When the NRL announced The TV rights deal a statement was release which stated that the following :
NRL TV rights agreement
- $1.025 billion - $925m in cash, $100m in advertising
- Mobile, online and New Zealand rights excluded
- Three free-to-air games a week on Nine
- Five games live on Fox Sports, including 13 Sunday night matches each season
- First 20 rounds scheduled in advance, last six rounds scheduled at round 16
- Stand-alone Test and City v Country weekend of matches
- Wednesday night State of Origin matches
- A night-time Grand Final (7.15pm AEST)
- Nine's digital channel to show two hours of rugby league content each evening and Saturday and Sunday mornings
- Queensland Cup matches on Nine
- Fox to show under-20s, NSW Cup and Schoolboys Cup
- Four Nations Tournament on Nine and Fox
So although I secretly hoped that Channel 10 would get the rights the bullet point regarding Nine's digital to show 2 hrs each evening of content had me intrigued (hoped for old games etc) to say the least.
The 2013 season has started and still no additional content on channel 94, so I emailed the NRL and just today received a reply and I have to say I am disappointed although I never had high expectations on channel doing anything of quality. I can help but feel that the average fan has been screwed again.
Email from NRL
Hi Murray,
Thanks for your email. We appreciate you taking the time to write in to us.
In relation to the 2-hour program on digital Channel 94, discussions are in progress between the NRL and Channel Nine in relation to the content and fans will be notified via NRL.com as soon as it is available to them.
The content will focus on the game's off-field initiatives and programs such as One Community, rather than show match footage.
Thanks for your support of the game and again for writing in.
Kind regards,
Reham
Reham Mahmoud
Supporter Communications Manager
T: +61 2 9359 8500
Replies
When was the deal announced? How long does it take to come up with a show? Give any fan five minutes and they can put together the premise for a weekly show.