Australian commercial broadcaster Seven has acquired exclusive rights to the 2018 Commonwealth Games multi-sport event, which will be hosted by the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but the News.com.au website said Seven has paid around A$40m (€27.7m/$37.1m) for the contract, which includes all digital rights.
Rival commercial broadcaster Ten held the rights for the recently concluded 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, for which it paid A$30m.
Seven chief executive Tim Worner said the broadcaster may seek to sub-licence some rights to pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports. However, he added that Seven’s two additional digital channels, as well as the forthcoming launch of Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV, may mean that it will use rights to major sports events entirely for its own platforms in the future.
The Commonwealth Games deal comes just weeks after the International Olympic Committee confirmed that Seven had acquired media rights in Australia for the next three editions of the Olympic Games.
That deal will cover the 2016 and 2020 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Tokyo, Japan respectively, as well as the 2018 winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.