By Roy Masters
Overlooked in Netball Australia's boast that it has achieved "the biggest TV deal for women's sport in the world" is their pointer to a future where top games will be shown live anywhere, any time on any device.
Telstra TV has chosen netball to launch its long-awaited entry into sports broadcasting as a major player, alongside the TV networks.
Although a half owner of Foxtel which buys games from Fox Sports, Telstra has broken from its long-term sports broadcasting partner to link up with Channel Nine to show the new eight-team Netball Premier League.
This groundbreaking media partnership exclusively between Nine and Telstra marries for the first time FTA TV and digital across the internet only.
New deal: John Wylie and Laura Geitz at the announcement of the new netball competition.Credit: Jesse Marlow
The Netball Australia contract with Nine and Telstra TV is, therefore, the first where both have joined forces, cutting out pay TV.
Nine has previously partnered with Fox Sports in NRL and AFL broadcasting deals, with Telstra offering services on mobile phones and tablets.
It follows on from Nine sidelining Fox Sports in its clandestine dealings with the NRL last year, angering Rupert Murdoch whose News Corporation owns 100 per cent of Fox Sports.
Telcos, such as Optus, have previously purchased sports broadcasting rights, such as the English Premier League, but have not produced games. Telstra will produce two games per week, shown live exclusively on Telstra TV in high definition.
All NPL and games involving the national team, the Diamonds, will be broadcast live on the Telstra Netball Live APP on mobiles and Tablets (iPads).
Nine will also telecast two games each Saturday night live in the double-header format Fox Sports recently showed the Storm v Cowboys and Broncos v Sea Eagles games from Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Coverage will also be provided through regional Australia via Nine's recently acquired affiliate, Southern Cross. These games will also be streamed through the internet on 9Now.
All Diamonds games, plus the new Fast5 format competition, similar to rugby league's Auckland Nines, will be broadcast live by Channel 9.
The AFL, which signed a six-year $2.5 billion deal last year with News Corporation, Channel Seven and Telstra to show its nine weekly games, has been building a strong media department ahead of the day the code proposes to produce and distribute games via the National Broadband Network.
Unlike the Fox Sports package, where subscribers must purchase all games, it is not fanciful to suggest a future where, say, a Collingwood family would buy only Magpie games. Overseas subscribers to the NFL's Digital Game Pass are able to choose packages that show only an individual team's matches, regular season games, playoff games or the complete season including the Super Bowl.
Anti-siphoning regulations commit a major sport to show two to three games per week on free-to-air TV, meaning the AFL and NRL would be required to partner with a network, continuing the relationships which exist between AFL/Seven and NRL/Nine.
The NPL deal with Nine and Telstra is also revolutionary in that it is a revenue sharing arrangement that enables joint selling of sponsorship and joint selling of all advertising that also covers all TV production.
It could point to a future for the NRL which has never been as ambitious as the AFL in producing its own broadcasting content and whose attempts to sell sponsorships have been underwhelming.
The NPL broadcasting deal was seven months in the making and was masterminded by Global Media and Sports' Colin Smith, probably Australia's foremost sports rights consultant.
Smith brought his experience with past AFL and NRL deals to render the new netball league innovative and comprehensive, integrating a team from the Sunshine Coast, formerly the biggest region in Australia without a team in a national league in any sport.
Queensland Netball, who initially threatened court action at the possibility of competition to their Brisbane-based Firebirds team, now enthusiastically support the two team rivalry in their state.
With two teams each in Australia's biggest regions – Sydney, Melbourne and south-east Queensland – netball will capitalise on the cross-town rivalries which have been the cornerstone of the AFL's expansion.
It is hoped the rivalry between the Sydney Swifts, closely associated with the Swans, and the new netball team backed by the GWS Giants – formerly located at Blacktown – will be more meaningful than the manufactured "Battle of the Bridge" contests between Sydney's two AFL teams.
The NPL season starts in early February, prior to NRL and AFL kick-offs, and will be a 14-round competition.
Smith says, "As each new year begins the women will remind us they are leading the way in sports broadcasting, producing a game we can see anywhere, any time on any new device."