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Football rights value soars in wake of TV Now lawsuit

Hang on, that can’t be right

As previously noted by The Register, the rent-seekers of the rights industry and their rentable shills have warned of doom and dire disaster in the wake of the “football versus Optus” court case.

If Optus’ TV Now service isn’t squashed by the High Court or legislation, they argue, then rights to live sports will be worthless, civilization will collapse, and our children will crouch in circles warming themselves by little lumps of coal instead of learning to emulate the big hits and booze culture that Made This Country Great.

Someone, however, seems to have forgotten to warn Australia’s broadcasters of the impending collapse of civilization and, as a result, there’s talk of “rugby league’s biggest payday”.

This piece in Australia’s Daily Telegraph outlines an emerging bidding war as the result of Lachlan Murdoch being installed as chairman of Channel 10. For the first time in decades, there’s speculation that a second free-to-air broadcaster might try to win the rights to show games.

And this could result in bids for TV rights reaching into the same stratospheric billion-plus heights as is enjoyed by the AFL, the country’s other major TV football code.

It will, however, make the High Court appeal hearings hilarious to anyone who wants to attend: the game’s lawyers will have to cry poor with an utterly straight face, knowing that the instant Optus’ lawyers rise to their feet, they’ll be asking about the progress of broadcast negotiations and wondering why there’s any ‘bidding war’ over something allegedly worthless.

Delicious. ®

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