Rugby Australia's 25-year marriage to Fox Sports looks to be over, with the code's bosses going to the market as early as this week in the hunt for a new broadcast partner.

Key points: Rugby Australia acknowledges going to the market "is a risk"

Rugby Australia acknowledges going to the market "is a risk" Any new deal will have to involve a free-to-air broadcaster as Wallabies tests are on the government's anti-siphoning list

Any new deal will have to involve a free-to-air broadcaster as Wallabies tests are on the government's anti-siphoning list Foxtel has been losing subscribers since the advent of streaming services such as Netflix

Rugby Australia (RA) wants to package all rugby games, including Wallabies Tests, Super Rugby, Sydney's Shute Shield and Queensland Premier Rugby in a new deal from 2021 to 2025.

But it acknowledges going to the market "is a risk".

That's an understatement according to media analyst, Steve Allen from Fusion Strategy, who said RA has "unrealistic expectations" on what rugby is worth.

Fox Sports has broadcast Super Rugby since the first year of the competition but talks between RA and the broadcaster over a new deal have stalled.

The most recent deal was signed with Fox Sports and Channel Ten in 2015.

It's believed that deal was worth $285 million.

"I think they're [RA] mad, they don't understand the position they're in," Allen said.

"They're not going to get anything like what they got the last time."

RA decided to test the market after negotiations with Fox Sports soured recently — a decision Steve Allen has labelled as "insanity."

"They should be quaking in their boots because they've got a good relationship [with Fox Sports] and they've let it sour."

A spokesman from RA told the ABC "our strategy is to provide an integrated 'whole of rugby' presentation to our fans and, importantly, we are confident that there is real interest from the market in this content."

Fox Sports has broadcast Super Rugby since the first year of the competition but talks between RA and the broadcaster over a new deal have stalled.

The new deal will have to involve a free-to-air broadcaster, as Wallabies Tests are still on the Federal Government's anti-siphoning list, which preserves high-profile sports.

Network 10 is the current broadcaster of Australian rugby Tests. The Seven Network broadcasts some Shute Shield games.

A spokeswoman for Network 10 told the ABC: "We have a good, long term partnership with Rugby Australia and are looking forward to the formal broadcast rights process starting."

Super Rugby ratings on Fox Sport were slightly up in 2019, although it has axed its weekly rugby show. ( AAP: Dan Peled )

Fox Sports has been shedding staff across its sports, including rugby, as it looks to cut costs and viewers desert the broadcaster.

It recently sacked its long-term rugby host Nick McArdle, and axed its weekly rugby show.

But a spokesman for RA said ratings last season for Super Rugby were "slightly up."

Games involving Australian Super Rugby teams averaged 57,000 viewers on Fox Sports in 2019.

The broadcaster has been losing subscribers since the advent of streaming services such as Netflix.

In late 2018 it launched Kayo which is a streaming service costing $25 per month offering its suite of sports for around a third of the price of the full Foxtel package which costs $74 per month including Fox Sports.

Some A-League soccer matches have drawn fewer than 10,000 viewers, while Big Bash numbers are down by 15 per cent, but it's not known how much of that decrease has been made up by subscribers who have dumped Fox Sports for Kayo.

RA's testing of the market could draw out non-traditional sports broadcasters such as the streaming services.

Optus already broadcasts English soccer's Premier League and this morning announced it would start broadcasting Japan's J-League.

"We never comment on commercial negotiations or speculation about broadcast rights," Fox Sports head Peter Campbell said.

When asked by the ABC whether Optus would put in a bid for the rugby rights a spokesman said: "We don't discuss speculation around commercial rights."