News New AFL TV Rights Deal (2017-2022) - 2.508 Billion

[BC__]

Employee number?

lol reads like that, i just hope it's still unmetered for the next few years or im out

 

[Bring_Back_Brad]

There do appear to have been some genuine technical difficulties ...

(1) The video codecs used by the AFL broadcasters clearly struggle with the LED advertising boards. Any video that's got a closeup of those LED sign boards in the background collapses after a few seconds. It's happened all year.

(2) We have seen from the video review process that they lose significant signal fidelity when recording / playing back the video in that review. You look at a slo-mo and the ball looks clear ... Then a few moments later they go back to the same slow mo shot and the ball is blurred to buggery. There's a BigFooty thread about it here

that is technical incompetence not difficulty... theres a difference.
every other major sporting code around the world shoots and broadcasts in hd, no reason australia can't as well

 

[vjknight]

re:the news allocation of the 3:20 sat game to the highest/preferred bidder.

whats the chance that becomes our semi permanent fixture (assuming we are going ok), with news often given the blockbuster game of the week, whether its here or interstate. its all about the ratings.

food for thought.

 

[Maggie5]

Just a point.... people talk about the AFL bending over for a particular broadcaster. The AFL has to keep a competitive environment for the rights in the long term. If Murdoch gets it stitched up then the price will fall. If they give it to Kerry Stokes then the price will fall. If you want to know why, then you only have to look at your local supermarkets. Woolies and Coles have had it stitched up for ages and both make a fortune. It becomes harder and harder for outside players to come in. Aldi came in because it was a huge overseas player but we're never going to get a real competitive market in supermarket retail and in the long term, grocery prices are going to rise. In the footy world, we have channel 9 that is an option but there really isnt too many outside players that can handle broadcast rights. As the options for the AFL decrease, Murdoch and Stokes and Telstra will gradually screw the price down. In fact, the only thing that it keeping the price up is that the AFL is saying to Stokes that it will go full subscription with Foxtel. On the other side, Foxtel needs AFL to survive. Thats good for the AFL but it's a house of cards if Rupert decides to cash in his chips and go elsewhere where he can find a sport that he can buy. He's done that in the past with rugby league. It's all a balance for the AFL. It might seem like it is bending over but it needs to keep these guys happy and interested, while trying to foster competition for the next rights.

Not completely right, the federal government has legislation in place that certain sports must be on free to air, so the AFL has to include one of the FTA broadcasters. AFL, one is of them.

 

[wicksy]

The lack of streaming options is a worry. The AFL should have opened it up to allow streaming to smart TVs, Apple TV, rokus, Android tv streamers etc.

Complete lack of foresight over where things are heading.

THIS!!!!

They are already well behind international sport and have just committed to another 6 years of it. It's really quite unbelievable given the writing on the wall.
I for one, will be ditching Foxtel in protest and VPNing the s**t out of the international streaming option.

 

[MagpieJoel]

Agreed wicksy. Even the international streaming is pretty limited with it only really being on PCs and smart phones.

 

[wicksy]

I'm a telstra customer and I must say i love the afl app live pass as its unmetered with telstra. $90 a year or round about. every game live and replays. ruddy gold if you ask me. never get buffering when i watch it on my phone, will say over wifi it sometimes does buffer very rarely if there's more than just me using the wifi but thats just my shyt net. When it happens i just hotspot my phone to my tablet and its happy days

My God... Could you be any more transparent Andrew Penn?!

 

[MagpieJoel]

I'm a telstra customer and I must say i love the afl app live pass as its unmetered with telstra.

Yeah, but most of us want to actually see it on the big screen. Watching it on a phone isn't easy.

 

[ppoiter]

Agreed wicksy. Even the international streaming is pretty limited with it only really being on PCs and smart phones.

I do it on a TV which has internet access. You can use chrome to go to the website, login as normal and select the highest quality stream available. Works like a charm (usually)

 

[wicksy]

Agreed wicksy. Even the international streaming is pretty limited with it only really being on PCs and smart phones.

Massive NBA fan here and while their international streaming is quite expensive (nothing a quick proxy-country change can't fix), NBA League Pass is probably the greatest thing on the planet - outside T&A. It astounds me the AFL hasn't taken note.... Regardless of the wads of cash being offered up by Skeletor.

 

[wicksy]

I do it on a TV which has internet access. You can use chrome to go to the website, login as normal and select the highest quality stream available. Works like a charm (usually)

No you don't.

 

[ppoiter]

No you don't.

Yes I do

 

[wicksy]

Yes I do

Don't

 

[MagpieJoel]

I do it on a TV which has internet access. You can use chrome to go to the website, login as normal and select the highest quality stream available. Works like a charm (usually)

Thanks for the info. My plasma is a bit old for that. I have done it via a laptop, but would like something a bit more family friendly.

 

[ppoiter]

Apart from the mind-numbing experience of navigating the internet using a tv remote and the loop of hawthorns recent premiership highlights they play during every break, its actually really good

 

[wicksy]

Yes I do

But seriously.... Are you telling me you are streaming live games from the AFL website on your TV - In Australia?

 

[ppoiter]

But seriously.... Are you telling me you are streaming live games from the AFL website on your TV - In Australia?

No on watchafl.com from overseas. That's what I assumed you meant when you said you planned on using a vpn

 

[wicksy]

No on watchafl.com from overseas. That's what I assumed you meant when you said you planned on using a vpn

Oh shite... Sorry mate... I completely misunderstood you... Thought you were saying you streamed in Australia onto your TV. My bad.

