Foxtel gone

[JohnK]

From The Age:

Foxtel to close AFL channel
August 23, 2006



Pay television provider Foxtel will close its dedicated AFL channel at the end of the season.

While Foxtel is still trying to secure subscription rights beyond this year, it announced today the Fox Footy channel would cease to exist.

Foxtel had been in negotiations with Channels Seven and Ten, which will take over the television rights from Channel Nine from 2007-11 in a record $780 million deal.

"The positions taken by Seven and Ten and the delays and uncertainty over the future have left Foxtel with no option but to close its dedicated AFL Fox Footy Channel at the end of this season," Foxtel announced in a statement.

Nine's parent company PBL part-owns Foxtel.

Are they bluffing?

 

[Alex99]

From The Age:



Are they bluffing?

No, it's on www.afl.com and been all over the radio


Fox Footy to close
3:37:28 PM Wed 23 August, 2006
Ashley Browne
Sportal for afl.com.au

Foxtel will close the its AFL-only Fox Footy Channel at the end of the season because of the uncertainty over pay-TV rights to televise AFL football from next year through until 2007.

Foxtel has been negotiating unsuccessfully with the Seven and Ten networks for a slice of the AFL TV pie from next year but, after two offers were rebuffed by the free-to-air networks, has decided to close Fox Footy on 30 September, AFL Grand Final Day.

Foxtel has indicated that it will continue to negotiate to televise AFL football in 2007, but any coverage would be part of the new Fox Sports 3 station that launches on 1 October.

Foxtel was part of the Channel Nine consortium that was outbid by Seven and Ten in January 2006 for the new five-year contract from 2007-11. As part of that bid, Fox Footy would have televised four live matches a week.

A similar offer was rejected by Seven and Ten earlier this year while more recently, an offer for three live matches per week – the same as the current deal - was also rejected by the networks.


As a result, Foxtel now believes a station devoted solely to AFL football is no longer financially viable if it has to pay a high premium to televise three matches exclusively each week.

"A major factor in the closure of Fox Footy Channel is Australia’s restrictive sports broadcasting law that give the free-to-air TV networks the power over TV sports rights and their allocation to subscription television," the network said in a statement.

"The law stopped Foxtel and the AFL from dealing directly with each other to achieve certainty for subscription television coverage of the AFL."

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said Fox Footy was a "tremendous partner" for the last five years and its closure was disappointing.

"This is a very sad day for everyone involved in the game because of the exposure that Fox Footy provided for AFL football across the country, and particularly so for the staff at Fox Footy who have invested so much time and energy into broadcasting three matches per week, as well as many hours of live television across White Line Fever, On the Couch, Saturday Central and League Teams," he said.

Fox Footy was launched in early 2002 and among the high-profile AFL identities involved in the station were Ron Barassi, Gerard Healy, Robert Walls, Tony Shaw, Rodney Eade, Wayne Schwass, Kevin Bartlett, Alastair Lynch, Bob Davis, Doug Hawkins, David Parkin, Mike Sheahan and Caroline Wilson.

 

[arrowman]

I don't think they are bluffing, I think Fox Footy has always been a loss maker, they were probably going to shut it down anyway and they are using the 7/10 negotiations as an excuse.

Plus maybe they think it can put pressure on 7/10 in the rights negotiation.

Also an exercise in putting pressure on the AFL/government about anti-siphoning.

 

[PAFC2004]

Fox Footy was a good idea, but was never really a great channel. The exclusive programming was poor. The only thing that will be missed are the non Crows/Port games that they air here, for fans of other clubs.

 

[AndrewJo]

Fox Footy was a good idea, but was never really a great channel. The exclusive programming was poor. The only thing that will be missed are the non Crows/Port games that they air here, for fans of other clubs.

Not only fans of other clubs..... I thoroughly enjoy seeing all the games during the week that I want to see. They will be missed.

 

[jc67]

It was the main reason I got Fox.
I wonder if i can get out of my contract?

 

[The Crows Truth]

I don't think they are bluffing, I think Fox Footy has always been a loss maker, they were probably going to shut it down anyway and they are using the 7/10 negotiations as an excuse.

Plus maybe they think it can put pressure on 7/10 in the rights negotiation.

Also an exercise in putting pressure on the AFL/government about anti-siphoning.

good call. i agree

 

[Portia]

By taking the hit to subscription now it definitely makes it much more difficult for Seven/Ten to gouge as much cash out as they wished to.

