C7 gone from Optus

[footyman]

C7 Sports programming deteriorated so much over the last week that Optus now has the new Optus Sports One channel on (same as Fox Sports One). I thought it was meant to change across on April 1, so I'm happy with the bonus of an extra one day game from South Africa. Has C7 gone from Austar as well?

 

[BomberBoy]

Its weird..

C7 went earlier in the week.. But today its back on again, as i was flicking through i saw cycling.

However in our new austar mag i checked, and c7 isnt in there anymore so im supposing they'll get the chop in a few days.

 

[Doggiesrule1020]

Yeah noticed it yesterday as well because i have optus but absolutley love the basketball and was just switching channels to see if anything was on and the basketball (titans vs tigers)which is usually on foxtell was on so i was verry happy.

 

[Bomber Spirit]

C7's gone, the NRL channel hasn't changed over to Optus Sports Two yet; I think that happens tomorrow night.
Unfortunately there's no more NSL (keeping my fingers crossed for the Spirit against the K-Niggets, if we win that we're still a chance), but I enjoyed that basketball game last night. And spinning the remote between the Port v Roos game and the cricket tonight will be good; but I don't think we'll be getting the EPL or Super 12 till Monday. But overall it's definately an improvement.

 

[RichmondTiger5]

Originally posted by footyman
C7 Sports programming deteriorated so much over the last week that Optus now has the new Optus Sports One channel on (same as Fox Sports One). I thought it was meant to change across on April 1, so I'm happy with the bonus of an extra one day game from South Africa. Has C7 gone from Austar as well?

from what i know C7 sport will be gone from Austar on April the 1st which doesn't bother me at all since Austar has the fox footy channel.

 

[you_idiot]

I have some inside information from the folks over at Soccer Australia related to the topic of this thread... but to forewarn you all, it's more like rampant speculation at this point.

If Soccer Australia renegotiates its TV contract from Seven and C7, with Fox Sports being the supposed frontrunner for the NSL TV package, then wouldn't C7 become totally obsolete?

Just some food for thought...

Cheers,
William

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Soccer Australia's TV rights is in a bit of a mess at the moment. C7 is no longer on the air, so anything they hold the rights to can't actually be shown anywhere.
Ch 7 still have the free-to-air rights, although they don't show much of it. If C7 is liquidated, I guess Fox Sports would buy out the pay-TV rights; but being the only pay-TV sports network could significantly negotiate the price down.
But whatever happens, it takes time to negotiate. So it looks like there'll be no NSL finals shown this year .

 

[RadioShark]

C7 Austar is G-O-N-E...

With the arrival of Fox Footy for AUSTAR DELUXE clients...It has seen the demise of C7, This will take effect April 1 2002...

Easy maths there...Even for Lavington fans...

Radio Shark...

ON: F.Footy
OFF: C.Seven

 

[footyman]

C7 didn't want to finish up from what I can gather. Their problems lie with Foxtel who have refused for years to allow C7 to have access to Foxtel customers through a channel on the Foxtel service. The courts gave C7 the access to the Fox cable not long ago, although now the two groups are fighting about which tier of package they are to be a part of.

It works that Foxtel divide a sum of money and distribute it to each of the channel suppliers. Foxtel don't want to allow C7 on the basic package which would take money away from other providers.

If C7 can establish a deal with Foxtel, then I would say C7 will return. Bottom line is that without access to Foxtel customers as well they didn't have a budget sufficient to run a decent sports channel. Fox Sports get just over $10 from Foxtel per customer each month.

There were two or three good stories on this in The Australian a fortnight ago.

 

[you_idiot]

Originally posted by Bomber Spirit
Soccer Australia's TV rights is in a bit of a mess at the moment. C7 is no longer on the air, so anything they hold the rights to can't actually be shown anywhere.
Ch 7 still have the free-to-air rights, although they don't show much of it. If C7 is liquidated, I guess Fox Sports would buy out the pay-TV rights; but being the only pay-TV sports network could significantly negotiate the price down.
But whatever happens, it takes time to negotiate. So it looks like there'll be no NSL finals shown this year .

I have some other contacts on the matter-- in which case, I'll get to the bottom of this whole C7 mess. I'll call my contacts after the holiday weekend (and yes, I'll get to the bottom of the NSL finals-on-TV mess as well).

