TV Rights

[dimelb]

I don't like the sound of this.
AFL On Pay TV | Some AFL Games Could Be Exclusive To Foxtel
Could mean a few trips to the Rising Sun. Bloody Rupert. And James.

[dimelb]

The argy-bargy is on, free-to-air vs. Conroy.
But it looks as if it might be The Greens to the rescue.
NRL & AFL On Foxtel / Pay-TV | Senator Conroy | Sport Rules For TV

[Damien]

I am not sure what they think they are rescuing, Free to Air already sell off 4 games to Foxtel and a few of those games are high profile games to ensure they get revenue.

I think it's only fair that the AFL can deal directly with Foxtel, instead of having to deal with Free to Air for all games. It's a silly system and by taking away ridiculous protections will get Free to Air to lift their game for the sports they say they are dedicated too.

[laughingnome]

I am not sure what they think they are rescuing, Free to Air already sell off 4 games to Foxtel and a few of those games are high profile games to ensure they get revenue.

I think it's only fair that the AFL can deal directly with Foxtel, instead of having to deal with Free to Air for all games. It's a silly system and by taking away ridiculous protections will get Free to Air to lift their game for the sports they say they are dedicated too.

Maybe so but from 2012 everyone will have digital. Not beyond the realms of possibilty for all games to be shown on FTA live (or near live in host city) considering there are currently 8 distinct times for games per round, not including time differences from WA (Thurs 7:40, Fri 7:40, Sat 2pm, Sat 7:10, Sun 1pm, Sun 2pm, Sun 5:30pm, Mon 7:40pm). If I was FTA I'd want that. One & One HD could easily accomodate the schedule between them, seperating the clash games by channel. Same for 7, 7mate & 7Two.

[Damien]

Maybe so but from 2012 everyone will have digital. Not beyond the realms of possibilty for all games to be shown on FTA live (or near live in host city) considering there are currently 8 distinct times for games per round, not including time differences from WA (Thurs 7:40, Fri 7:40, Sat 2pm, Sat 7:10, Sun 1pm, Sun 2pm, Sun 5:30pm, Mon 7:40pm). If I was FTA I'd want that. One & One HD could easily accomodate the schedule between them, seperating the clash games by channel. Same for 7, 7mate & 7Two.

That's fine, but they shouldn't be allowed to exclude Foxtel from bidding for the soon to be "unprotected games". FTA should pay fair value if they want all 8 games, protecting all 8 games for FTA is ridiculous and extremely anti-competitive. 4 protected FTA games along with finals is more than enough.

[laughingnome]

And who decides which five are protected? Is Conroy's office going to draw up a list every year? All parties have a vested interest and so can't be seen to do it fairly, so who decides? Like so much that comes from Senator Conroy's Office it sounds good in a 10 second sound bite but the deeper you dig the more @@@@ you uncover.

[Damien]

And who decides which five are protected? Is Conroy's office going to draw up a list every year? All parties have a vested interest and so can't be seen to do it fairly, so who decides? Like so much that comes from Senator Conroy's Office it sounds good in a 10 second sound bite but the deeper you dig the more @@@@ you uncover.

4 (or 5) games will be protected i.e games ranked 1,2,5,6,9 for FTA each round, and the right holders choose the rankings, FTA first two picks, then Foxtel then so on. Which is basically what happens now under the 7/10/Foxtel deal.

Whilst I appreciate the obvious need for a big FTA presence, the AFL is about the only sporting organisation in the world unable to negotiate directly with pay tv providers, so I find it incredible that certain politicians who are screaming out for more competition in a certain financial industry are happy to destroy a genuine competitive bid process for footy tv rights.

[dimelb]

Greg Baum's take:
Sports 'customers' are losing out to greed
He believes cricket lovers are apparently worse off than football followers, but I think the football fans outnumber the cricket fans, especially where TV is concerned. The bottom line issues seem to be the questions: Why is the government sticking its nose into something that's none of its core business? and Why are they trying to favour one player in an already pretty competitive market when the market has already decided what its main interest is (i.e. FTA)?

[Damien]

Greg Baum's take:
Sports 'customers' are losing out to greed
He believes cricket lovers are apparently worse off than football followers, but I think the football fans outnumber the cricket fans, especially where TV is concerned. The bottom line issues seem to be the questions: Why is the government sticking its nose into something that's none of its core business? and Why are they trying to favour one player in an already pretty competitive market when the market has already decided what its main interest is (i.e. FTA)?

Govt has to allow sporting organisations to make decisions about its own future, good or bad. They are sticking their nose into it by protecting 8 games a week of AFL for Free to Air, although for the past 10 years, networks have on sold games to Foxtel anyway - why should the AFL have to lose control of how the bidding takes place?

All the govt are doing is being realistic, AFL will still be the most protected FTA sport in the country - (and by far, NRL has only two protected games, and screens three, with only 1 live), all these changes allow is a) Foxtel to directly negotiate with the AFL for up to 4 matches b) FTA networks to use their digital channels for live sport for protected sports without using their main channel

As for Cricket in Baum's article, WTF, there is an insane amount of live cricket hours on FTA each summer and Foxtel compliments it by showing a great deal of state cricket. 20/20 has been around for a few years and I don't believe it should be protected. It's up to Cricket Australia to decide how they want to promote the product.

[RogueSwan]

Upfront, I am not a pay t.v. customer.

I love the fact that up here on the NSW North Coast I get to see every Swans game live (or near-live) and another 3 AFL games each weekend. Compare that to all the NRL fans up here who may only get to see their team live once every month or so and also only get to see, at the most, 3 games a weekend.

If Foxtel/Austar do get extra (or better games) in the next deal I hope they have just an AFL package for March to September. I really don't want have to pay for 2 dozen (or however many) other channels I will never watch.

The government puts significant money into AFL so they should be allowed to have a say on how the game is released to the public.

[goswannie14]

I love the fact that up here on the NSW North Coast I get to see every Swans game live (or near-live) and another 3 AFL games each weekend. Compare that to all the NRL fans up here who may only get to see their team live once every month or so and also only get to see, at the most, 3 games a weekend.

You mean, just like Swans supporters who don't live in NSW???

[CureTheSane]

Seriously, how much worse could it get for Vic based Swans fans?

What did we get last year? 7 games shown on FTA?

Reduce it to 5 or 3 or just don't show any.
As I've said before, interest factor in your team drops when you don't get to see them play.

NSW based fans should prepare for the same.
How do you guys thing it's gonna work when GWS come in?
I'm picking that in the biggest potential market in the country, half of the games from both NSW based teams will be Foxtel.

[ScottH]

Could be a bonus for us.
If Foxtel buy the blockbusters, that would mean more FTA games for Swans games.

[RogueSwan]

Could be a bonus for us.
If Foxtel buy the blockbusters, that would mean more FTA games for Swans games.

it would probably work out that way in the following

Rnd 8 2011

Games 1 & 2: Cats v Pies, Hawks v St Kilda

Games 3 & 4: Bulldogs v Tigers, Roos v Demons

Games 5 & 6: Blions v Bombers, Swans v Power

7 & 8: Crows v Suns, Eagles v Dockers.

[laughingnome]

it would probably work out that way in the following

Rnd 8 2011

Games 1 & 2: Cats v Pies, Hawks v St Kilda

Games 3 & 4: Bulldogs v Tigers, Roos v Demons

Games 5 & 6: Blions v Bombers, Swans v Power

7 & 8: Crows v Suns, Eagles v Dockers.

I'm not sure what your ranking system is but there is no way Eagles/Dockers isn't a blockbuster.