News Corp. and Seven West Media Ltd. signed a seven-year contract extension worth A$4.5 billion ($3.1 billion) to retain the television broadcast rights for Australian Rules Football.
(Bloomberg) — News Corp. and Seven West Media Ltd. signed a seven-year contract extension worth A$4.5 billion ($3.1 billion) to retain the television broadcast rights for Australian Rules Football.
A record for a broadcast deal in Australian sports, the contract will run from 2025 until 2031. At more than A$640 million a year, it dwarfs the recent deal for National Rugby League matches. In December, Nine Entertainment Co. in December won those rights for about A$115 million a year over 2023 to 2027.
Australian Rules Football is the most-watched sport in the nation, with its grand final the highest-rated broadcast in each of the past two years. The News Corp.-led bid beat out separate proposals from rival US broadcaster Paramount Global Inc. and local network Nine.
“On balance this is an incredible deal,” AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan said at a press conference in Melbourne. “Blanket coverage for anyone who wants it anywhere in the country. There’s not a better broadcast deal than this in the world.”
News Corp. will hold the subscription television rights via Foxtel, which it owns with Australian telecommunications firm Telstra Corp. Seven will retain the free-to-air broadcast rights. The two companies have been the exclusive broadcasters of AFL since 2011.
In August, Australia announced a review of its laws surrounding the broadcast of major live sporting events to ensure they will be available on free-to-air television formats.
“We are delighted to extend our partnership with the AFL until 2031,” Seven West Media Managing Director James Warburton said in a statement. “This new combination of broadcast and digital means SWM will be ideally positioned to drive and capture a significant share of the growing total television market.”
Seven will pay a 14% increase on the 2024 rights in 2025; with indexation over the term this represents a 3.6% compound annual growth rate in rights fees across the period.
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