O'Neill wants Super 15 coverage on free-to-air

[Burgs]

If they are trying to get Pay to take up the rest then it will be the crumbs or well and truely on delay.

In my "perfect enough" world FTA would get the home teams match on a fulltime plus half hour delay.
I think that would be realistic enough to keep the Pay mob happy and get the exposure hoped for.

There is no real counter argument that it must be live because "otherwise what, they'll get Fox or go to the pub"....that's what they are already doing.

[beige]

In my "perfect enough" world FTA would get the home teams match on a fulltime plus half hour delay.
I think that would be realistic enough to keep the Pay mob happy and get the exposure hoped for.

Hey, we agreed on something!

[Burgs]

Shhh, don't tell everyone

[TOCC]

If they are trying to get Pay to take up the rest then it will be the crumbs or well and truely on delay.

im not even sure what the sentence means?

[Burgs]

He isn't trying to get all matches on FTA, only one or two a week.

Therefore, SANZAR still need to court the Pay TV mob with the best possible package to maximise returns to the respective Unions, otherwise they aren't doing their jobs.

Therefore, FTA can expect to get the crumbs from the table in terms of fixtures or, if they get good fixtures, they will be significantly delayed after Pay TV have finished with it.

In an ideal world Union would be on FTA, unfortunately the majority of other sport is rushing to Pay TV and Pay TV is king.

Would be better trying to convince Fox to have a dedicated Rugby Channel and enticing people to Pay TV for a better/broader product.

[OzFUB]

I think what Burgs is trying to get accross is that FTA would only get the crumbs while Foxtel would get first pick

[TOCC]

He isn't trying to get all matches on FTA, only one or two a week.

Therefore, SANZAR still need to court the Pay TV mob with the best possible package to maximise returns to the respective Unions, otherwise they aren't doing their jobs.

Therefore, FTA can expect to get the crumbs from the table in terms of fixtures or, if they get good fixtures, they will be significantly delayed after Pay TV have finished with it.

In an ideal world Union would be on FTA, unfortunately the majority of other sport is rushing to Pay TV and Pay TV is king.

Would be better trying to convince Fox to have a dedicated Rugby Channel and enticing people to Pay TV for a better/broader product.

thers rather a lot of assumptions there, there is no reason why FTA couldnt get the 'big-ticket' home team matches.

I understand what you are saying, which is also what JON alludes to in the article, the argument is though, that even though the Pay-Tv might have to concede one or two matches per weekend to FTA, the overall deal wont be worth less then the current one because they are been compensated with a longer season..

It could easily work the same way the Wallaby tests work at the moment, broadcast on both.

Allowing matches to go to FTA with the current S14 format would massively reduce the value of the S14, which isnt possible since the ARU/QRU/RugbyWA have budgeted and signed contracts for the years ahead, a drastic reduction in funding is not a feasible concept. Yeah it might get greater exposure by been on FTA, but at the cost of the big name players, hardly feasible.

On the other hand, if the comp expanded and if the ARU can maintain a similar or slightly higher level of funding as what they currently have and budgeted for in the future, whilst also gainin some FTA coverage, its a win-win situation. By gaining FTA they multiply the potential to grow the game whilst still maintaining the stars they have currently.

[GIGS20]

Allowing matches to go to FTA with the current S14 format would massively reduce the value of the S14, which isnt possible since the ARU/QRU/RugbyWA have budgeted and signed contracts for the years ahead, a drastic reduction in funding is not a feasible concept. Yeah it might get greater exposure by been on FTA, but at the cost of the big name players, hardly feasible.

I hope the bolding clarifies what you were saying properly TOCC, I was about to weigh in over that one, but I think it's the format that ties our hands, rather than demand. If we could improve the quantity of product, there would surely be demand, especially given that Ten is in the process of launching a dedicated sports channel!

Surely just inviting Ten to the table makes for a stronger bargaining position....unless of course your product is of poor quality

[AndyS]

I'm not sure it does necessarily. I wonder whether it actually has us falling between two stools - it weakens that ability of Fox to attract and retain new subscribers if sport is their motivation, whilst still only offering FTA second bite at the cherry.

While I'm sure we all agree that S14 isn't poor, it seems implicit that it is the only product that isn't poor and therefore saleable. I've said it before, but I'd like to see the ARU try and engage the expanded and feed-hungry FTA DTV in underwriting a provincial competition that they can have all to themselves. If they do it right and build an appetite, we could even wind up with genuine competition for televising of the Wallabies without stupid delays.

[TOCC]

I hope the bolding clarifies what you were saying properly TOCC, I was about to weigh in over that one, but I think it's the format that ties our hands, rather than demand. If we could improve the quantity of product, there would surely be demand, especially given that Ten is in the process of launching a dedicated sports channel!

Surely just inviting Ten to the table makes for a stronger bargaining position....unless of course your product is of poor quality

yeah my bad, i stupidly left out a important part of my argument as bolded below, i was attempting to draw comparisons

On the other hand, if the comp expanded and if the ARU can maintain a similar or slightly higher level of funding as what they currently have and budgeted for in the future, whilst also gainin some FTA coverage, its a win-win situation. By gaining FTA they multiply the potential to grow the game whilst still maintaining the stars they have currently.

[domattw]

It seems that there's a lot going on with TV rights, some revolve around the Force and it staying in WA. Foxtel need the Force to provide a late game in the evenings due to WA's time zone, it allows them to have 3 continual games. I guess that's one reason for JO'N statement. With Free to air and all the new channels coming on, it is going to give the networks more options, from April I think CH10 are running a dedicated sports channel on HD. so the FTA networks are looking for content to run on HD. Also with the News Ltd deal - apparently the rights are on sold to other markets by News Ltd. One option that's been mentioned is that SANZAR sell the rights on there own, take the money and cut out the middle man to make more money. Well there seems to be alot riding on all this and some of this apparently is the expansion, moving the start of the season later and the increase in finalists to 6. Oh to be a fly on the wall in Dubai when SANZAR meet this week.

[blueandblack]

..., from April I think CH10 are running a dedicated sports channel on HD. ...

late this month it starts, fully anyway. its actually showing golf, nba and nascar atm.