‘Plucked from thin air’: Paramount plays down AFL bid, eyes future deals

However, Nine typically does not agree to a deal unless there are rights that can be spread across all its platforms, including its streaming service Stan. Seven wants more games and the digital rights, so it can broadcast matches on 7Plus, while Foxtel wants to reinstate its position as the home of most AFL matches.

But the talks are coinciding with a raft of other expensive content deals – namely the cricket, tennis and Olympics. Advanced talks between media companies and NBC Universal, the US film studio behind popular shows such as The Office, Brave New World and Gangs of London, are also underway. The Commonwealth Games is also about to enter an exclusive negotiating period with its broadcast partner, Seven, for the Victoria 2026 Games. The outcome of the AFL will have a large influence on what other rights networks can afford and, inevitably, where people can watch sport.

“In any rights negotiations…you have to focus on your own business – what makes sense for us, what’s the right level for us to invest, what’s the right value exchange,” McGarvey said. “There’s obviously lots of speculation about many things. We try to have our eyes on what piece of content it is that we want and what the right decision is for us and not be distracted by noise, to the degree that is possible.”

Data from Kantar released last week said more than half a million subscriptions were cancelled in Australia in the second quarter of this year, with nearly 40 per cent attributing the decision to saving money amid rising costs. In Australia, 6.3 million households subscribed to at least one video streaming service between April and June 2022. But the data showed 666,000 subscriptions were cancelled, with a further 16 per cent planning to cancel a service.

Paramount is one of the cheaper streaming options – $8.99 – but it also does not have the variety of content an aggregator platform such as Netflix or Stan has. McGarvey said a price increase was inevitable.

“I think it would be unrealistic to think that it would stay there forever,” she said. “In the last month alone I’ve had two emails from our competitors telling me the price has gone up. We haven’t gone there yet because we’re so new. We’ll certainly investigate what the capacity of the market is in terms of that price point, but I think we have quite a bit of headroom before we even get close to our competitors.

“I still think that even if it were to move at some point – which it may or may not – it will still be very competitive.”

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