Seven appears to be very serious about bidding for rugby league... It is a great sign that if the NRL plays its cards right, the $1b TV deal can be a reality. We've got to do a deal that is at least as much as the AFL.

Dinner with a $2 billion bill

A $2 billion television bidding war for rugby league and AFL kicked off inside two trendy eastern suburbs restaurants on Thursday night.

Channels Nine and Seven separately wined and dined football powerbrokers of both sports at famous Paddington eatery Darcy's and the Centennial Hotel, which are just a kilometre apart.

The battle for the football codes - and the massive television ratings that come with them - will be as bitter and intense as anything this country has seen and could even threaten the existence of other sports and their broadcasting deals.

NRL boss David Gallop had dinner with Channel Seven supremo David Leckie at the Centennial at exactly the same time the AFL's Andrew Demetriou and Gil McLachlan were at Darcy's with Nine's Sydney boss David Gyngell and Melbourne chief executive Geoff Brown.

All parties were reluctant to offer a lot of detail when we made phone calls yesterday after being tipped off the footy bosses had been spotted dining with their rival broadcasters.

The AFL rights are up for grabs at the end of next year - and the NRL 12 months later.

The two biggest television networks in Australia are going so hard for the NRL and AFL free-to-air rights that Seven boss Leckie believes other sports will suffer.

"Cricket, rugby and soccer will all be sidelined by these deals," Leckie said. "Whoever gets the AFL deal will pay too much. Whoever gets the league rights will pay too much.

"It will leave nothing for the rest of them."

A Seven spokesman added: "It wasn't just a catch-up dinner with David Gallop - we put our cards on the table for rugby league rights.

"We want them bad.

"Everyone knows how much David Leckie loves rugby league."

We can also reveal that Gallop had lunch earlier in the day at Machiavelli with Gyngell to talk about the upcoming rugby league season before moving on to his dinner with Leckie.

"Obviously the TV rights are something we're all preparing for," Gallop said. "But I'd rather not go into what was discussed over dinner."

Gyngell was also reluctant to comment when we asked him about his hopes of retaining rugby league - and getting the AFL.

"I don't want to be seen as someone who leaks stuff from a private dinner," he said. "Ask the other guys."

Seven has already signalled its intention to enter the rugby league market this year with the imminent launch of a new footy show to be hosted by Matthew Johns on Wednesday nights.

Industry insiders are suggesting Channel Seven will be in the stronger position financially to get rugby league, even allowing for the fact Nine retains first and last bidding rights as part of its current contract.

Nine is currently controlled by equity partners who are known to have kept a tight rein on funding for several years, while Seven is cashed up and ready for a serious bidding war.

The rugby league rights, currently worth $100 million a year (including Sky TV in New Zealand), are expected to be sold for at least double that amount next time.

The NRL plans to sell the premiership rounds, Test matches, State of Origin and the finals as separate packages to attract more revenue.

AFL spokesman Brian Walsh told us that Demetriou had a chuckle when we informed him of Leckie's dinner with Gallop at the nearby restaurant.

"Yes, Andrew and Gil were in Sydney and caught up with David Gyngell and Geoff Brown for a bite to eat," Walsh said. "Obviously they've got good relationships with media and business people around the country and it's not unusual for them to catch up for a chat about life, families and the weather - and maybe a bit of football."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5827463735

This new footy show for Seven is also an indicator about how serious Seven is on rugby league.

Webcke to join forces with Johns

MATTHEW JOHNS has snared Shane Webcke, one of the most vocal critics of The Footy Show, to join his rival rugby league program.

''We've had chats with Shane Webcke to get him involved and we're a long way down the track,'' Johns told The Last Word following meetings with Channel Seven executives. ''It's almost certain he'd be part of the show.''

Webcke, one of the most respected figures in the game, has previously claimed The Footy Show has crossed the line from being irreverent to irrelevant. The move will turn up the heat on the Nine Network's long-running league program, which controversially parted ways with Johns last year. The new project, which is yet to be named, could still be slated for a Thursday night timeslot, although Johns denied it would go head-to-head with The Footy Show.

