Channel Seven will be your next Commonwealth Games broadcaster
The Seven Network has agreed to pay a reported $40 million for the exclusive domestic media rights to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The deal with the Commonwealth Games Federation includes rights across all platforms, including free-to-air and pay TV, online, mobile, social media and radio. It will be the first time that Seven, Australia’s most-watched network, has broadcast the Commonwealth Games since Manchester 2002.Previous Australian rights-holder Network Ten is said to have paid $30 million for the recent Glasgow 2014 Games, while Nine paid $50 million for the 2006 edition in Melbourne. The new deal follows Seven’s acquisition of Olympic rights earlier this month, paying about $170 million for the three Games from Rio 2016 to Tokyo 2020.
Olympics broadcasting rights – lucky 7
The Seven Network has secured the Australian broadcast rights to the Olympic Games in a deal that ensures its place as the Olympic broadcaster in Australia until 2020. The agreement costs Seven some $170 million, or more – and should deliver a big ratings boost over the years. Well, that’s the bet and while other networks have been interested, the price tag was too high.
The multi-million dollar deal noteably includes TV rights to the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and Tokyo in 2020 and the winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, in 2018. This is the first time more than one summer games has been packaged into a single deal.
It also includes the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, a summer sports event, which start later this month.
Seven has acquired broadcast rights on all media platforms, and says it will integrate coverage across the company's platforms, "television, newspapers, magazines and online media".
Ten Network paid a combined $55 million for the Sochi winter Olympics and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and has seen its rating helped significantly during a period of extreme pressure. Sports do carry a lot of value.
