News Corp salvages NRL rights

As Reported by both News Corp and Fairfax, it appears that News will win the rights to Saturday, in what both papers report as part of a likely 1.85 billion rights agreement.

News reported that amid marathon talks late Wednesday night, insiders said Fox, Nine and the NRL were close to reaching agreement on the purchase of the Saturday night game by Fox from Nine for about $35 million a year, or $175 million over the full five year contract to run from 2018-2022. This figure was reached after haggling between the two parties.

Fairfax Media understands that the NRL commission will meet on Thursday morning to sign off the deal, with an official announcement expected later that day or in the coming days. Estimates suggest the total NRL rights package could be worth $1.8 billion over five years, including pay television, free-to-air, digital and international rights.