News The AFL's $2.508 Billion Broadcasting Rights Deal: What it Means for Brisbane

[Full Wingspan]

Using the information provided on the main board, I believe this thread deserves it's own discussion and analysis on our board, more specifically, how it impacts our football club given some of the changes in this latest broadcast deal.

Below is the updated OP from the main board, with the most relevant announcements in regards to the Lions in bold.

Summary (thanks to RussellEbertHandball )

Fitzpatrick:
"Over 1 million participants, over 13,000 teams in 267 leagues and have nearly 200,000 woman participants."

From Gill's announcement:

• Remain in control of fixture
• Growth into new communities
• 2017 to end of 2022
• 22 game season and standard round of 9 matches
• Status quo outside Thursday night rounds and Monday holiday rounds, 1 FNF+ 2 Sat arvo + 1 Sat Twight + 2 Sat night + 2 Sunday arvo + 1 Sunday twilight
• $2.508 billion
• CH7 get GF exclusive and live in every state, Brownlow exclusive and live in every state and all finals matches live in every state
• Home and away season; CH7 get live in every state 1 Friday night, 1 Saturday night and 1 Sunday arvo 3.20 EST timeslot game.
• 11 games live across season for public holiday games, eve of public holiday and between 5 and 6 Thursday night games.
• CH7 get 7 games over 2 rounds or 3.5 games per round on average over seasons.
• Qld and NSW teams get their games live on CH7 in their markets
• WA and SA teams will get all games live but 3 for each team will be on a delayed basis.
• Subscription and pay TV rights acquired by News Ltd (interesting not by Foxtel as per the the three previous deals)
• All 9 games to be live.
• During 2 normal rounds of 18 games, 11 will be produced for broadcast by Fox Footy and Foxtel i.e. 5.5 matches per round on average as well as broadcast of the other games CH7 produce live.
• News Corp (sic?) has rights to sub-licence 1 game per round each weekend in Saturday 3.20 time slot to a Free TV provider ( ie assume that would only be 7)
• In WA and SA Fox Footy and Foxtel to broadcast exclusively live 3 games of each of the 4 home state teams games. Replayed on delay on Free TV
• Digtal rights to Telstra - currently #1 digital sports property, have rights for all hand held mobile devices, afl.com.au, all clubs' websites and IP Television. Telstra to deliver every game, every week live in palm of your hand no matter where you are in the country.

I believe I have read somewhere else that everything will broadcast in HD by CH7 from now on.

Let's have a look at the following announcements more closely and what it means for the Lions:

Qld and NSW teams get their games live on CH7 in their markets
Hallelujah! I understand many Queensland based supporters have been lobbying for years to have all games live and on CH7 as opposed to 7Two or 7Mate.

I have not seen any confirmation that this has changed, but I hope this is an indication that we can finally have exposure on the main channel. In fact, I think it is vital. What are the affects of prime time exposure? Perhaps our Queensland brethren can shed some light for us.

Have games been broadcast live for every Lions match this season? Hopefully the supporters will also have access to HD quality footage as well (which I believe has been confirmed).

Remain in control of fixture
Will we ever see 6 Melbourne games (as opposed to 5 + a Geelong game) to honour the merger agreement? Will we ever play the Hawks at the Gabba? How many Thursday, Friday and Saturday night fixtures will we be granted?

The most probing question for mine is given Swanny's contacts, what can we expect the club to organise in our favour in order to improve market growth, penetration and saturation? What is the most favourable time-slot?

We have been given plenty of Sunday and Sunday twilight fixtures over the past few seasons - how do these compare to the Saturday nights that we were traditionally known for?

$2.508 billion
This deal is approximately double than that of the last broadcast agreement, so surely that equates to more financial support in the form of facilities contributions, debt alleviation etc.?

Given the club is technically insolvent, this must be an encouraging aspect of the rights deal if it means the club's will be given more assistance.

It also means the AFL can focus more resources on the development of grassroots initiatives in order to expand growth into new communities.

Strengthening the NEAFL is another underrated component of our quest to level the playing field that is the AFL landscape, and having a reserves competition (and lower junior ranks) that provide more opportunities to nurture local talent has consequences on our ability to retain players.

 

[dlanod]

I'd just like to point out to all the nay sayers about us folding that we're worth to the AFL close to half whatever the difference in price between the AFL TV deals and the NRL TV deals end up being, which given the figures being bandied around appears to be close to half of $500b. After all the main difference between the two codes from purely a TV point of view is a) an extra game a week (lost without us), and b) national coverage into all the major cities (lost without us).