''We're still not sure,'' Johns said. ''They're still tossing it around. It's a tricky one, there's the possibility of Wednesday night. You don't want to be clashing with another rugby league program, with NRL on Fox or The Footy Show. That's not what it's about. We're just trying to find the slot we think is right.''

It was believed Johns's ignominious parting with Channel Nine had effectively killed off his beer-swilling alter ego, Reg Reagan. However, the former Newcastle and Cronulla pivot left the door slightly ajar for a return.

''I haven't really given it any consideration, I haven't brought up his name as yet,'' he said. ''You never say never, but at the moment - unlikely.''

Asked if he was excited about returning to prime-time TV, Johns quipped: ''It's good just to be back in the workforce.''

www.smh.com.au

I would love channel 7 to do some league. If they got it and they were smart then they would show a saturday game as well. There's no point me saying this however, because they wouldn't show it to Tasmanian viewers.

Channel 7 are the gayest channel ever ! Wouldnt be surprised if Kochie and Bruce commentated the league, with Fifi Box on the Sidelines

Its all well and good discussing these things with Gallop now but who are going to be the power brokers when the bidding starts?

For the love of God, please don't say that.

David Koch...FMD...

Channel 7 had great coverage of rugby league, prior to Ten and Nine. "Seven's Big League" was great in both Sydney and Brisbane. Plus Sportsworld on Sundays.

I think an ideal outcome would be Nine and Seven getting split rights, provided both are required to produce live coverage nationwide (even if it it on-selling to Fox in some States).

Nine on Friday nights, Seven Saturday nights, Nine Sunday afternoons, for example, would maximise rugby league coverage.

My mail is that the NRL would consider this sort of arrangement, not just have splits for the premiership rounds/finals/State of Origin/Internationals ie you could see the premiership rounds split by days also.

The current problem with two commercial networks having AFL and no rugby league, is that their news and other programming is giving preference to AFL over rugby league, even in the rugby league States. Just watch Ten News in Brisbane, as an example. Or the morning news programs. Seven loads their news programs with AFL at the expense of rugby league. We need this to be part of the deal as well.

the first thing we need in a TV deal is the ability to set our scedual from the start. none of the crap we have now where the TV stations pick which games they want to show.

A fixed schedule would be awesome. I'd love for, say, Canterbury be favourites to win the comp, end up losing every match yet still get the main Friday game, while teams that performed better than expected were left in the dark. That'd be cool!

I'll be happy if anybody other than Channel 9 gets the rights to the league - in recent years Nine has just collapsed into an orgy of cross-promotion and favouritism, it would be nothing less than they deserve.

agreed
First and formost i want the game to go to who ever is willing to give us the money we deserve and the coverage nationwide we deserve.
If getting that deal happens to come with the added bonus of Nine not getting the coverage, even better!

Favoritism yes, but they're after ratings, which their favorite sides pretty much guarantee them. But cross-promotion, I'd beg to differ. They do mention other Nine programming, but if you want to see cross-promotion at it's finest (read: worst), you should have checked out Seven's coverage of the tennis. Ham-fisted segues into discussion of their programming, contrived shots of tennis balls with program names, spotting of channel seven "celebrities" in the crowd, footage of their promos being "shown" on the big screen outside. Nine do a bit of cross promotion in the cricket, but they're rank amateurs compared to Seven.

They've been doing this for years. The Australian Open takes place outside the ratings period but it immediately precedes it. Seven take this opportunity to push the living daylights out of the shows they are putting on when viewer numbers really count.

most of the cricket on Nine is the same, but they don't stoop to the same depths.

Nine is just as bad IMO.

I don't care if Stalin killed more people that Pol Pot, both of them are horrifying. By the same token, Channel 7 may up the ante during the Australian Open, but Channel 9 programming is a self-indulgent disgrace all year round. They've already pre-emptively ruined Top Gear by having voice-overs of Bill Lawry and Tony Greig on the ads for f**ks sake.

...except in regards to infomercials they include in the commentary. The latest one is Tony Greig talking about the cricket.com.au travel service. He always starts by saying they include "exclusive money-can't-buy experiences". Well as it turns out money CAN buy them as that is exactly what they are selling.

