Sports media mogul Craig Hutchison has added netball to his sprawling broadcast empire, inking a new radio deal with the embattled sport.
The three-year deal comes a month after Hutchison’s Sports Entertainment Network – Australia’s biggest sport radio network – secured the eighth team licence to the Super Netball competition.
Sports media mogul and broadcaster Craig Hutchinson.Credit: Kristoffer Paulsen
Announced on Tuesday, the deal will give SEN the exclusive radio rights to some Super Netball matches, as well as games featuring the national team, the Diamonds.
It had been hinted by both SEN and Netball Australia that part of the appeal of joining the league would be the ability to leverage the network’s broadcast capabilities.
The tender process for the licence began shortly after the Collingwood Football Club announced in May it was terminating its netball program, which had struggled for success and commercial cut-through during its seven years in the league.
“Part of our pitch [for the licence] was how we help create more content around it – grow interests, grow eyeballs, grow audience,” SEN’s Richard Simkiss, who is in charge of the network’s five sports teams, told this masthead earlier this month.
Announcing the new radio deal, Hutchison said SEN was “all in on netball”.
“There is a real appetite to follow the sport both domestically and internationally, and we look forward to delivering extensive coverage via our radio and digital platforms,” he said.
Netball Australia boss Kelly Ryan added there was “more appetite than ever” for the sport, having previously dismissed concerns that viewership had dropped during the 2023 national competition.
“It’s the first time we have been able to commercialise radio rights for the sport,” she said.
A broadcast expert, who requested anonymity due to commercial sensitivities but did not have direct knowledge of the SEN deal, said such deals often did not generate broadcast revenue for the sport but that netball may receive a “slight share” of advertising.
“It’s great for netball to have a partner who’s very good at marketing a sport … but in terms of a financial return for netball, it won’t even move the dial,” the source said.
However, a Netball Australia source, who was not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed SEN had purchased the rights. The source did not disclose financial details of the deal.
Under the deal, every match played by SEN’s team (which is yet to be named) will be broadcast across the network’s digital and radio channels, as well as an additional “match of the round”.
It will also provide radio coverage of Diamonds matches, kicking off in October with two international Test series against New Zealand.
The deal comes at a time when Super Netball, the sport’s premier domestic league, is facing serious financial concerns.
A report commissioned by Netball Australia, revealed by this masthead earlier this month, estimated the league and its teams were on track to lose $7.5 million in the next three years.
It warns that without change to the model, it would struggle to break even during the current $35 million broadcast deal with Foxtel, which runs to 2026.
This concern is amplified by the sport’s $4.2 million debt, and an ongoing pay dispute with both the teams and players.
SEN’s radio deal is separate to Netball Australia’s five-year broadcast deal with Foxtel; however, both contracts will expire in 2026.
According to three well-placed sources, the 2023 season was attracting an audience of about 40,000 per match.
“[Netball Australia has] an exciting opportunity heading into the future around how they think of broadcast and distribution. The metrics of that have changed … from when they were previously in a free-to-air arrangement,” Simkiss said earlier this month.