 

[Markfs]

Not completely right, the federal government has legislation in place that certain sports must be on free to air, so the AFL has to include one of the FTA broadcasters. AFL, one is of them.

Have you seen how many times the media ownership laws have changed in the last 20 years? There was a time when you had to be an Australian company to own media in Australia. Now we have an American - Rupert Murdoch - running most of the newspapers and the major cable network. Rules change. Rupert is happy to "partner" the AFL if the AFL delivers the package. My point is that if Foxtel "chooses" to pay a lower price for AFL, what other options does the AFL have? Digital media changes quickly and Foxtel mightnt have the same power in the future that it currently has. However, there are not many media outlets that can afford to pay the money that the AFL wants. In fact, the requirement that the AFL has to include a FTA broadcaster might even bring down the house of cards even faster.

 

[wicksy]

Have you seen how many times the media ownership laws have changed in the last 20 years? There was a time when you had to be an Australian company to own media in Australia. Now we have an American - Rupert Murdoch - running most of the newspapers and the major cable network. Rules change. Rupert is happy to "partner" the AFL if the AFL delivers the package. My point is that if Foxtel "chooses" to pay a lower price for AFL, what other options does the AFL have? Digital media changes quickly and Foxtel mightnt have the same power in the future that it currently has. However, there are not many media outlets that can afford to pay the money that the AFL wants. In fact, the requirement that the AFL has to include a FTA broadcaster might even bring down the house of cards even faster.

Why can't the AFL just cut out the middle man and distribute themselves?
They'd make a pretty penny if they set up streaming services (partnering with Telstra still) and charged $100-200 per user, per season.

Let's assume you got 500,000-1,000,000 subscribers worldwide (@ $200)... $100,000,000 - $200,000,000
Fox are still going to want their cut otherwise they can kiss a significant portion of profit goodbye + FTA + Radio... It's a gold mine!!!

They're idiots.

 

[MagpieJoel]

Oh shite... Sorry mate... I completely misunderstood you... Thought you were saying you streamed in Australia onto your TV. My bad.

If he has a VPN or smart dns (ie. getflix) he would be able to do it in Aus.

 

[TheWoodsOf72]

Can someone explain why it's so difficult for 7 to step into 2015 and present the game in HD? It's ridiculous. So much is done by the AFL to try and present that game in a way that's more attractive to fans yet on free to air where the game is reaching the majority of people it looks like s**t compared to other sports.

I believe its the money. They pay per spectrum per data. The more data the more dollars. No HD on free to air until 2017, with a small chance in 2016

 

[Markfs]

Why can't the AFL just cut out the middle man and distribute themselves?
They'd make a pretty penny if they set up streaming services (partnering with Telstra still) and charged $100-200 per user, per season.

Let's assume you got 500,000-1,000,000 subscribers worldwide (@ $200)... $100,000,000 - $200,000,000
Fox are still going to want their cut otherwise they can kiss a significant portion of profit goodbye + FTA + Radio... It's a gold mine!!!

They're idiots.

well you got the first $200m.... only $2.1billion to go...

The problem is that people are making comparisons with the NBA etc who have the rights stitched up in the city where they play the games. I went to Denver years ago and never saw a Broncos game on tv unless they were playing away from home. The same with Mets games when I went to new york. They dont televise home games on free to air. People are hanging it on the AFL but if it ran it like the US sports then Melbourne people wouldnt see anything on free to air.

I understand that there are a lot of people like yourself who are willing to part with cash to watch footy. I'm not one of them. I prefer to have ordinary standard definition and have it free, rather than have some super dooper sexed-up thing that whispers my name and then silently extracts $100 a month from my account...... btw this is the murdoch preferred model of doing business

 

[76woodenspooners]

well you got the first $200m.... only $2.1billion to go..

There's a '6' missing from your equation (number of seasons) but your point still stands.

I understand that there are a lot of people like yourself who are willing to part with cash to watch footy. I'm not one of them. I prefer to have ordinary standard definition and have it free, rather than have some super dooper sexed-up thing that whispers my name and then silently extracts $100 a month from my account...... btw this is the murdoch preferred model of doing business

Agree that not everybody is willing or able pay a subscription fee ...

... however, the game of AFL has so much opportunity to create a premium service.

You've got folks like wicksy who would pay good money to stream the game onto their smart fridge. There'd be plenty of folks who would pay good money to not have to listen to McAvaney. You'd have folks who would toss in a few gold coins to have a feed that has the video synchronised with all the game audio feeds so you could have your choice of commentary. You'd have folks who would pay a generous donation to CFC plus a bit to hear "Press Red for Ed" every once in a while. You'd have plenty of folks like me and Knightmare who would pay good money to have coverage that wasn't stuck in the 1980's - the game has become very strategic over the last 20 years but you miss a lot of it on the current feed. Show wider angles, give me multi-channel selection (just as some overseas sports have been doing for over 20 years). Etc, etc.

 

[BoxMatrix]

Massive NBA fan here and while their international streaming is quite expensive (nothing a quick proxy-country change can't fix), NBA League Pass is probably the greatest thing on the planet - outside T&A. It astounds me the AFL hasn't taken note.... Regardless of the wads of cash being offered up by Skeletor.

The AFL does have something like League Pass; watchafl.afl.com.au

I tried it for a month. Works pretty well, and the quality is better than channel 7.