Cheers,
William

 

[you_idiot]

Update: Optus look like the villains

An update here... not enough for a full story (yet) on the website I work for, but it's interesting on what I've uncovered.

Spoke to my contacts at both Soccer Australia/NSL and C7, and what's happening is that while C7 remains "off the air", they are still producing programming for their pay-TV providers to air free of charge, as long as they have the resources to air the programming. Those programmers are Optus and Austar. At present, Austar has accepted the offer and Optus has refused it.

C7 will still have production trucks at all the league venues this weekend for the final weekend of regular-season league action, as they still need to produce footage for the weekly highlight show that appears Sundays on Seven Network, as well as that channel's new Sunday sports roundup show.

They will remain to find a solution before the finals start on the weekend of April 14. Optus, at this point in time, seems like the villain in all of this, and I wish I knew where they stood on the controversy...

Bottom line is that Seven and C7 losing the AFL has created a vast void in programming that they have not been able to fill. And it's true that Fox has a role to play in the matter, but it's not known to what extent that role is.

More to come, I'm sure.

Cheers,
William

 

[Catman]

What happened to ESPN being on Foxtel from April 1?

When the deal between Optus/Foxtel/Telstra etc was struck it was announced that Foxtel would start broadcasting 3-4 channels that were only available to Optus, one of the was ESPN from April 1 but I have not heard anything since.

Does anyone know what is going on?

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Thanks for the update You_idiot. All very interesting and shows what a mess the current pay-TV situation is.
C7's been struggling to find programming since losing the AFL, and I'm not surprised that Optus dumped them. But unfortunately it means that while C7 aren't on the air at the moment they still exist, and still are producing programs that no-one can see. Eventually that's unsustainable and C7 will collapse, but until then it's a bugger for NSL fans - with no coverage of the finals.

Probably doesn't matter that much - for Spirit to make the finals we need to beat Wollongong and depending on 2 other results. But I'd have loved to have watched the South v Marconi game on Friday night, especially since the current AFL deal doesn't allow live coverage of Essendon v Richmond - would have been a great way to fill the gap until that game starts.
I'll be out at North Sydney Oval on Sunday, but unfortunately the presence of TV cameras won't actually mean that anyone can see the thing on telly.

 

[you_idiot]

Interesting set of links updating the issue today:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/04/02/1017206202125.html

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,4063364%5E2722,00.html

Nothing new to update from my end as a reporter, but it seems to me that Optus is still refusing to comment on what's going on in their camp. And until they have something to say, they will remain as the villains in the matter.

BomberSpirit, good luck to your NSL team, they may very well need it. And I'm saying this from the point of view as an objective reporter. Seriously, it should be a great run-in to the finals-- I plan on being at Bob Jane Stadium on Friday night to work on a couple of story angles on the match and a feature on Marconi's Royce Brownlie, and I think it'll be full of tension in that stadium. Just a shame the fever pitch isn't going to be broadcast live to some.

Cheers,
William

 

[footyman]

NSL to be shown on Optus Channel 42. It is up there now, with a message saying that the coverage will begin tomorrow.

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Originally posted by footyman
NSL to be shown on Optus Channel 42. It is up there now, with a message saying that the coverage will begin tomorrow.

That's good news. Thanks Footyman, that'll give me some entertainment until the footy comes on.
For the first and only time in my life I'll be a Marconi fan for the night. If the Stallions get over the line, we've got to beat Wollongong and hope Parramatta either loses to or draws with the K-Niggets.

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Originally posted by you_idiot
BomberSpirit, good luck to your NSL team, they may very well need it. And I'm saying this from the point of view as an objective reporter. Seriously, it should be a great run-in to the finals-- I plan on being at Bob Jane Stadium on Friday night to work on a couple of story angles on the match and a feature on Marconi's Royce Brownlie, and I think it'll be full of tension in that stadium. Just a shame the fever pitch isn't going to be broadcast live to some.

Cheers,
William

Brownlie didn't play did he? Managed to get the game on Ch42 on Friday night, but don't recall seeing him out there.
The other results didn't run our way, so no Spirit in the finals. Oh well, at least we finished the season on a good note. The Spirit were sensational today, if only we could have played that well all season. At least it sets a positive to build on for next year.