Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

[shanky]

I don't know who might be the best to broadcast it, but I do know that having SA and Argentina in the comp is hurting it for local audiences here, in pursuit of some perceived greater good.

And everybody knows it. If it wasn't for 'SA television money', we'd probably be playing local derbies against each other and everyone would be poor, happy - and none the wiser. There's also no doubt that SA Rugby feel like they're propping the rest of us up - hence the regular threats to join the NH comps.

Bite the bullet and get off the treadmill. So what, Superstar A doesn't get a $1m per year anymore? Oh well.

 

[Show-n-go]

I don't know who might be the best to broadcast it, but I do know that having SA and Argentina in the comp is hurting it for local audiences here, in pursuit of some perceived greater good.

And everybody knows it. If it wasn't for 'SA television money', we'd probably be playing local derbies against each other and everyone would be poor, happy - and none the wiser. There's also no doubt that SA Rugby feel like they're propping the rest of us up - hence the regular threats to join the NH comps.

Bite the bullet and get off the treadmill. So what, Superstar A doesn't get a $1m per year anymore? Oh well.

I still think if they do it right, dropping SA in favour of more favourable timeslots, coupled with a larger inclusion from the Japanese market would cover any loss of funds that SA tv currently bring in

We can’t progress any further tv viewership wise when 1/3 of the games are played in the dead of night and the number of people in AUS and NZ who care about SA rugby are limited

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Interesting coverage in today’s telegraph on castles gamble going to open market etc to get deal that has FTA coverage given Fox deal is for exclusivity

May be high risk but for rugby to have a chance to grow it needs to be on FTA so fully 100% support castle going to the open market. She gets a deal which has FTA coverage to me will be the best thing since sliced bread

Edit - Also note all the News/Murdoch owned papers (ie same owners of FOX) hitting all the headlines of Rugby's doom after FOX deal talk breakdown etc....so I think I will take their reporting on this with a grain of salt.

I personally am pretty happy with direction Castle taking to take the deal to the open market and try and secure FTA coverage as getting wider exposure for rugby has to be part of a long term strategy to grow (as opposed to shrink) our game.

 

[hoggy]

I don't know who might be the best to broadcast it, but I do know that having SA and Argentina in the comp is hurting it for local audiences here, in pursuit of some perceived greater good.

And everybody knows it. If it wasn't for 'SA television money', we'd probably be playing local derbies against each other and everyone would be poor, happy - and none the wiser. There's also no doubt that SA Rugby feel like they're propping the rest of us up - hence the regular threats to join the NH comps.

Bite the bullet and get off the treadmill. So what, Superstar A doesn't get a $1m per year anymore? Oh well.

I agree, you wonder for all the money spent on the game where has it got us, and long term the reality is were just keeping our finger in the dyke.

Moving forward though for a real recovery we have to move away from Super rugby, whether that is a re-branded competition or we go it alone, the one constant in all of the angst over the years has been Super rugby. Even if it means a step back, we need a fresh start.

 

[shanky]

I agree with her approach.

We've had the J'ON Doctrine for 20-odd years now (I.e ' top down, Wallabies-first, build it and they will come').

It hasn't worked. Perhaps it's time to try a different way. Can't hurt? Could it get much worse anyway?

When you've got 'the leaguie at work' gleefully dancing on your sport's grave, it's time for drastic measures!

 

[kiap]

If Fox Sports withdraws from the bidding altogether Optus might be the only option and we'll see happens. I certainly don't see this as a blessing though. There's a strong potential that we become even less visible.

As Fox Sports withdraws -- not just *potentially* from rugby but also from many chunks of content from other market segments -- who actually becomes less visible?

It is the shrinking Fox Sports themselves PLUS any remaining content providers still tied exclusively to Fox Sports.

From smh today:

… On Friday, Foxtel is expected to release its half-yearly financial results, which many pundits believe will confirm the subscription television provider has been unable to arrest the downward spiral that prompted its warning, in May last year, that "non-marquee" content was in its crosshairs.​

​

If the slide in subscription revenue continues, it may not matter how Foxtel chief Patrick Delany feels about rugby and Raelene Castle, or how many Foxtel subscribers have their set top box only because of rugby. It might matter only how much cost Delany can slash from his business. His predictions in the AFR late last year certainly foreshadowed this:​

​

"… it’ll be a year for making sure we drive cost out of the business and don’t spend too much capital. A big part of our cost is content. We’ve never had data like we have now, so this theme through the whole of next year is going to be about content pickiness, to make sure we are not over layering content and we’ve got the minimum amount of content to make sure we keep and get subscribers." …​

​

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-...-will-go-into-extra-time-20200206-p53yey.html​

 

[shanky]

Completely true.

Foxtel is dying as a concept. I can't imagine that, in 5 years' time, any of us will have a black box next to the TV.

