While sports costs are largely fixed over the length of the rights deals, News Corp said there was an opportunity to “reduce spend on non-marquee sporting content”, but did not define which sports that related to.

On an audience and cost basis, Foxtel's biggest sports are the AFL, NRL and cricket – all of which have long-term contracts with the pay TV provider.

Rugby Australia's contract with Foxtel and Ten runs out at the end of the 2020 Super Rugby and international Test series next year. Foxtel and Ten in March secured the rights for the 2019 Rugby World Cup for a lower price than the event four years prior – believed to be less than $10 million.

Given the free-to-air sector is facing its own challenges, Super Rugby may also have to accept a lower price next year.

Football Federation Australia is in the process of negotiating the free-to-air component of its deal for the A-League, W-League, Socceroos and Matildas and sources suggested Foxtel may look to do a deal to on-sell some extra games following its record $346 million deal through to 2023.

Foxtel also has myriad minor league sports deals from across the world, including events such as the Caribbean Premier League cricket competition, Champions League of Darts, and various NASCAR series. The costs of these competitions would likely be much smaller than that of A-League and rugby.

Price increase?


News Corp said Foxtel would also look to reduce non-sport related programming costs.

The company also flagged Foxtel subscribers could be in for a price increase in the near future.

"Foxtel management is reviewing the pricing for its various programming packages, including potential price increases for certain tiers," it said, without noting which tiers may be impacted.

News Corp said 65 per cent of capital expenditure this financial year was related to spending on subscribers, specifically upgrading set-top boxes. It said the iQ4 box costs Foxtel between $280 and $300, but it costs customers just $125, which can often be waived.

If technicians are required it costs Foxtel $200 for installation, but at a cost of $100 to the customer, which again can be waived. By comparison, self-installation costs Foxtel around $40 – News Corp said 45 per cent of upgrades use self-installation.

News Corp said there was an opportunity to reduce the other 35 per cent of capex it had put into projects after its heavy investment in streaming and 4K high-quality services this year.