Broadcaster slams RA over Castle treatment

Rugby Australia’s TV travails look set to continue after free-to-air broadcaster Ten vented its fury over the board’s treatment of Raelene Castle and broadcast suitor Optus signalled it would not come back to the negotiating table this year.

Three days after Castle’s sudden exit, the organisation was in flux.

Interim executive chairman Paul McLean was set to meet with dissident Wallabies captain Nick Farr-Jones yesterday, but had apparently ignored a Friday text message from outgoing Ten boss Paul Anderson, who wanted to check in with McLean on the circumstances surrounding Castle’s departure.

McLean had spoken with Anderson’s successor, Beverley McGarvey, on a conference call with RA’s corporate partners on Friday afternoon.

But Anderson, who had a good relationship with Castle, told the Sydney Morning Herald he was dismayed by the board’s handling of last week’s messy events and frustrated the game’s longstanding free-to-air broadcast partner had not been kept in the loop on the board’s thinking about its corporate leadership.

Anderson’s comments came as major doubts surfaced over whether Optus would be in a position to restart talks with RA over its next instalment of broadcast rights.

Before the coronavirus outbreak hit in March, the telco was days away from making a formal offer for the next five years’ worth of Wallabies tests, Super

Rugby matches and a new national club competition.

Optus and Rugby Australia agreed to suspend talks for six months, but a senior source in the telco told the Herald that the Singapore-based business would not be in a position to restart negotiations for ‘‘12 months’’.

RA sources had no knowledge of that change in timeline but conceded it would be a ‘‘concerning’’ development if Optus was not in a position to bid for the rights to the code for 2021 and beyond.

Rugby is in the final eight months of a five-year deal with loyal partner Foxtel.

Relations soured between the organisations over Castle’s decision not to take Foxtel’s first renewal offer or respond with a counter-offer last October, instead choosing to take the rights to market.