfied with a combination of factors, including that the virus’s effective reproduction rate remained below one and there was a low growth rate of infections.

If local health districts became overwhelmed to a point where they couldn’t respond to an outbreak, lockdowns could be tightened.

I'll put a lobster on more restrictions for August thanks

July / August, in my very humble opinion, could well be a disaster zone.

Peak season for respiratory issues.

Very much hope I’m wrong but let’s see ( especially if they go mad and open up lots of things too early).