Why start a year before the end date?
Four things take longer than the end date suggests:
- The notice period. The agreement sets how much written notice is needed, and a rollover clause can renew it on the same terms once that date passes.
- A tender. A brief, offers from the networks and a term by term comparison all take time, and the current network needs a fair chance to compete.
- Hardware. New screens typically take 12 to 14 weeks from order, before installation.
- Dark screens. A screen that is not working weakens any negotiation, so faults need closing out before talks start.
What should happen, and when?
| When | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months out | Find the signed agreement and every variation. Note the end date, the notice period and any rollover clause. | The notice date, not the end date, is the real deadline |
| 12 months out | Walk the sites: what is installed, its condition, and which screens fault | A dark screen weakens the negotiation |
| 12 months out | Collect the revenue and proof of play reports for the term so far | You need your own numbers before the network shows you theirs |
| 9 months out | Decide: renew, renegotiate, tender, or change who owns the screens | Each path has a different lead time |
| 6 months out | If tendering, issue the brief and invite offers. If new hardware is needed, settle the specification | Offers need time to compare term by term |
| 4 months out | Order any new hardware | 12 to 14 weeks from order, before installation |
| 3 months out | Negotiate the final terms, and give written notice by the date the agreement sets | A missed notice date can renew the agreement as it stands |
| At changeover | Install at night where the centre trades, and check the outgoing network's removal and make good | The end of term clause decides who removes what |
This is how we plan it. The dates in your own agreement come first.
Which terms should you read before you negotiate?
The same seven we read in every agreement:
- Fee or revenue share, and how each moves over the term
- How the share is worked out: gross or net, and what is deducted first
- Term and rollover: the end date, the notice period, and whether it renews itself
- Reporting: which revenue and proof of play reports you receive, and whether you can check them
- Screen downtime: what happens to payments while a screen is dark, and who fixes it by when
- Repairs, power and data: who pays for each, and who holds the spares
- End of term: who owns the hardware, who removes it, and what make good applies
Renew, tender or change the funding model?
| Path | Suits | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Renew as it stands | Screens working, revenue in line with the reports, terms that still fit | A rollover can lock in terms that no longer match how the screens are used |
| Renegotiate with the current network | A working relationship, with terms out of step with the screens | Without a comparison, there is nothing to test the offer against |
| Tender the media rights | Several sites, or terms well out of step | Allow time for the brief, the offers, the comparison and the negotiation |
| Change who owns the screens | Wanting slots for your own content and a stronger case for a higher share | You buy and maintain the hardware, and it takes 12 to 14 weeks from order |
Do outdoor screens need anything extra at renewal?
Check the planning permit as well as the agreement. In Victoria a permit for a major promotion sign expires 15 years after it is issued unless the permit sets another date, which must be between 10 and 25 years. If a sign's permit runs out near the end of the agreement, the two need handling together.
Other states set their own conditions, so read what the permit for each sign says before the renewal is signed.
Are the screens near the end of their life?
The ATO's effective life for wall mounted digital LED advertising panels, the kind used in shopping centres, is 5 years, and 7 years for floor mounted internal advertising panels. Those figures are for depreciation; a screen's real life depends on its hours and conditions. At the end of a long agreement they are a fair prompt to ask whether to repair or replace.
A fault history for each screen answers that better than its age: repeat faults and parts that are hard to find point to replacement.
Where does Nextage fit?
We read the agreement, walk the sites, fix the hardware first, run the selection or tender where it suits, and negotiate for you. Where you own the screens, we supply and install them alongside whichever network wins.
Nextage does not sell advertising, so we never sit on both sides of the deal.
