New sport broadcast rules divvy up games
James Chessell From: The Australian November 26, 2010
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/new-sport-broadcast-rules-divvy-up-games/story-e6frg996-1225961148340
NEW anti-siphoning rules governing sports broadcasting for the first time compel broadcasters to show "iconic" events live.
The new rules, unveiled by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy yesterday, also give pay-TV the ability to bid directly for some key NRL and AFL matches.
But the fierce lobbying from media groups and sporting codes in the lead-up to yesterday's announcement is far from over, with the government yet to resolve the key issue of how key football games will be divided between pay-TV and free-to-air channels.
The new rules were generally greeted positively by interested parties, despite concerns about the length and substance of the negotiating process, which had been going for more than a year.
"I think the minister has approached this sensibly and left us all equally unhappy, which from a government point of view is probably the right outcome," said David Gyngell, chief executive of Nine Network-owner PBL Media.
The biggest change announced by Senator Conroy is to divide up the list, which prevents pay-TV from bidding directly for certain sporting events, into an A-list of iconic sports -- such as the Melbourne Cup or NRL grand final -- and a B-list of events including regular AFL games and non-finals Australian Open tennis matches.
Events on the A-list must be shown live, and in full, while events on the second list can be shown on the digital multi-channels. Senator Conroy argued this would give the FTA networks flexibility to, for example, broadcast NRL games live into Melbourne, rather than on delay.
Some sports, such as Twenty20 cricket internationals played in Australia and Socceroos World Cup qualifiers, will be added to the A-list, while others, such as non-Australian group matches of the Rugby World Cup, have been removed.
For the first time, Foxtel (25 per cent-owned by News Limited, publisher of The Australian) will be able to bid directly for the four AFL games and five NRL games it presently broadcasts each round. The change is designed to increase bidding tension for upcoming sports-rights negotiations.
But before Canberra de-lists the football games, it intends to "finalise a mechanism to protect the quality of games on free-to-air".
Exactly what this mechanism is remains a point of contention among the media companies and sporting codes. Foxtel said it was "disappointed (the games) which are not shown on FTA, are not being removed from the list, without need for additional agreements, as the sports codes have offered perfectly adequate guarantees that the best games will stay on FTA".
It is believed the NRL and AFL agree with this sentiment -- arguing they are best placed to ensure a good spread of games -- although both were broadly supportive of the new package.
"Today's decision more closely reflects what people actually watch but, importantly, it takes away the constraints on our ability to negotiate the best outcome for the clubs, the players and the fans," NRL chief David Gallop said.
AFL chief operating officer Gill McLachlan repeated a commitment that popular games, such as Friday night matches, would remain on FTA while South Australian and West Australian team games would be played on FTA in those states.