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Ron E. Gibbs said:dowdz said:Well said. Was hoping channel 9 would of lost out. At least the clubs and players get more money.
The silver lining is that next time around Nine/Foxtel won't have any matching rights for a new deal, so everyone will start on an even footing. Just a shame we have to wait another five years.
free to air tv 'as we know it' will be completely different in 5 years time, so them withdrawing their first & last rights thing isn't exactly as big a deal as it seems. the digital path things are heading down will make it a whole new ballgame next time around, fox are aware of that and moving things forward on their behalf. With the NBN coming through, the rise of devices like tablets and smart tvs. in 5 years time, the main focus won't be on 'networks' as such. you'll probably have an NRL app on your devices / television that you click on and select live coverage / on demand coverage whenever you want and in it comes. Fox can see this and are developing whereas Nine are still in the dark, and trying to milk as much advertising $$ as they can before new technologies really dip into their main income sources.