 

[Cooties]

Was there a problem with showing games on 7mate? Flicking between Afl on HD and NRL on SD was like night and day so they better keep the HD broadcast for all games

 

[Skoob]

Qld and NSW teams get their games live on CH7 in their markets
Hallelujah! I understand many Queensland based supporters have been lobbying for years to have all games live and on CH7 as opposed to 7Two or 7Mate.

I have not seen any confirmation that this has changed, but I hope this is an indication that we can finally have exposure on the main channel. In fact, I think it is vital. What are the affects of prime time exposure? Perhaps our Queensland brethren can shed some light for us.

Have games been broadcast live for every Lions match this season? Hopefully the supporters will also have access to HD quality footage as well (which I believe has been confirmed).
.

I have never understood this. Before analogue was turned off, I understood there were some people who had not upgraded to receive HDDTV and unable to view 73. Everyone has access to 73 now, so don't get the distinction between having programmes on 73 or the "main" channel.
In any case, whilst they may say games will be on Ch7, I believe that is in reference to the whole network, not just the main channel.
I don't think we've been getting any games (maybe an ANZAC day or Easter game) on 7's main channel up here. Brisbane has had all Lions games since Ch9 had the rights, (as have The Suns).

I think there is no change for us.

 

[Fatcat08]

Foxtels sublicense of a game will be on channel 10 most likely given their recent stake in it. I'd imagine that was one of the reasons for the deal being signed by news limited.

I doubt CH7 means their main channel, if its going to be on hd then it will be on mate

 

[dlanod]

Was there a problem with showing games on 7mate? Flicking between Afl on HD and NRL on SD was like night and day so they better keep the HD broadcast for all games

Channel flickers don't generally search through the alternate channels, so it depresses viewer numbers somewhat, i.e. it reduces discoverability of the telecast.

 

[Caiphus]

I have never understood this. Before analogue was turned off, I understood there were some people who had not upgraded to receive HDDTV and unable to view 73. Everyone has access to 73 now, so don't get the distinction between having programmes on 73 or the "main" channel.
In any case, whilst they may say games will be on Ch7, I believe that is in reference to the whole network, not just the main channel.
I don't think we've been getting any games (maybe an ANZAC day or Easter game) on 7's main channel up here. Brisbane has had all Lions games since Ch9 had the rights, (as have The Suns).

I think there is no change for us.

There was limited bandwidth available for each network to be able to broadcast a single HD channel depending on how many additional channels were being operated , and fear factor that old people would buy cheap SD only capable set top boxes for their CRT TV's. The decision was made by the stations the instead of duplicating their main channels in SD and HD with their limited bandwidth they would make a secondary channel their single hd available channel mainly so they could make sure that their main channel ratings weren't affected by old, cheap Shitty SD boxes that were still digital but couldn't downscale the picture. Then they all opted for a shitty infomercial channel when they were given more bandwidth rather than make their main channel HD.

With the analogue shut down and the sell off to the mobile networks and NBN of the 800mhz frequency there is less concern about noise from increasing the bandwidth available on the standard digital TV broadcast frequencies that the networks are allowed to have more than one HD channel in the near future (this is just from memory so I may be wrong and CBF'ed looking up the ACMA regs).

My main issue is that even if 7 broadcast in HD on 7mate previously, many games were not filmed in HD (or downscaled before being unscaled essentially keeping them SD) if they were 7 produced games. Foxtel would share their HD footage for rebroadcast when they were foxtel produced games (our lack of channel 7 slot games being an advantage here) so they would actually be in hd on FTA. Hopefully 7 will now actually be keeping the footage at HD AND sharing the HD footage with foxtel instead of giving them a Shitty SD feed to rebroadcast.

 

[dlanod]

Brisbane and the Suns want extra funding to bring their football department budgets in line with the rest of the competition as the carve-up of the richest media deal in Australian sports history begins.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...-of-tv-deal-cash/story-fni5ezdm-1227489153176

 

[knaf]

I'd just like to point out to all the nay sayers about us folding that we're worth to the AFL close to half whatever the difference in price between the AFL TV deals and the NRL TV deals end up being, which given the figures being bandied around appears to be close to half of $500b. After all the main difference between the two codes from purely a TV point of view is a) an extra game a week (lost without us), and b) national coverage into all the major cities (lost without us).

