The National Rugby League has announced the largest media rights deal in Australian history, after incumbent broadcasters Nine Entertainment and Foxtel signed a seven-year agreement worth $5.3 billion.

The deal gives Nine exclusive hours of coverage of the State of Origin and the NRL grand final. It will continue to broadcast three matches a week and finals on Nine’s TV network and 9Now.

Foxtel and its streaming service Kayo Sports will broadcast all regular-season matches and the finals, excluding the grand final. Sky NZ will remain the broadcast partner in that market.

The total deal’s value of $5.3 billion is 95 per cent cash, 5 per cent contra such as free advertising. The bulk of the cash will come from Kayo Sports.

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Greed-o-meter

Australian retail investors spent the second quarter buying the “picks and shovels” of the AI and quantum computing boom, while pulling back from oil and healthcare stocks, according to trading and investing platform eToro. These are the companies that saw the biggest proportional change quarter-on-quarter, as held by Australian investors on eToro.

Source: eToro

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On why banks should be seen as critical financial infrastructure, and the uneven playing field between the big tech companies and Australia's banks:

 

“The more people shift towards using Apple Pay, the greater share of the levies that are accrued through that payments network go to Apple. It doesn't mean consumers pay more—it comes off the bank's bottom line each time that's done.

 

The consequences play out in a couple of different ways. Banks have less incentive to invest in that payment system because more of the revenue is going offshore.

 

Then there's the contribution to our country, measured crudely in terms of tax paid. The major banks in Australia paid $16 billion of tax. Everybody knows the global big tech companies are pretty good at minimising the tax that's paid in Australia, and it's just a mere fraction of that from Apple or its counterparts.

 

Without regulatory equivalence, we run the risk that more revenue leaks offshore, leaving our banks less capable and creating a revenue leakage gap for our tax system that is, of course, a detriment to all Australians.”

News in brief

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has demanded answers from Beijing over why China launched a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile in the Pacific, saying it is destabilising for the region.

WiseTech Global’s share price jumped six per cent yesterday after founder and 34 per cent shareholder Richard White was removed as executive chairman, and replaced by an independent chair, while the board said it was considering short- and long-term succession planning.

One of the country’s leading forecasters, Deloitte Access Economics says Australia is facing its longest stretch of weak economic growth since the early 1990s recession, yet stubborn inflation means interest rates will have to rise again.

A small Melbourne biotech, Island Pharmaceuticals, has received backing from the Ugandan government to use its experimental antiviral drug to treat patients infected with Ebola during the country’s deadly outbreak.

Ahead of the NATO summit kick off, US President Donald Trump has escalated his feud with one-time ally and Italian leader, Giorgia Meloni, posting an image of her captioned “restraining order needed”.

Fear-o-meter

The NRL rights deal is undoubtedly a big win for controversial Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys and the less controversial chief executive Andrew Abdo. The two had pretty much promised a better deal than the AFL’s $4.5 billion, seven-year agreement that runs until 2031.

Sport remains one of the few segments of the market that can attract huge viewership, be that free-to-air or via streaming services. Watching live is always better than watching a replay, and not many categories can match that.

In the scheme of global sports deals, the NRL isn’t a big one. In the US, the National Football League rights package, which kicked off in 2023, was $US110 billion ($160 billion) over 11 years. It was so big that five broadcasters – CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and Amazon - stumped up money.

The English Premier League is worth 6.7 billion pounds ($13 billion) over four seasons.

Another big one is Formula 1. Its rights are sold by region, and prices have surged due to its growth in popularity. For example, Apple TV has just won the rights in the US and is paying around $US150 million a year.

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