AFL coverage on FTA TV in Sydney

[j s]

For those who might not have noticed TEN is showing the Sat night NAB Cup game live on their new ONE channel. Not just in HD (as they have done before) but also in SD on their new ONE Digital (Logical Channel Number 12) channel.

[Xie Shan]

Huh?

According to this they're not launching the new digital channel until 26 March?

[givekidsakick]

Footy Sat night

Just checked with ten....the "live" game is on HD TEN at 8.30 Sat night. The Brisbane game will be on at 11.00 pm on the SD channel. A bummer if you don't have HD.

[573v30]

Good to see Channel 10 get their act together, sort of.

[j s]

Just checked with ten....the "live" game is on HD TEN at 8.30 Sat night. The Brisbane game will be on at 11.00 pm on the SD channel. A bummer if you don't have HD.

Did you read my post? Ten now has TWO SD channels. The game will (almost certainly) also be on their new SD channel 12 (labelled ONE Digital). Certainly that channel was simulcasting the TEN HD content this afternoon and I see no reason why that would change tomorrow. Whatever is on the HD channel will also be the new SD channel. Right now both are showing NBA basketball

Channel 10 rejigged their digital channels yesterday in Sydney - you might need to get your STB (or PVR or TV) to rescan to get the new channels. They are:

1 - ONE HD (still the same old TEN HD content till Mar 26 when it goes all sport)
10 TEN Digital (our old friend)
12 ONE Digital (the SD version of whatever is on ONE HD)

[Xie Shan]

Channel 10 rejigged their digital channels yesterday in Sydney - you might need to get your STB (or PVR or TV) to rescan to get the new channels. They are:

1 - ONE HD (still the same old TEN HD content till Mar 26 when it goes all sport)
10 TEN Digital (our old friend)
12 ONE Digital (the SD version of whatever is on ONE HD)

Thanks js, I was a bit confused by the initial post. Yes Ten does seem to have started simulcasting the SD version of Ten HD as of today on the new 'ONE Digital' Channel 12. We can't receive HD broadcasts at home so when I could get Channel 12 today, that's when I knew the new channel must have started 'unofficially'.

[GoSouth33]

Thanks for the tip. Didn't realise that there was any coverage so I'm glad I read your post tonight. I've checked on the Standard STB and its showing there as well as on the HD. Lions well ahead of the Saints at half time.

[mackemdezzy]

Once the new season actally starts i heard that Sydney viewers will still get stuffed with late night replays with games that dont invole the swans on this One HD channel hope this isn't the case

[laughingnome]

Once the new season actally starts i heard that Sydney viewers will still get stuffed with late night replays with games that dont invole the swans on this One HD channel hope this isn't the case

Oh Mackemdezzy, this is Sydney. OF COURSE it will be the case.

[SimonH]

People on BF say that the present very happy (and long overdue) arrangement can't last into the regular season because anti-siphoning legislation prohibits FTA stations from broadcasting declared sport (such as regular-season AFL) on their subsidiary (HD) channels if it's not on their main channel at the same time. Normally I'd be loathe to repeat what's on BF, but intuitively that sounds right.

That said, even if this bad news is right, I'd hope & expect that the Gov't should tweak the rules fairly shortly to give us a better deal, because it's only by allowing this sort of thing that they're going to encourage the uptake of digital TV, which is certainly a huge policy problem for them. (At current rates, hundreds of thousands-- if not millions-- of older people and slow adopters are going to be cut off in 2012 or whenever analogue is due to be switched off.)

[laughingnome]

Isn'y there a problem with Foxtel in here? Games in NSW & QLD are regularly re-sold to Foxtel's Main Event Channel to be broadcast live because channels 7 and 10 don't wish to show them in these states. Can they back out of that so easily to broadcast the games themselves?

[SimonH]

We now have the week's TV guide to tell us how FTA coverage in Sydney will pan out in 2009, and it's largely as feared:

• Ten will show the Thu night season opener Richmond v Carlton at 11:15pm and at the same time on its new ONE channel (so obviously anti-siphoning/existing pay TV contracts prevent subsidiary digital channels from giving earlier service than the main FTA channel provides)
• Seven will show the Hawthorn v Geelong blockbuster on Fri night at 11:45pm. I thought the much-trumpeted FTA Sydney deal was that 11:15pm Fri was the latest start allowed? Seven's HD channel won't start a minute earlier.
• Ten's ONE will provide a replay of Rich v Carlton at 7:30pm Fri (so at least there's some prime-time AFL, albeit this won't be an option in most other weeks)
• Swans live (or near enough to) on Ten (and ONE simultaneously) on Sat night
• Very oddly, no Sat arvo game at all on Ten or ONE (hopefully only because it clashes with the Aussie F1 GP this weekend)
• For those who missed it (and, generations later, can't program a HDD/video) ONE will replay Swans v Saints at 10am Sunday
• Seven plays the dud-of-the-round Melbourne v NM live on Sunday arvo
• Seven will replay the Pahhhhr v Essendon at midnight Sunday-- and once again its HD won't offer anything better (seemingly a permanent policy?)

So, in summary, a little better than we had last year and previous years (although in terms of the Fri night game start, actually worse); but still way, way short of where it should be given all of the minority/specialist sport broadcasting resources that FTA channels now have at their disposal.

Also strange that ONE never replays the Sat arvo game that Ten had but gave up (just this week, I hope) for the Aussie GP. I presume they resold the broadcast rights to it, in their entirety, to pay TV? Is this allowed?

[ugg]

Simon I believe that by choosing to screen the Carlton Richmond game, that counts as one of TEN's (or ONE's) allocation for the Round.

[laughingnome]

• Ten will show the Thu night season opener Richmond v Carlton at 11:15pm and at the same time on its new ONE channel (so obviously anti-siphoning/existing pay TV contracts prevent subsidiary digital channels from giving earlier service than the main FTA channel provides)

Is there any chance, any at all, that they just thought the swimming would rate higher? It must be after midnight, I'm sounding fanciful again :s

[Mike_B]

• Very oddly, no Sat arvo game at all on Ten or ONE (hopefully only because it clashes with the Aussie F1 GP this weekend)

Also strange that ONE never replays the Sat arvo game that Ten had but gave up (just this week, I hope) for the Aussie GP. I presume they resold the broadcast rights to it, in their entirety, to pay TV? Is this allowed?

Simon I believe that by choosing to screen the Carlton Richmond game, that counts as one of TEN's (or ONE's) allocation for the Round.

Yes, that's correct. Similar things happen when there's a game on say Easter Monday/Queen's Birthday which Ten choose to cover. They then drop one of their usual Saturday timeslots because they get to cover 2 games a week. So in effect Richmond Carlton was their Sat afternoon fixture moved to Thursday night while Collingwood Adelaide is the alternate Sat afternoon fixture that Fox would cover.