Before this the big factors were Seven/Ten wanting to save money vs Foxtel wanting to keep all of its subscribers. Foxtel let go of their end of the rope, now its up to Seven/Ten to stay on their feet.

I don't reckon the winner can be the home viewer now.

 

[macca23]

Kim Williams, the CEO of Fox Footy has just been on White Line Fever explaining the decision to close Fox Footy.

Apparently Fox Footy had a deal with Ch 9 that if 9 had got the rights that it would get 4 games live per week as from 2007 years onward for the same amount of money that it has been paying for the past 5 years.

Channels 7 and 10 will only offer them 3 games live per week - and they have traditionally been the 3 lowest rating games per week. The response of Fox Footy has been to offer half of what they previously paid to 9 if 3 is the number, which it is. They have been negotiating since February and the matter is still unresolved. Williams says that their rights to show AFL footy expire at the end of the season, so they will have no ability to show AFL footy.

The response of Fox Footy to this stalemate is that it will no longer operate as a dedicated footy station and if Foxtel do eventually get the rights to the remaining 3 games that they will be on a new yet to be created Foxtel Channel, Fox Sports 3, but it will not be a dedicated footy channel, as it will show other sports beside Footy.

Clinton Grybas asked what was the future of shows such as White Line Fever. Williams was a little coy, but did say that certain specialty shows apart from live games would still be shown on Fox Sports 3, without nominating which ones. I think it would be fair to say that White Line Fever and On the Couch are very likely to be on the new channel. What will obviously be missing is the multitude of a large variety of replays both past and present that many people love.

So all is not lost. Fox subscribers will still be able to see the 3 Fox games live plus the best of the specialty shows.

One would think that with all this fuss about cost, that Fox Sports 3 will be included free of charge in the basic Foxtel package.

 

[Drummond]

Thanks for clearing it up macca, makes a lot more sense now. I was watching but didn’t really pay attention as I was too busy reading the messages down the bottom. Sad reading indeed.

I for one will really struggle without FFC, it’s about the only channel I watch and whenever there’s nothing on I’ll just turn on Fox Footy. This will have serious implications for developing markets and this indeed is a very bad situation for Aussie Rules. Was a pretty big honour to have a channel dedicated to AFL and it’s shattering that it’s gone.

Thanks for a great 5 years Fox Footy.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I have been looking for an excuse to cancel my Fox subscription - this is the straw and I'll thank them all the way to the bank....the value has been continually deteriorating anyway

 

[Crow-mo]

every major cable/satellite network in the western world, uses prime sports as the anchor of it's platform offerings to get subscribers.

very, very adventurous gamble from fox here.

 

[JohnK]

very, very adventurous gamble from fox here.

I can't read you meaning there, Crow-mo.
Very adventurous, yes, but do you think this is a bluff?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Expect the new Fox Sports 3 to = old C7. Shield Cricket as it's main stay in the summer and AFL in the winter. You will mainly have AFL between Friday and Monday night/Tuesday morning. You might get live Friday night games around the country like C7 did. From Saturday morning to Monday, one maybe two live/replay broadcasts of each game. You will probably see a Monday night On the Couch type program and maybe a Thursday night League Teams show. Tuesday to Friday will be other sports. On the weekend, some O's live sports will mean the replay of an AFL game is at 4am instead of at 10pm as currently scheduled on FFC.

At production costs of $50m p.a, and current rights cost of $35m p.a, FFC has lost over $100m over 5 years. They offered 7/10 less money for the rights to 3 games per year, than what they are paying for this years rights. No wonder 7/10 told them to get stuffed. Moday's Fin Review had a very good article on the whole breakdown of negotiations.

With the current anti-siphoning rules and the relatively low uptake of cable tv in Oz, Foxtel can't afford to keep making these losses. Fox Sports is run by Packer and Murdoch, it will be interesting to see how much hardball they play with 7/10, especially if ESPN are out of the equation.

Edit: C7 was channel 7's old cable channel on Optus that used to broadcast several games live each week with a few replays and had Inside Football with Peter Doneghan and Robert Walls on Monday night and League Teams with Doneghan and Crackers Keenan. It died when 7 lost the rights five seasons ago.

 

[Mad Dog]

I have been looking for an excuse to cancel my Fox subscription - this is the straw and I'll thank them all the way to the bank....the value has been continually deteriorating anyway

I'm with you WW - I cancelled my subscription a few years back when they started hiving off channels and packaging them with 5 channels of crap and charging 12 bucks for it.

