After a lengthy period of negotiations with various parties, Network Ten/ViacomCBS have reportedly won the television rights to broadcast Australian National Team fixtures bar the FIFA World Cup with multiple rights packages including the FFA Cup incorporated within the deal.
This ensures that Network Ten will now be rendered Australia’s home of domestic and international football for the time being, with SBS currently holding the television rights to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
In a major coup for the FTA network and football within Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Vince Rugari reported today that all national team fixtures involving the Socceroos and Matildas will be shown live with a fresh broadcaster showcasing Australia’s most celebrated national sides.
These fixtures include the heavily revered FFA Cup from the Round of 32 and all World Cup Qualifiers, Asian Cup Qualifiers, International Friendlies and more Asian footballing tournaments.
According to the FA, Network Ten/ViacomCBS are also commissioning a children’s programme focused on increasing the participation in grassroots football.
It was reported several weeks ago according to TV Blackbox that several well-known and new broadcasters were intrigued by the prospect of broadcasting the Socceroos and Matildas, with Channel Seven, Nine/Stan and Amazon/SBS all in the running.
The National Teams and FFA Cup rights being wrapped up signifies the end of the current bidding war for domestic football rights.
It also finalises the departure of FoxSports from the domestic landscape, having broadcasted domestic football since 2005 with the inception of the A-League. Additionally, Fox broadcasted the latter rounds of the FFA Cup from the competition’s first iteration in 2014 until 2019, a competition lauded for bridging the gap between the NPL and the A-League.
Despite the outcome of the negotiations, this awarding signifies the increased fragmentation of footballing rights within Australia with Optus Sport and BeIN Sports owning the rights to major European footballing tournaments such as the English Premier League and La Liga while newcomers Sportsflick recently won the rights to broadcast the CONCACAF Gold Cup to be broadcasted in July of this year.
The Socceroos conclude their second qualifying round for the FIFA World Cup against Jordan on the 16th of June at 2am AEST whilst the Matildas take on their to-be Olympic opponents Sweden on the 16th of June at 2:45am AEST.
Images Supplied: Getty/Matildas
