Hes good at saying stuff, without really telling you a lot, which means he is perfect for that role.

Just means he knows that less than 30 percentof Australians have foxtel

What on earth would lead anyone to assume Fox has rejected the NBL? FTA is better for the league, so it's obviously what they'd want to target.

But fox would presumably broadcast games such as Wollongong v Cairns.

Obviously the best for the NBL is a lucrative contract with games telecast FTA in prime time, with multiple games televised in their relevant markets. So that's what they will hold out for.
If that doesn't come through, they will consider lesser options such as foxtel.

Wouldn't mind NBL returning to Fox personally but obviously not as good for exposure as FTA.

Ideally you'd aim for an A-League or NRL model, with marquee, prime time games on FTA and remaining fixtures covered on Fox ensuring coverage for die-hards and casuals alike. If NBL.tv were a reliable commodity it could factor into things but if previous seasons are any indication, it isn't a sure thing.

Where do streaming options fit into all this?

What exactly would you have them say? If they don't have definitive answers on things, it's the best they can do.

Its better than nothing. It seems like a sign of improvement from the league that they are trying to be a bit more public about some of the issues, even if it is a puff piece and not much was gained from it.

I'm going to ask what we are all thinking and hopefully someone below can give me a positive answer...

If the NBL are choosing not to help fund the Wollongong or Townsville franchises for now then does that mean they will put those monies into advertising, improving Nbl.com.au and Nbl.tv.?

I'm sure they would assist where needed if Brisbane can get up for the upcoming season.

Would seriously love a 9 team league next season!

proud, I don't think spending on saving clubs would be linked like that to other expenditure. I think they'd correctly be considering those things independently.

Proud, the quality of NBL.TV and the website comes down to Sportal/Perform, who provide those services. Those deals are expiring so I would hope the NBL can get a superior provider without having to invest too much money into it.

Isaac - if no such link exists, then it begs the question of what any savings from not subsidising weaker clubs might go to? Subsidising new clubs with better long term viability prospects?

Or is the case that NBL isn't generating enough revenue (at league level) to subsidise clubs at all? That was my first reaction to that statement from Wade.

Anon #521716 - there's been a reasonable amount of coverage in general media about Foxtel's falling subscription numbers. As per Anon #521721, competition, mainly from commercial internet TV, has hit their renewal and new subscriber numbers. That's expected to continue this year. There's an established USA streaming TV provider (name eludes me ATM) who's entering or just entered the market. This was the reason behind the "$25" campaign that they ran so hard in the second half of 2014.

One consequence of that reduced audience for Foxtel and the associated cuts to their prices is a significantly reduced revenue stream. I've no idea if and how these changes might affect their strategies around purchasing new product, such as NBL.

^ Netflix is the one you're thinking of. There's now a bunch of rival streaming products hitting the market(inc foxtel's own one, Presto) too.

Foxtel kinda only remains relevant for sport, but there'll be less and less people subscribing to foxtel as a base product to begin with, so not really a wise move to have a foxtel only deal imo. NBL would be better off getting a decent web subscription provider and running that as an app, like NBA does, in conjunction with a FTA deal.

Foxtel's price reduction was part of changing their play. They are moving rapidly to being a bundled services provider. The current CEO of Foxtel progressed an almost identical strategy in England with Sky.

This article talks about the positive impact on subscription since the changes, and while it mentions the bundled services, it does not give any idea on subscriptions for it.

http://mumbrella.com.au/foxtel-shares-first-subscriber-numbers-since-dropping-prices-last-year-275888

And here is a little interpretation of those numbers...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/foxtels-price-cut-pays-off-with-boost-in-subscribers/story-e6frg8zx-1227217809689

Foxtel I read somewhere else now connects 2.9 million Australian homes, of which there are something approaching 10 million.

PeterJohn,

... it begs the question of what any savings from not subsidising weaker clubs might go to? Subsidising new clubs with better long term viability prospects?

I think what people forget is that most clubs are privately owned with some rich person's own money being poured into their club. Each club pays all their own expenses eg flights, accomm for visiting teams, player/staff salaries. The league doesn't actually pay for anything barring perhaps the really poor standard of refs. So the NBL itself doesn't really have much money to pass out to other struggling clubs. I'm getting the feeling the money as Isaac mentioned comes from wealthier clubs like Perth to help prop up poorer clubs like Townsville. So in other words you have Jack Bendatt paying for not only the running of his club but then also each year bailing out a Townsville. Now I understand that Perth may make a profit so some might say shouldn't they share it around. But why should they keep doing this if a club just cannot sustain itself in the league? When is enough, enough?

I also get really annoyed by everyone preaching all the doom about how crap our league is when I heard recently that Carlton in the AFL has asked for a financial bail out from the head office due to them struggling dollars wise. The difference is the AFL gets billions of dollars from sponsors and tv so they have a coffer full of cash to pass out to clubs when they are going thru a bad patch. Therefore the story quickly goes away. The NBL has no such coffer of cash. so people quickly come out and say "oh look the nbl is dead". When in fact it's just the same couple of clubs who don't seem to for whatever reason be able to keep their head above water each season. All the other clubs its business as usual, not that this means that they are rolling in cash but they are continuing to operate as normal.

