14 out of 22 Swans games on Fox

[Damien]

Doc, I disagree with advertising on foxtel. When it was first released they said "watch TV without the ads". I have friends who have had foxtel from day one - even they say it's not worth it ... "more ads, less footy".

What do you mean by "more ads, less footy"?

Foxtel's football coverage is ad free and has been since they won the rights in 2001.

[AnnieH]

Annie, how do you MISS games if you have Foxtel? If the game isn't on Foxtel, it's on FTA. If it's not on FTA, it's on Foxtel. They cover each other. In Sydney's case, you have 22 games on FTA, 14 of which are ALSO on Foxtel, and the Foxtel coverage of the footy is better, as there are no ads except at the breaks.

I thought that foxtel only showed four games per week live ... the rest are shown at odd hours on odd stations.

If they're not playing the swans live, don't you have to try and catch it at another time?

[BSA5]

I thought that foxtel only showed four games per week live ... the rest are shown at odd hours on odd stations.

If they're not playing the swans live, don't you have to try and catch it at another time?

They do only show four games per week live, from what I can remember. And I'm pretty sure half of them are Swans games. That leaves a difference of three games (14-11), which won't be shown live, but probably shown right after a live game. That's not too bad, is it? In any case, it doesn't mean Foxtel subscribers are paying to miss games, like you said.

[liz]

I thought that foxtel only showed four games per week live ... the rest are shown at odd hours on odd stations.

If they're not playing the swans live, don't you have to try and catch it at another time?

No, you watch it on the FTA channel that must be showing it live (or within a half hour of live) if Fox isn't showing it. Better still, you're watching it live at teh SCG, Homebush, Manuka (or elsewhere, for that matter).

Fox is a godsend in Sydney for anyone who's interested not just in the Swans, but in also watching the competition. The AFL has done a decent job in ensuring all Swans games are available to the local audience at close-to-live times on FTA but they've done little to support the push for the FTA channels to support the broader league.

I realise it's not ideal for those who can't afford Fox -or who choose to spend their money elsewhere - but it is nice being able to watch Friday night footy at 7.30pm, not in the early hours of Saturday.

[Jewels]

I don't know how anyone can be an AFL fan in Sydney and not have Foxtel. I enjoy watching other games, particularly toward the end of the season when results are relevant to the Swans and I also enjoy the fact that I can go to the game and watch it live, then go home and catch the replay sometime later in the week to catch things that happen that I may have not seen live at the game.

[Robbo]

I have foxtel, so I will see most games.

[2005]

Love footy !!
Love live footy with no ads in quarters !
Love watching the Swans on Foxtel at home and the Pub !!
Love watching the Swans in Melbourne live then watching them on Foxtel all week ,even if we lose.
Awesome ,Bloods on every game for 08 !! You beauty !!!!

[sharp9]

My wife says "no, no, no, no, no..."

"Even if I find/earn/steal a completely EXTRA $400?"....

"No...there are far too many jobs to do around here...you can't possibly find the time...."

"What if I just watch the Swans games????"

"NO, no, no...."

"Can I drive half and hour to the nearest town with Fox and watch it live there?"

"No....you're needed here."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the price you pay for staying happily married and living out in the country.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

In Sydney I couldn't dream of affording Fox in the crap old place I lived in. Here I can quite comfortably.

Free to air channels don't really exist to me any more. I'm switching between Eurosport, Fox Sports News Setanta (too much bloody rugby; I didn't sign up for that!) & Fox 1-3, intersperced with the odd documentary about travel in Costa Rica or the Airbus A300 or something.

I turned on Channel 7 to watch a few minutes of the footy the other night & got the craps with it after 10 minutes.

Foxtel makes being a sports fan so easy. It ain't cheap though. I'm paying $110/month (+$15 for Setanta as well), but it saves me going to a bar & sitting on my own feeling all sorry for myself (& spending $30-40 on food & drink in the process) just to get to watch the game.