Spot on. It would be terrific if they split the rights between two free to air stations and fox. Not only would we get more on our tv's for free, but it should have the effect of the stations competing against each other to have the best coverage.

Anyone think channel Ten could be a player as well? Their OneHD channel is actually great, and they seem to be desperate for as much content as they can get. It could be a perfect fit, even if it was just a game or two a week.

As mentioned previously, the government's anti-siphoning list currently stops the FTA's from buying protected sports and moving them to their digital multi-channels.

Considering there will only be digital soon, that seems pointless.

They're allowed to run them on their primary channels. It protects the viewers who don't have digital yet, who only have the 5 FTA channels, meaning that they'll still definitely get to see NRL, AFL, Olympics, Melbourne Cup etc. If the rights were awarded to OneHD, it would mean almost 50% of Australians would have no access to NRL at all.

Isn't the analogue signal being switched off soon?

2013 allegedly

Thought it was this year. Been a lot of publicity around the need for people to get set top boxes.

Seems its between the two. Some will be losing the signal this year. This is from the Gov. website



Looking at the coverage maps I'd say 95% of the population will have access to digital TV. Its all on here.

http://www.digitalready.gov.au/

the quandry facing senator Conroy at the moment is that if he removes events from the anti-siphoning list, there's a possibility that ESPN, Fox Sports or Setanta could potentially buy up all the rights. But if he leaves things like they are, the FTA's can buy up rights but not show events until many hours later (if at all)

Needs a review of the process rather than removing it. They were brought in when pay TV was in its early stages and the philosophy behind it was sound. Trouble is the FTA stations have been abusing the law but gaining the rights but not showing the events live. The TV landscape is far more mature now and there is adequate history to make judgments on.

FTA channels should have first choice for major events to show live but relinquish the exclusivity to those rights if they want to show it on a delayed telecast. If that was the case then you would see a significant change in attitude on how FTA channels program these things.

You make good points Jed, but by the time the next tv contract comes into play, it will be 2013 right?

Everything will be digital by then, thus OneHD will be a normal free to air channel.

Anyway, not that I was suggesting that I want channel ten to get all the rights, rather that their dedicated sports channel really has something to offer in the mix of things.

i agree
if i were to list my preference... assuming that who ever got them paid top dollar, id rather it be 10, 7 and then 9 in that order

Regulation that prevents sports events being put on FTA secondary digital channels only protects pay television. It doesn't protect anyone else. Consumers can buy the pay TV signal or buy the digital FTA receiver, but this prevents the latter people choosing the latter. The anti siphoning regulations protects the FTA channels against pay television, and the lists are quite long, compared to what FTA has traditionally actually screened. It's all vested interests and the consumers are the last people considered when you listen to the views of the FTA or pay channels.

Actually, it was included in the legislation to protect the viewers. At the time it was added, the FTA's were looking at every loophole possible to be able to say they were showing more off the anti-siphoning list than they actually were. These included showing events late night or the next day, and back then the option to multi-channel meant they could show events that they weren't keen on showing on their secondary channel (to the 0.5% of viewers that had digital back then), while showing Australia's Funniest Home Videos, Back To The Future or Better Homes & Gardens on the main channel.

The TV companies are not protecting the viewers. They protect their audience shares.

watch how well they do v8 supercars...

kochie wouldnt go near it... it prob could be gordon bray, bruce, matty white, webcke, matty johns who would prob attract andrew johns if nine lost the rights... maybe even a foxtel commentator or 2 could come across if they have the funds that they say..

it wouldnt be too bad imo

That would be terrible. The first three have no interest in league and probably know zip about it.

Agreed with that comment and I dont watch motorsports much.

They would also put some loser that would be the equivalant to Roger Rasheed on the sidelines, simply agreeing with the commentry and having no good input what so ever.
A "star" from one of their new hit tv shows would just happen to be sitting in the front row (possibly Courtney Cox), whom the camera would follow all night....
I cringe at the thought of all their cross promotional bs and typical channel 7 gayness