It is interesting that supposed wheelers and dealers such as Eddie (and the majority of Melbourne based football supporters for that matter) don't get or deny this analysis. AFL needs Brisbane more than they need Collingwood. Without teams in Queensland and NSW the AFL is on a slippery slide to becoming the third or fourth ranked sport in Australia.

Ps philcara16 good thread.

 

[dlanod]

It is interesting that supposed wheelers and dealers such as Eddie (and the majority of Melbourne based football supporters for that matter) don't get or deny this analysis. AFL needs Brisbane more than they need Collingwood. Without teams in Queensland and NSW the AFL is on a slippery slide to becoming the third or fourth ranked sport in Australia.

Ps philcara16 good thread.

Eddie probably does get that. He's not a stupid man. He's just interested in what's best for Collingwood to exclusion of all others, which includes weakening every other club in the land as best he can get away with. If that involves picking easy targets to handicap, he's all for it. I can't comment on the traditional state football supporters though - many of them that I've encountered don't strike me as being remotely aware of it.

 

[Balony_pony16]

Qld and NSW teams get their games live on CH7 in their markets
Hallelujah! I understand many Queensland based supporters have been lobbying for years to have all games live and on CH7 as opposed to 7Two or 7Mate.

Why does this matter?

 

[dlanod]

Why does this matter?

More viewers.

 

[Balony_pony16]

I wonder if they can work out how much of the $$$ is attributed to QLD coverage? Each club should get a % of the $$$ attributed to the state it is in

 

[Balony_pony16]

More viewers.

people too lazy to change channels I guess. I suppose having it on Ch7 people might accidentally leave the TV on and have the Lions playing and thus be exposed to it. Living in SA I would love some games on 7Mate... they only play Crows, Port & big Vic Clubs down here on FTA

 

[Simba Moyo]

Eddie probably does get that. He's not a stupid man. He's just interested in what's best for Collingwood to exclusion of all others, which includes weakening every other club in the land as best he can get away with. If that involves picking easy targets to handicap, he's all for it. I can't comment on the traditional state football supporters though - many of them that I've encountered don't strike me as being remotely aware of it.

Moving up from Melbourne to Brisbane ten years ago, I just couldn't believe the lack of sporting culture bar state of origin. Its a massive culture shock now everytime I go back to see friends/relatives and everyone is casually wearing club scarfs down the street.

The two cities couldn't be more different

 

[Balony_pony16]

Moving up from Melbourne to Brisbane ten years ago, I just couldn't believe the lack of sporting culture bar state of origin. Its a massive culture shock now everytime I go back to see friends/relatives and everyone is casually wearing club scarfs down the street.

The two cities couldn't be more different

yeah I noticed the same after moving from QLD to SA. QLD is just a bad sporting state compared to others, and only really get behind teams that are winning

 

[dlanod]

people too lazy to change channels I guess. I suppose having it on Ch7 people might accidentally leave the TV on and have the Lions playing and thus be exposed to it. Living in SA I would love some games on 7Mate... they only play Crows, Port & big Vic Clubs down here on FTA

Partly that, partly channel flippers who might watch the AFL if it's on only going through the main channels.

 

[Balony_pony16]

I'd just like to point out to all the nay sayers about us folding that we're worth to the AFL close to half whatever the difference in price between the AFL TV deals and the NRL TV deals end up being, which given the figures being bandied around appears to be close to half of $500b. After all the main difference between the two codes from purely a TV point of view is a) an extra game a week (lost without us), and b) national coverage into all the major cities (lost without us).

agree... but the Lions need to start pushing hard for $$$ as part of income not "Handouts". It is great that we develop the game in QLD and thus expand AFLs broadcast market, but we need to start being recognized for this and be paid for it.

It will piss me off when whatever sum of $$ we are given it will be viewed as a handout.

 

[Caiphus]

agree... but the Lions need to start pushing hard for $$$ as part of income not "Handouts". It is great that we develop the game in QLD and thus expand AFLs broadcast market, but we need to start being recognized for this and be paid for it.

It will piss me off when whatever sum of $$ we are given it will be viewed as a handout.

The game only exists as it is now as a function of it becoming national. It isn't quantifiable to what extent an individual club is responsible for the value of the AFL as a whole. That is why the broadcast deals should be an even share.