As an original Galaxy subscriber - the final straw was when they started charging extra for the movies package....

While they have a monopoly - they'll keep bending over their subscribers.

I have vowed to take it up again if ever I can't watch the AFC free to air......but fortunately that day looks even further away than before.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I'm with you WW - I cancelled my subscription a few years back when they started hiving off channels and packaging them with 5 channels of crap and charging 12 bucks for it.

As an original Galaxy subscriber - the final straw was when they started charging extra for the movies package....

While they have a monopoly - they'll keep bending over their subscribers.

I have vowed to take it up again if ever I can't watch the AFC free to air......but fortunately that day looks even further away than before.

The movie channels are absolute crap now even having "series" on them rather than full movies

I only took FF because Adelaide supporters do not get to see Adel V WC / Sydney, Brisbane, Freo...games whilst living in Victoria.

But it is getting harder and harder to justify putting my hand in my pocket.

 

[Crow-mo]

I can't read you meaning there, Crow-mo.
Very adventurous, yes, but do you think this is a bluff?

yep. sports is the anchor of the subscriber base.

now they might be thinking of pressing on without this, but it would be breaking new ground. a lot of guys would be putting their jobs on the line.

AFL is the big draw card, sports wise in Australia. fox footy was meant to be the honey trap for subscribers. that's why they were prepared to ante up some serious loot.

now, well I just can't see them cutting things off. sure fox3, will have some games, the question will be, is that enough. I acn't think running repeats of 1980's games cost them too much to do.

maybe they will, but it's hard to see the strategic sense when it was so important to them a few months ago, now it's not?

i don't get it.

 

[jenny61_99]

We got Optus (way back when) because Fox wasnt available in our area. In those days they had the footy channel and we LOVED it. Only reason we got it. In QLD we were getting VERY limited coverage of AFL. The Friday and Saturday night games were shown at midnight (in fact on Channel 9 on Friday nights this is almost always the case! - Ch10 have only this year started showing the Sat night game live even if it doesnt involve Brisbane). Then the footy channel moved to Fox and we were going to have to pay for it (on top of the other package). The first year we paid $9.95 a month for the whole year. The second year we paid $19.95 per month for the footy season. The following year, it was FREE on Fox. So we recently upgraded to Fox Digital on Optus. Seriously the only reason we got cable in the first place was for the footy. It is THE most watched channel in our household and it currently costs us $113 per month for the priveledge (sp).. Sure we watch the movies (we get two free Box Office ones a month) and my son is addicted to the Disney Channels... but our main source of viewing enjoyment is Fox Footy Channel.

We watch every game, every weekend. And always watch The Winners, White Line Fever and On the Couch. Hubby watches the old farts and Headliners. Needless to say we are devastated at this news.

Macca - I watched that interview on WLF the other night and I didnt hear them say anything about Fox3 having 3 live games a week... did you hear that from another source? And then of course - that wasn't a given, they were saying it COULD be the case if negotiations are successful.

 

[macca23]

Macca - I watched that interview on WLF the other night and I didnt hear them say anything about Fox3 having 3 live games a week... did you hear that from another source? And then of course - that wasn't a given, they were saying it COULD be the case if negotiations are successful.

They said on WLF that would be the case if the rights went to Foxtel. The CEO of Fox Footy seemed confident that would be the case IMO. In the article in the Financial Review it was more definitive, and said that was what they believed would happen.

I don't believe that Foxtel can afford NOT to have live footy amongst its programs, or they would lose subscribers in massive hunks. What we will lose IMO is the 24 hour service of replays old and current, due to the loss of a dedicated channel.

 

[jenny61_99]

They said on WLF that would be the case if the rights went to Foxtel. The CEO of Fox Footy seemed confident that would be the case IMO. In the article in the Financial Review it was more definitive, and said that was what they believed would happen.

I don't believe that Foxtel can afford NOT to have live footy amongst its programs, or they would lose subscribers in massive hunks. What we will lose IMO is the 24 hour service of replays old and current, due to the loss of a dedicated channel.

*sigh* I wonder if they will still have REPLAYS of ALL the games?

And hi! (waves) Hope to see you in Melbourne again in oh.... 6 weeks!

 

[relapse]

Fox Footy was a good idea, but was never really a great channel. The exclusive programming was poor. The only thing that will be missed are the non Crows/Port games that they air here, for fans of other clubs.

Obvious you dont have it, On the couch is the best football show on any television channel and saturday central is another fantastic show. Also stuff like the winners and headliners were also great programs.