Renewal of NRL broadcast rights

Research evidence excerpt

Renewal of NRL broadcast rights

Macquarie Equity Research Nine Entertainment

Sports rights in Australia

• Sports rights have always been a key competitive advantage for domestic TV operators,

compared to other media formats, given 1) anti-siphoning laws in Australia mean

international operators are often unable to acquire exclusivity on certain Australian sporting

rights and 2) international operators are generally more concentrated on international

content (i.e. NBA, NFL) with Australia a smaller market.

Þ Over time, the majority of sports rights inflation has been due to the SVOD component

(i.e. Kayo), rather than FTA rights.

Þ Industry feedback suggests that FTA/BVOD rights often operate at near break even

levels. However, sports rights still remain an essential competitive advantage to attract

customers to the general content ecosystem; with news and entertainment content

seen as less differentiated competitively.

Figure 4 - Current media rights for domestic Figure 5 - Price paid for current media rights, A$m

sports codes and Olympics

6,000 800

Content Contract Holder 700

5,000

Soccer (A-League) 2025 - 2028 Paramount 4,000 500

3,000 400

Tennis 2025 - 2029 Nine 300

2,000

Rugby Union 2026 - 2030 Nine 1,000 100

0 0

Cricket 2024 - 2031 Seven, Foxtel

AFL 2025 - 2031 Seven, Foxtel

Total contract Cost per year (RHS)

Olympics 2024 - 2032 Nine

NRL 2028 - 2034 Nine, Foxtel Source: Company reports, media articles, Macquarie Research, July 2026

Note: Cost per year for Olympics is based on 5 games (3 Summer + 2

Source: Company reports, media articles, Macquarie Research, July 2026 Winter)

Figure 6 - Pricing of AFL media rights, A$m per Figure 7 - Change in Australian media rights

year pricing for FTA/BVOD only, A$m per year

15% increase

2025-2031

2023-2024

140 4% increase