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Nearly half of the Socceroos and Australia national football team matches in the next broadcast cycle – which will number more than 100 – will be shown behind a paywall, a split almost identical to the expired deal, which the FA stipulated in the bidding process.
Only six matches from the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup (the equivalent of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament) and 15 matches from the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be broadcast free-to-air, while 15 Matildas and 10 Australia friendlies over the next four years will also be broadcast free-to-air, with the rest on Paramount+. By comparison, the Seven Network also broadcast 15 matches from last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, with the rest on Optus Sport.
Football Federation Australia CEO James Johnson and Network 10 President Beverley McGarvey.
The federal government's anti-money laundering list states that only World Cup matches involving the top two national teams, and any World Cup qualifiers held in Australia, must be broadcast on free-to-air television.
“There are more games behind the paywall because there are more games in general in terms of national team games,” said Beverley McGarvey, Network 10 president, head of live streaming and regional lead for Paramount Australia.
“There will be about 100 games and half of them will be paywalled. In terms of how we operate, there are some games that are big events, that have national significance, that have to be completely free, that the entire country will want to see. For the economics of the deal to make sense, of course, the content has to be on Paramount+. The price point is $6.99.” [per month] So if you're a sports fan, or a football fan… this is a pretty effective entry point.”
The rights to the men's World Cup – the next edition of which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026 – were sold by FIFA last year to SBS, which has been the home of the tournament in Australia since 1986.
The deal cements Paramount’s position as the sole provider of Australian football content and comes on top of its existing A-League contract, which runs for another two seasons. Paramount has an option to extend the deal for another three years, but due to the failure to meet subscription-based targets in the deal, it is worth significantly less than the $40 million per season that the A-League announced when the deal was signed.
Since then, the A-League has undergone significant cost cuts, laying off half its workforce and reducing annual distributions to clubs to just $530,000 per season – the lowest figure since the A-League was created. Network 10 retains a small nominal ownership stake in the A-League, which formed part of the current A-League rights deal.
“They had a lot of work to do, and they've done a lot of it,” McGarvey said. “I think they're hoping to get out of this situation now and get ready for a great new season.
“We wouldn’t be pursuing another deal with the FA if we didn’t believe in football. Football is our sport. That’s what we have, that’s our main sport. And I only say that from a good knowledge of our business, Australia is a tough market to scale. We’re not big, we’re not small. It’s tough to run certain types of businesses in Australia because we lack scale in certain areas and people have expectations here in terms of what they expect from their sporting codes and their entertainment offerings.”
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While the A-League is keen to discuss a renewal of the agreement to shore up the financial future of A-League clubs, and is expected to begin the process of seeking a new rights deal by the end of the year, McGarvey said Paramount was in no rush.
Last week, Foxtel expressed interest in bidding for the rights to broadcast A-League matches again. Julian Ogren, CEO of Foxtel’s broadcast and advertising division, which includes Kayo Sports, told Mumbrella that the company would “definitely” consider bidding for A-League matches if the rights became available.
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