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Message: [QUOTE="Super Freak, post: 2712970, member: 8536"] THE NRL, Fox Sports, Nine Network and Telstra are understood to have sealed a historic $1.8 billion agreement that confirms the game’s future until the end of 2022. Amid marathon talks that went through Wednesday night and well into Thursday, the commission finally signed off this afternoon on the purchase of the Saturday night game by Fox from Nine for $35 million a year, or $175 million over the full five-year contract. This figure was reached after exhaustive haggling between the two parties. News Corp’s global chief executive, Robert Thomson, flew in from the US overnight to finalise the deal that sees Fox retain Super Saturday, with three games to run that day culminating in the Saturday night game. In a first for the game, there will also be a Friday 6pm game to be screened on Fox Sports,[URL="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/new-6pm-friday-night-game-part-of-overhaul-of-nrl-broadcast-deal/story-fni3fbgz-1227603719769"]as revealed by the Telegraph earlier this month.[/URL] The Friday night game has been a key component for Fox, which would televise those matches from Auckland and Queensland. This will ensure games held in the earlier time slot would also attract a crowd, because arriving early for matches on a Friday night in Sydney would be too difficult in peak hour traffic. As part of the deal, Fox Sports will launch a 24 hour dedicated rugby league channel in 2017. While the deal is for seven years from 2016 to the end of 2022. It is understood the NRL has scheduled a late afternoon press conference to announce the final deal. Insiders say the sudden coming to a head of the talks in the last 48 hours occurred after the NRL brought News Corp, Telstra and Nine back to the negotiating table this week. Fox Sports will now screen five live games a round and simulcast all eight matches. Apart from the Friday and Saturday games, it will also now screen a Sunday 2pm game. The new deal has taken shape in the weeks since former league boss Dave Smith’s resignation last month. Under the deal, Fox has formally given up its Monday night game, so it can retain the three Super Saturday fixtures. Thursday night will now kickstart each round of the competition on Nine and Fox Sports. The sale of the Saturday night game and the simulcast rights reduce the cost to Nine of screening NRL over the five year contract from $925 million to about $650 million. If Fox Sports gets everything it wants, it is understood to have paid about $900 million for the rights. It is understood telecommunications group Optus made a late play for the overall pay-TV and digital rights — in the wake of taking on the English Premier League rights for about US$45 million a year — but baulked at the high relative cost of rugby league. Instead, Telstra will take the digital rights for what is believed to be about $150 million. Meanwhile, it is understood the international rights are worth between $75 million and $100 million. [B]POSSIBLE SCHEDULE 2017 and beyond - [/B] [B]Thursday [/B] 8pm: Nine [B]Friday [/B] 6pm: Fox Sports 8pm: Nine [B]Super Saturday [/B] 3pm: Fox Sports 5.30pm: Fox Sports 7.30pm: Fox Sports [B]Sunday [/B] 2pm: Fox Sports 4pm: Nine [B]POSSIBLE SCHEDULE in 2016 [/B] [B]Thursday [/B] 8pm: Nine [B]Friday [/B] 8pm: Nine [B]Super Saturday [/B] 3pm: Fox Sports 5.30pm: Fox Sports 7.30pm: Fox Sports [B]Sunday [/B] 2pm: Fox Sports 4pm: Nine [B]Monday [/B] 7pm: Fox Sports [URL]http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-broadcast-deal-historic-18b-contract-with-fox-sports-nine-network-telstra/story-fniabjcr-1227623926408[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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