There's no interest from the free to air networks. They have struggled to generate interest in showing the end of year tour matches on FTA.
I don't doubt that's correct.
Australian rugby is a steaming pile of turds right now.
The interest is low and going lower.
If the NRC wasn't broadcast by Fox there probably wouldn't be an NRC.
I say Fox is the abusive husband to rugby's battered wife.
And like so many sour domestic arrangements, the woman keeps going back for more.
Uncle Rupe, while putting porridge on the table, is happy to leech the life out of the game (while there is still blood to bleed, of course - but when it reaches a certain ebb, Sanzaar will be dropped like a stone).