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The decision to punish those 2 referred to in the above post with a wet lettuce flogging has added extra leverage to Ch9, who have now been joined by Fox, in pushing for a reduced price deal. Ch 9 is also maneuvering, as part of the mooted contract extension, to take over the NRL's digital arm which includes nrl.com and the digital streaming NRL Pass ($100 a year). News Corp journos have been pumping this "arm" as one of the NRL's most wasteful areas. I doubt they were angling for 9 to take it over. This digital arm, which is valued at $50 mil (seems unders to me) costs only $15 mil a year to run. John Grant and Dave Smith were lauded as "visionary" to keep this as the NRL's property. With both pay and FTA TV getting content poorer by the week pre-Covid, it was likely to be a great asset. It's a sign of how tough sports rights negotiations will be in future - for all codes.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nin...01-p54p5f.html