I don't get why everyone just wants to constantly bag this league! If you hate basketball follow something else. Don't just keep bagging the crap out of it on forums, when pretty much every team in every sport in Australia has had a period of losing massive amounts of money and have needed a hand out to keep going. It's not just basketball, soccer has seen it, cricket and yes even our biggest sport in AUS AFL sees it every year. What we need is better admin at the top but it is getting better and it will. Our sport this year has probably been some of the best we have seen in years! Think of the talent coming here in the last 2 seasons alone! Where have some of our best players from AUS started their careers? Newley, Ingles, Nielson. We've had Motum, Mills, Ennis, Childress play in our league in the last few years. If the league was so terrible would they come unless of course like China loads of money was offered to them? So why not talk positively about what we do have rather what we don't and you never know, maybe just maybe it will slowly start to spread that what we have here is a high calibre competition that will get bigger and better over the coming years.

And yes I know our league does need improving but it's still a great product. Put the right people in the right places and it WILL get back to being a sport everyone talks about and wants to be part of.

Thorughly agree with Boo. Professional Sports teams in Australia try to pay their players at rates which are competitve against other competitions around the world. Recently there was a comment that the AFL needs to pay it players more, obvioasly not becaus ethe Gary Abletss etc will go and play in the US or Europe, but because there is a recognision that all apsorts are competing for the best athletes.

ALl the state based footy and Rugby compettions were really struggling until they saw what basketball did when it formed a national league and they realised they had to do the same. TV jumped on board realising these sports were part of our national culture so they poured heaps of money into the rights to telecast matches.
Soccer could get a foothold until the richest man in Australia started throwing money at it so fast it was just a blurr.
Cricket survives based on TV rights for international matches and now the razzamatazz of quick cricket.
None of these sports are financially better run than basketball - if you take away the TV rights cash.
So basketball has a few people who really love the sport enough to put millions of their own cash into it and the rest of us want to sit around an criticise how the spend their money.

When in fact it's just the same couple of clubs who don't seem to for whatever reason be able to keep their head above water each season.

TEN have confirmed interest in soccer, which incldues A League, UEFA Leagues and Socceroos. FFA is understood to favour a partnership between TEN and FOX Sports. Could this be the trigger that TEN don't want NBL?

Honestly, if that's true about Channel 10 showing interest in the A-League, then I hope the A-League has paid attention to how 10 "promoted" the NBL during the last 5 years.

I realise the A-League is a much bigger and more popular league than the NBL, however Channel 10 is a commercial network that is focused on ratings (unlike SBS). If all of a sudden the A-League isn't rating as well on Ten as they would like (and truthfully they are not invincible by any means), expect 10 to show the A-League the same treatment they did to the NBL.

On SBS, the A-League is treated in a higher regard than the AFL. They would be mad to want to leave a dedicated channel to soccer.

It would be interesting to see how TEN/ONE would treat teams like Newcastle and Central Coast as you'd think they would get the Townsville Crocs treatment.

Much rather see SBS retain A-league and TEN getting a reality check.

My point above was in regards to the league having extra money to spend on the advertising of the league if they aren't topping up the poorer clubs

Meanwhile here on SEN the banter between Andrew Gaze, Mark Worthington and the NBL v BA disengagement shows no signs of amicable cooperation in the near future.

I for one can't see how basketball in this country can move forward without our top league having the backing of BA.

I only say this because, imagine the A-League without FFA support, the AFL run by the clubs or Cricket Australia not governing our Aussie cricket team?

Just doesn't see like the ship has a rudder to me...

@proud - haven't you read anything about SBS and their soccer coverage? Its all in the news and Fairfax is reporting that SBS will no longer have the rights to A League as soon as the final whistle blows which is coming up in 2 months time. They want to cease production at the very end of the grand final. The FFA wants a Network Ten and Fox Sports partnership for 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons. Socceroos will come with the A League if Ten is successful. SBS is willing to on sell the rights for their exclusively coverage of FIFA World Cup to a potential Ten and Fox Sports. SBS is also certain to lose their UEFA League coverage, they will put in a minimal amount but Ten have expressed interest in the league.

I imagine that 10 only did such a poor job with the NBL because they didn't want it and just couldn't be bothered doing it well.

@bear

Exactly. Wortho's rantings the other day aren't dissimilar to some on here, that seem to really support the idea that no one should get in the way of millionaires splashing cash. But that doesn't provide longevity or leadership, it just keeps a club afloat, on what can be ridiculous terms (see: Tigers/United) until they get bored, leave, and then the club waits til next millionaire comes along. Whatever you want to call it, it's certainly not direction, nor sustainable.