Fox Sports continue to not want to pay for any rights yet blow their load on overpriced AFL, NRL and cricket deals plus milking federal funding via a questionable deal to screen women's sport.

Had a feeling ESPN would cover all basketball.

Fox also paid overs for A-League games.

Hopefully the government money stops for fox, well done to espn, great news.

Interesting how it says Continental Cups rather than just the Asia Cup, wonder if we'll see EuroBasket (and I guess the AmeriCup and AfroBasket) on ESPN then.

"Fox Sports continue to not want to pay for any rights yet blow their load on overpriced AFL, NRL and cricket deals plus milking federal funding via a questionable deal to screen women's sport."

Foxtel (Fox Sports) get to keep the content without directly paying for it. Works for them.

Fox also paid overs for A-League games.

Foxtel (Fox Sports) get to keep the content without directly paying for it. Works for them.

A League have a 5 year, 200 million dollar deal with Fox Sports and Ten and their ratings are tanking from between 50 and 70k views. NBL is getting comparable numbers on a 3 year, 45 million dollar deal. Either the NBL is worth much more or the A League is worth much less. Truth probably somewhere in the middle. Here are the ratings I was able to find for A League:

0/11: 146K (102K metro) [Sydney derby]
27/11: 88K [Adelaide vs City]
4/12: 85K metro [Sydney vs Newcastle]
11/12: 89K metro [Adelaide vs Victory]
18/12: 63K metro [Melbourne derby]
26/12: 57K [Victory vs Western United]
1/1: 72K [Adelaide vs Wellington]
8/1: 84K metro [Victory vs Adelaide]
15/1: 56K [Adelaide v City, Sydney vs Brisbane]
22/1: 45K [Sydney vs Perth]
29/1: 42K [Western United vs City]
5/2: 110K metro [Victory vs Central Coast - FFA Cup Final]
12/2: 65K metro [Sydney vs Western United, Victory vs Newcastle]
19/2: 62K [Victory vs Central Coast]
26/2: 79K [Sydney vs City]
5/3: 80K [Sydney Derby]

I think the NBl would see the upper end of those ratings as reasonable wins. But theyre not being paid 200 million to produce those numbers - theyre doing it with less of a quarter of the budget and not on prime time, free to air. If I were a TV exec and I was asked to choose between NBL and A League at the moment, I'd go with the team that is making modest growth year on year and has done a reasonable amount from very little. Without any Soccerroo hysteria to propel it forward I think the A League is on its way to a dark ages that may end the five year contract before its time.

Is the NBL still paying for production costs too? vs the A-League which I assume is not?

NBL is private. They haven't said much about their tv deal. Real shame they are not on any of the main free to air tv stations in Australia.

Doesn't the A-League deal include Socceroos games? I'd assume broadcasters are okay taking a bit of a hit on the A-League itself in order to make bank on those.

Not anymore as the A-League split from FFA and became a private entity before signing the $100mil broadcast deal with Paramount.

FFA separately negotiated a $100mil deal over three years for coverage of all Australian international matches excluding the World Cup.

Interesting how it says Continental Cups rather than just the Asia Cup, wonder if we'll see EuroBasket (and I guess the AmeriCup and AfroBasket) on ESPN then.

Not anymore as the A-League split from FFA and became a private entity before signing the $100mil broadcast deal with Paramount.

Is this a deal specifically with ESPN Australia though or ESPN in general? If the governing body of ESPN bought all those then it's still likely Australia will only see the games that pertain to them.

Is this a deal specifically with ESPN Australia though or ESPN in general?