Matt Rowley, the CEO of Nine's Pedestrian Group and the founder of GreenAndGoldRugby.com, says Rugby Australia has called Foxtel's bluff in negotiations over broadcast rights.
He says the only way for Rugby Australia the test the value of broadcasting rights is to take them to market.
Talks with Foxtel, the rights holder for 25 years, failed to produce a deal and Rugby Australia has decided on an open market process for its media rights for the five years from 2021.
Rugby Australia wants to bundle the rights to all Rugby union competitions together from club rugby through to the Wallabies and present a whole of game package to potential broadcasters.
The code currently gets $57 million a year from Foxtel.
Some reports suggest Optus is interested in the rights with the major television networks re-assing the value of sports rights.
Analysts say the price for sports rights in general has gone too high for many.
Global investmentet bank Jefferies, in a note to clients: "Securing sports rights has always been important but we do not think the quantum of these cost increases in the past are sustainable as all broadcasters are under pressure."
Foxtel in May last year noted that it was considering cuts in spending on “non-marquee sporting content” to reduce costs, although it didn’t specify which sports.
Around the same time News Corp revealed it had made a shareholder loan to Foxtel of $300 million to ease its debt following the merge of Fox Sports Australia and Foxtel, referred to as “new Foxtel”.
Rowley, in an opinion article in the Sydney Morning Herald, says a "coalition of self-interested voices led by News Corporation (which owns 65% of Foxtel) would have you believe Rugby Australia has recklessly passed up Foxtel’s offer for the next five years".
He says the only way Rugby Australia can test the value of the broadcasting rights is to take those rights to market.
"Not only is this governance 101, but at a time when the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is taking Harold Mitchell to legal task over allegedly manipulating the Tennis Australia rights, there is no real choice," he writes.
Rowley says Rugby Australia has spent months trying to explain to current and would-be sponsors their "partner" News Corporation’s full-on assault.
"Foxtel’s core negotiation tactic has been to bully the seller from going to market," says Rowley.
"But RA (Rugby Australia) has called its bluff, and Foxtel and News Corp have been left making one hell of a song and dance about a set of rights they would like us to believe are no big deal to them."
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