Compare the Premier League in England (and the Bundesliga in Germany) where broadcast rights are evenly distributed with prize money separate as a function of placing in the league where the gap between the clubs getting champions league money and the rest is much smaller and an overall higher quality competition between Spain and Italy where individual clubs have to negotiate their own broadcast deals and the gap between the top clubs and the rest are so completely huge it isn't funny. I know which model I prefer.

 

[neg99]

On the whole HD thing Malcolm Turnbull just introduced a bill clearing the way for the main channels to move to HD (previously it was a legislative requirement it stayed in SD or was double broadcast). Channel 7 in the presser committed to AFL on the main channel in HD by the start of the agreement (2017) but would likely bring that forward to the start of the 2016 season.

Greg Swann has an interview up on afl.com.au espousing the need to use these funds to help struggling clubs stand on their own two feet. There's going to be a massive fight now on the distribution of these funds and I'm very pleased we have Swann who will argue our POV. The real benefit to us of this deal is it will ultimately lead to clearing debt and putting the right structures in place for us to stand on our own two feet. If that outcome isn't achieved by all struggling clubs off the back of this size windfall then Gillon will be perceived as having failed IMO.

Last point, player payments and salary cap will almost certainly rise as well, likely leading to more Tom Boyd style contracts and increased player movement overall... Strap yourselves in (and keep developing academy kids), anyone who blinks while being asked about their future will have big money flying at them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Skoob]

There was limited bandwidth available for each network to be able to broadcast a single HD channel depending on how many additional channels were being operated , and fear factor that old people would buy cheap SD only capable set top boxes for their CRT TV's. The decision was made by the stations the instead of duplicating their main channels in SD and HD with their limited bandwidth they would make a secondary channel their single hd available channel mainly so they could make sure that their main channel ratings weren't affected by old, cheap Shitty SD boxes that were still digital but couldn't downscale the picture. Then they all opted for a shitty infomercial channel when they were given more bandwidth rather than make their main channel HD.

With the analogue shut down and the sell off to the mobile networks and NBN of the 800mhz frequency there is less concern about noise from increasing the bandwidth available on the standard digital TV broadcast frequencies that the networks are allowed to have more than one HD channel in the near future (this is just from memory so I may be wrong and CBF'ed looking up the ACMA regs).

My main issue is that even if 7 broadcast in HD on 7mate previously, many games were not filmed in HD (or downscaled before being unscaled essentially keeping them SD) if they were 7 produced games. Foxtel would share their HD footage for rebroadcast when they were foxtel produced games (our lack of channel 7 slot games being an advantage here) so they would actually be in hd on FTA. Hopefully 7 will now actually be keeping the footage at HD AND sharing the HD footage with foxtel instead of giving them a Shitty SD feed to rebroadcast.

As recently as 3-4 years ago, despite network capabilities, there were only a small handful of outside broadcast setups actually capable of filming HD. 9 had a couple, and Fox as well. The rest were sub-contracted, and they only had a couple themselves. That contractor has now been bought up by one of (if not the) largest broadcast suppliers globally.

 

[CarloLion]

So I wonder what the odds of us getting the extra FTA game on saturday are now? Will be nice to see a majority of the rounds games on telly, instead of a measly 4.

 

[Skoob]

Partly that, partly channel flippers who might watch the AFL if it's on only going through the main channels.

I wonder if that's a big deal these days though. To me, the concept of "main" channels is obsolete. I surf through channels using the up/down buttons and imagine many others would.
I just think the whole "main" v "alternate" channel is a thing of the past.

 

[neg99]

I wonder if that's a big deal these days though. To me, the concept of "main" channels is obsolete. I surf through channels using the up/down buttons and imagine many others would.
I just think the whole "main" v "alternate" channel is a thing of the past.

Either way this issue is a distant second to actually putting on a show people want to watch. Ratings and attendance will follow success in Brisbane, always has, always will.

I think the difference between the main channel and mate would be a couple percent at most (especially given ratings are done based on average viewers across the time slot IIRC) - play like we have been most of the year and the extra 5% of people who forgot to change the channel will flick off mighty quickly.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Ray Button]

Brisbane and the Suns want extra funding to bring their football department budgets in line with the rest of the competition as the carve-up of the richest media deal in Australian sports history begins.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...-of-tv-deal-cash/story-fni5ezdm-1227489153176

Hell, forget about that. What we need is (i) to stabilise the financial bleeding, and (ii) to get the extra funding to clear up the ourstanding debt.

The rest should then look after itself.