Considering I watch not only the Swans but Sydney FC the Kings AND FC Bayern, Foxtel is a great choice if you can afford it.

Last year I went a season without it. I survived thanks to SwansRock4eva & Danish Club parmas. This year the party's on me....just bring pizza & a bean bag!

JF

[swantastic]

Due to Foxtel, I no longer watch much footy (or state cricket).

Not a real footy fan.

[ScottH]

Not a real footy fan.

Nope.
I used to watch 1 or 2 games a weekend, sometimes more.
Last year I watched I barely watched a game unless the swans were involved.

I didn't watch a full game on Ch 7, usually checked the scores then moved on.
Chl 10, got a bit more viewing, but not much more.

[TheGrimReaper]

I watch up to 5 games per week. Sometimes more!

Live and breathe Footy.

[Bazman]

Suprise, suprise four of the fta games are against 2 teams wouldnt you know it one of them being Collingwood and the other Geelong the whole thing stinks.

[CureTheSane]

Anyone who says there are too many ads on Foxtel making it not worth it are just talking rubbish - obviously the sort of people who just like to have a whinge about everything. FTA typically has 15-18 minutes of advertising every hour. Foxtel has less than half that, most of which are promos to fill the gaps to make programming every half hour. Movies and sports are still mainly uninterrupted - eg: no ad after every goal!

I am not whinging, just replying to the thread.

I did the 3 mth Foxtel trial last year. My assessment.

1. The variety of shows wasn't all that I had hoped it would be.
2. The kids started watching FAR too much TV. Most people will reply that I control the TV amount, and they're right, but all I got was sooking and whining that so and so show was on and how desperate they were to see it.
I ended up restricting Foxtel to 2 hours a day, which is about 1 1/2 hours more than they watch right now.
3. There were ads. I didn't expect any ads, I thought that is what you pay up to $110 per month for. I was wrong.
4. As a whole it was very poor value for money to me.

So, I canceled.

That means no Foxtel for football, but my life is better and happier without it.

So I will watch the 8 or so games I can on FTA, and maybe a couple more if I go to a pub with mates or to a friends house to watch a game who has Foxtel.

And I will hold the AFL responsible for breaking their promise made when the Swans moved to Sydney that all games would be shown on FTA

[robbieando]

I pay $15 a month extra to get the Setanta Sports Channel so I can watch (almost) all of Rangers matches be it a League match, a Cup match or a UEFA Cup match and I get the value for money that I'm looking for.

a) I get to see my team play (something I haven't been able to do for the best part of 3 and quarter years unless they made the Champions League and ESPN picked them for their piss poor coverage).

b) I get plenty of replay's (which is handy when most games are late night or early morning or not shown LIVE because of coverage of other matches/sports)

c) NO ADS (except for what Setanta are going to show on their own channel in the coming week/month/year).

Plus I get coverage of the Leagues that Fox Sports and ESPN forget about and are just as good. Love to be able to watch some German, France, Dutch and International Football. Plus being able to watch the Scots beat the English in the Six Nations on the week was priceless.

As for Foxtel, living in Melbourne I find it handy for Swans games of course. Fox Sports News is always a handy channel to have on in the background and Sky News likewise when I get up/get home.

Ads don't really bother be that much because Foxtel have to pay their bills as well (not that they raise that much from ads anyway) and they don't show that many ads yet compared to FTA. They have to fill in time on lots of channels where they show sitcoms where ads are factored into the run time, so why not make some money off ads when they have to fill the time anyway (18 minutes in an hour, 9 minutes in 30 minutes)? Plus they have Live events from overseas where they have to take the overseas ad break (such as the Superbowl, World Series).

So its not like they can be ad free 100% of the time. They try to where they can and only show ads when they have to, unlike FTA who show ads because they want to (ABC not included in that comment).

Only valid reason against Foxtel that has been raise was the one by CTS who wanted to control the amount of TV his kids watched and thats a fair point. Another would be cost, (don't like the way they do their packages and the fact you can't pick say 10 channels that aren't part of the basic package for say $15-20.