Miners play cards right and walk away with millions

Todd Russell and Brant Webb chose well when they thundered out a desperate duet of the Kenny Rogers song The Gambler, deep in the bowels of the earth below the Tasmanian mining town of Beaconsfield.

It was the sound of their singing that first alerted rescuers to the fact they had survived the collapse that five days earlier had killed 44-year-old Larry Knight.

But the song held another significance in what was to become Australia's biggest-spending media auction.

Russell, 34, and Webb, 37, took the song's advice to heart, knowing their story would be worth almost as much as the vein of gold they were tracing almost 1km below ground.

This week, the Nine Network announced it had outbid rival Seven for the exclusive Australian television rights for the story of the miners' 14-day ordeal.

Nine reportedly paid A$2.6 million ($3.2 million), on top of the A$450,000 it raised through an appeal for the Knight family and the community of Beaconsfield.

Russell and Webb are expected to announce the creation of a fund for their rescuers with part of the Nine windfall, welcome in a town facing an uncertain future because of doubts over the continued operation of the mine.

Seven, like Rogers' gambler, knew when to fold. It gave up at A$2.25 million, and settled for a celebrity-studded concert outside the mine, and some exclusive pictures of the cavity in which Russell and Webb caught the world's breath.

But the race for the rights has been almost as gripping as the rescue.

From the start, Russell and Webb realised the value of their predicament, and refused to speak publicly about it. Nor were they hasty in picking the agent they wanted, or the final deal itself.

Media commentators at first thought Seven had it in the bag because of the esteem Russell held for Seven's Sunrise presenter David Koch, who at his invitation was at the mine to welcome the pair to the surface.

But when Russell on his first night out walked into his local, the Club Hotel, Nine's new charismatic chief - former sports commentator and game show host Eddie McGuire - was shouting the bar.

Although not agreeing to any deal, Russell and Webb said they would appear on Nine's Footy Show, increasing the fervour of speculation.

Celebrity agents representing the biggest names in Australia were also winging their way south to Tasmania: New Zealand-born Harry M. Miller, long-time music promoter Paul Dainty, Sydney agent Mark Markson - and a relative unknown, Sean Anderson, of 22 Management.

Anderson won. Media commentators say his quiet approach, love for AFL and lower commissions won the day.

Anderson then went to work, pitting Nine and Seven against each other in an auction that did not end until Tuesday, when McGuire released a brief statement saying Webb and Russell would tell their story tomorrow night in a two-hour special called The Great Escape.

The show will be hosted by current affairs presenter Tracy Grimshaw, who broadcast live from Beaconsfield during the rescue and befriended the families of the two miners.

The special put a bomb under rival networks. Both Seven and Ten intend changing their programmes to compete with what is expected to be a huge ratings success for Nine.

State-owned ABC is also responding, announcing that it will defer the launch of a new mini-series called Answered By Fire, originally intended for the Sunday night slot.

The Nine deal also gave magazines in its parent Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd group access to Webb and Russell. Next week specials on the pair will appear in Woman's Day, The Australian Women's Weekly, and the current affairs magazine, The Bulletin.

But more big-money battles are brewing. The film and book rights are still up for grabs, with major publishers Random House, Penguin, Allen and Unwin, Pan Macmillan, HarperCollins and Penguin reportedly in the queue.

Nor does the Nine deal include overseas rights. The major American networks have been in touch and are expected to pay well for the story.

And yet to come is the battle for the footage taken by Russell and Webb inside their cage, recorded on a mini-camera passed to them through the communication tunnel first bored by rescuers.

The camera is reportedly owned by Nine, but the images have been held by the mine management and will be used during the coronial inquiry into Knight's death that began this week, and in other official investigations.