If you take the concept seriously, then RA should be selling streaming services themselves. We're not there yet but this (Kayo, Optus etc) is the path.

I can't see a situation in which local pro rugby will be getting anything like $57m per year going forward. I think we're going to have to deal with a new reality.

 

[hoggy]

Completely true.

Foxtel is dying as a concept. I can't imagine that, in 5 years' time, any of us will have a black box next to the TV.

If you take the concept seriously, then RA should be selling streaming services themselves. We're not there yet but this (Kayo, Optus etc) is the path.

I can't see a situation in which local pro rugby will be getting anything like $57m per year going forward. I think we're going to have to deal with a new reality.

A report from the Daily Telegraph said the RA turned down $200 million from Foxtel that's 40 a year not as bad as some predictions though.

 

[shanky]

Well, there you go.

A massive haircut, just to continue with the same schemozzle. In 5 years time, it'll be down half as much again and the decision might be out of our hands anyway.

I ask you. What have the Romans ever done for us?

 

[Braveheart81]

And everybody knows it. If it wasn't for 'SA television money', we'd probably be playing local derbies against each other and everyone would be poor, happy - and none the wiser.

I think we would be wiser because our national team would be entirely noncompetitive.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Completely true.

Foxtel is dying as a concept. I can't imagine that, in 5 years' time, any of us will have a black box next to the TV.

If you take the concept seriously, then RA should be selling streaming services themselves. We're not there yet but this (Kayo, Optus etc) is the path.

I can't see a situation in which local pro rugby will be getting anything like $57m per year going forward. I think we're going to have to deal with a new reality.

Yep and hence RA and Castle is being forward thinking by looking beyond FOX....while I understand the risks given the perilous state of the game we can't afford not to take some risks to try and recover so much lost ground over the last decade...

Exclusive deal with FOX given sports viewing and technology trends (ie growth of streaming services etc) would be strategically wrong so RA has actually shown more astute strategy wise in the current deal negotitations to realise FOX has a limited shelf life and indeed FOX Sports has the potential to show more rapid decline to make Rugby's decline look trivial given in a decade I reckon FOXTEL on the current platform will irrelevant and/or no longer in existence.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Fox has dumped Eurosport therefore 99% of cycling is no longer visible minus Tour de France which is on SBS. Pretty sure Dakar Rally was also offered by Eurosport.

R3 it is a big disappointment that Eurosport is no longer available on Fox. Will be just another reason to drop the sports package. SBS has been covering more of the grand tours in recent years and some of the classics too iirc. Have to see if the rest can be streamed (as the Herald Sun tour, Tour of Saudi Arabia are currently). Dakar highlights (30 min/day only) have been on SBS for quite a few years.

Fox Sport is looking less and less relevant, isn't it?

 

[barbarian]

I think Geerob nailed it with this article in the SMH

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-...-will-go-into-extra-time-20200206-p53yey.html

It's very murky at the moment but the only thing that's sure is that nothing you read in the Tele is reliable in the slightest, though I respect Pandaram as a scribe.
.

 

[hoggy]

I think we would be wiser because our national team would be entirely noncompetitive.

Not exactly the most convincing argument anymore.

 

[shanky]

I think we would be wiser because our national team would be entirely noncompetitive.

We've won as many world cups without Super Rugby and Foxtel as we've won with it.

Having said that, I'm not arguing the truth of your point. I'm merely suggesting that propping up the Wallabies with hired-guns while we hollow out the game's foundations isn't my preference.

 

[shanky]

It's very murky at the moment but the only thing that's sure is that nothing you read in the Tele is reliable in the slightest, though I respect Pandaram as a scribe.
.

And Iain Payten. He was good when he was there

 

[fatprop]

I think this website may become more useful in the future

https://www.livesporttv.com/rugby/matches/2020-02-07/

 

[formerflanker]

I think Geerob nailed it with this article in the SMH

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-...-will-go-into-extra-time-20200206-p53yey.html

It's very murky at the moment but the only thing that's sure is that nothing you read in the Tele is reliable in the slightest, though I respect Pandaram as a scribe.
.

From the article:
The only certainty is that Castle's job rests on what plays out over the next month.
No-one steps off a precipice without knowing what the next footfall will be. Castle has two strategists working with her - Shane Mattiske and Michael Tange. For all the uncertainty at the moment, I assume that RAs strategy has been planned well in advance and leaving Fox has been a key plank of that platform.

 

[Strewthcobber]

NewsCorp's quarterly results out today.
370,000 kayo paying subscribers as of 5 Feb.

Subscription video services revenue is down 11% year on year. (Currency + Foxtel numbers down)

Major shareholder Telstra loaned $175m presumably because they can't find anyone else interested

 

[Dctarget]

I am nervous that after RA give Foxtel the flick that Newscorp will really go on the attack and RA will become their favourite whipping horse.