TV Rights.... (inc Seven / Ten go the extra)

[Jace]

Personally I don't really care who gets the Footy right, but....

One thing I can't undersdtand with the TV rights battle is why they don't split the proccess up based on the days of the week.

For example, item #1 is Friday night Football, who wants it how much you going to pay?

Item #2 Saturday Football (can be split more Sat arvo/night)
Item #3 Sunday Football

Of coarse there is the problem of midweek football, such as Good Thursday, but that replaces Friday night, then there is some Monday games & Anzac day etc...

Then I guess Item #4+ maybe the final series and/or GF

This way at least each channel will go for it themselves & won't swap & change who their best bud is this week. Just a thought I thought I would share, in lack of real footy news....

[Johnson#26]

Its not a bad idea, Jace, but with the ownership of certain days on the weekend, it already occurs, with Ch9 taking the Friday/Thursdays and Sundays, and Channel 10 with two of Saturday (Fox do the rest).

I think with the potential Ch7/Ch10 alliance, they are supposedly going to split the Brownlow/Finals Series/GF per season. Can anyone confirm that?

[Robbo.D.yobbo]

friday night/eddie channel
saturday afternoon/ten
saturday night/prime
sunday afternoon/eddie channel

[EddieGold]

It is a bloody mess. The AFL don’t know which way to go. They would like to stay in bed with Channel 9 but this means no live terrestrial coverage into NSW and QLD. Channel 7 have the last crack so can top 9/Foxtel. Postponing it and putting their head in the sand is a typical AFL approach to decision making.

[Northern Pie]

Why don't channel 9 throw in a suggestion that the AFL will be televised on a second "free to air" developed digital TV channel thus being able to fill the quota that the AFL want shown live and also be able to share coverage with Foxtel.....ABC2 which is the ABC's digital broadcast channel is brilliant...I was able to keep up with every states Footy last year because of it....why can't Channel 9 do the same?

Cheers

[mugway05]

Northern Pie. Right with you there buddy. Fantastic Idea. i think by the next time this discussion occurs in like 5-6 years time.....I have no doubt this is what will happen.

[Northern Pie]

Thing is mugway they are discussing the rights from 2007 onwards and Digital TV is planned to come in in 2008 in most capitals.....(with analogue not available anymore, and for all of those who think they wont switch it off as planned...how is your analogue mobile phone coverage working these days?)

Cheers

[neil]

Money will decide who gets the rights whether the northern states get a decent broadcast is irrelevant. Digital television means Ch9 can broadcast two Thugby League matches on a friday night Packer will never allow AFL on ahead of the bumsniffing

[deck]

My understanding with multi-casting is that you can't run two live events up against each other. If 9 was able to do this the government are potentially missing out on millions they could get from another TV station licence fee.

[Yobbo^LuKa]

Footy rights is a bigger issue than the game itself. It is all about money and the quality of coverage needs to be ever evolving... If channel 7 regained the rights TV footy would face hitting that stale wall it did for all those years.

Let's hope who ever gets it turns the creativity knob up a few clicks and gets some new ideas out there this time. Channel 9 kind of got it happening... What could SBS do for footy? hahha

[Wokko]

SBS ran an amazing ashes coverage when nobody else would. Maybe SBS covering the footy would broaden the appeal and steal a whole generation of those who play that stupid roundball game.

Imagine Les Murray calling the AFL... sublime!!!

[Mossi]

[EddieGold]

AFL waits for Nine to outdo bid
By Caroline Wilson
December 20, 2005

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou yesterday told his commission that he was still hopeful of coming close to his annual requested figure of $135 million for the next round of broadcast rights from 2007.

While Channel Seven and Channel Ten increased its detailed six-year bid by close to $40 million four days ago, Demetriou said his broadcast sub-committee had not responded to the offer and was still waiting for a better financial deal to be placed on the table by the Nine Network.

With Seven and Ten having the right to match any offer by Nine it appears that a deal, as expected, will not be achieved by Christmas, and the poker game being contested by the networks - with Foxtel prepared to televise football with either party but preferring Nine, which has offered it potentially half of each season's home-and-away games - now seems certain to drag into January.

The AFL Commission was told yesterday that neither Channel Nine, which is expected to share the next broadcast rights with Foxtel if successful, nor the Seven-Ten consortium has offered adequate money for either the five or six-year period beyond the end of 2006.

Channel Seven and Ten last Friday increased its six-year bid from an estimated $700 million over six years to about $740 million, in an offer which includes prime time coverage into Sydney every Saturday night of the home-and-away season whether the Swans are playing or not.

That amount includes a guaranteed figure of close to $50 million a year from Foxtel, with Seven and Ten pledging to broadcast all eight games should Foxtel refuse to pay an adequate amount given the lack of pay TV competition.

The AFL has not responded to the Seven-Ten official bid, an offer its commissioners concede will provide superior coverage into New South Wales and Queensland but which Demetriou has said is no better than the Nine-Foxtel offer, which is yet to be placed on the table.

The Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions, which have seen regional coverage of football into their states reduced, are backing Seven and Ten while a number of Victorian clubs have told the AFL to take the best monetary offer - still expected to come from Nine but having not yet materialised.

The AFL's move in not responding to the latest Seven and Ten bid has seen the Nine Network pushed again to place a higher bid. Although Nine has told the league it will provide as much free-to-air coverage as required, its rugby league commitments mean that the station could attempt to offload its Saturday fixtures to Channel Ten.

Neither the ABC nor SBS was initially willing to join forces with Nine but the AFL has indicated the Nine bid could still prove a winner with the final offer yet to be completed.

The commission was told that further meetings with Nine would take place this week. Seven and Ten are also expected to hold more talks with the AFL before Christmas. Either way, commission chairman Ron Evans reiterated after yesterday's talks that a deal would now seem unlikely before the new year.

[EddieGold]

[Culprit]

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/12/20/1135032019518.html

Reading between the lines the AFL is still pissed at Ch7 & CH10.

Why would you get into bed with someone who just tried to sue you for $100 million +?

The AFL is in the box seat to have it footy shown on CH7, 9 & 10 as well as Foxtel. If the AFL plays it's cards right it could score big time.