Nine reportedly retains Australian Open TV rights

Nine Entertainment is set to put pen to paper on a deal that will see the company extend its teal with Tennis Australia for the Australian Open over another five years.

As reported by Nine in the Sydney Morning Herald, the deal could be worth about $105 million a year, adding up to $525 million over the five year span of the deal. This would be about $40 million more than the current contract, which was signed in 2018 and will run out in 2024. 

The deal is reported to be made up of both cash and contra – with contra meaning assets such as TV ads that don’t necessarily involve cash changing hands. 

For now, a Tennis Australian spokesperson said: “We continue to have productive conversations. No deal has been done.”

Also reported by Nine publishing is the fact that the Australian Open deal is happening whilst Nine, Seven, and Paramount prepare to enter into a battle for Cricket Australia’s next broadcast rights package. Cricket Australia has broken the rights out into four separate packages: test cricket (both men’s and women’s), Australian T20 and one day internationals, men’s Big Bash League, and women’s Big Bash League. 

The most recent Cricket Australia deal went to Seven and Foxtel, and was worth about $200 million over the contract’s six years. With the previous deal having been signed in 2018, the new deal will kick in from the 2025 season onwards. 

In September, Seven and Foxtel nailed down the nights for the AFL in a deal worth $4.5 billion – the biggest broadcast deal in Australian history. 

In 2021, the AFL grand final between the Melbourne Demons and the Western Bulldogs was the most-watched free-to-air program of the year, with 3.91 million viewers nationally and 3.01 million in the capital cities tuning in. A further 197,000 watched on 7Plus.

See Also: Seven and Foxtel retain the AFL broadcast rights in new deal