New TV deal - serious implications for Lions fans

[BrainOfMorbius]

Lions fans based in Queensland should be aware that the new TV deal with Foxtel appears to bring an end to guaranteed Lions games on free-to-air. Looking at the schedule, I suspect we'll be lucky to get any games on FTA at all prior to round 8, and probably no more than 9-12 games on FTA all year.

This is because Fox Sports 3 does not have the capacity to send a different signal to different states as Fox Footy did over the last TV deal, which enabled Ten and Foxtel to swap games if Ten wasn't covering the Lions game nationally.

 

[Chezzalenko Reborn]

Well thats just pathetic. I can't help but feel let down by 7 and 10 here. But then again, I'm still pissed at them during the Finals Series. I tune in for a good game of footy..... BAM! American f***ing Sweethearts......

 

[maroon and blue]

Surely this can't be true, if it is then kiss goodbye to growing the game in Qld.

 

[tristanturtleman]

Can someone help/clarify for me?

The big issue over the years in Brisbane has been the late telecast of Friday night games.

Is it true that 7 will restrict Foxtel from sending anything live into Brisbane on a Friday night?

Are we resigned to having to stay up late to see the end of a game again this year?

 

[The Flying Belgian]

Lions fans based in Queensland should be aware that the new TV deal with Foxtel appears to bring an end to guaranteed Lions games on free-to-air. Looking at the schedule, I suspect we'll be lucky to get any games on FTA at all prior to round 8, and probably no more than 9-12 games on FTA all year.

This is because Fox Sports 3 does not have the capacity to send a different signal to different states as Fox Footy did over the last TV deal, which enabled Ten and Foxtel to swap games if Ten wasn't covering the Lions game nationally.

Hey BoM. Nice to see you again. Hope the family is well.

I suspect they'll split that channel into state-by-state coverage. If Foxtel are televising Friday Night Footy in Qld/NSW, Channel 7 are hardly wanting to see the same game televised simultaneously on Foxtel where viewers will, if they have the choice, watch the game without ads. And this will be the case in the "traditional football states".

No real details of the deal (if indeed there is actually one) have been announced, so speculation at this stage is unhealthy. I would have though that Lions games on FTA in Qld would be non-negotiable as far as the AFL is concerned.

Tristanturtleman - regardless of how the right end up, there will be live or "near-live" coverage for us here in Brisbane. Whether that's on FTA or Pay hasn't been officially announced yet. As for the definition of "near-live", well that's up in the air, although I imagine it'd be no more than an hour i.e. 8.30pm at the latest.

 

[tristanturtleman]

Hey BoM. Nice to see you again. Hope the family is well.

I suspect they'll split that channel into state-by-state coverage. If Foxtel are televising Friday Night Footy in Qld/NSW, Channel 7 are hardly wanting to see the same game televised simultaneously on Foxtel where viewers will, if they have the choice, watch the game without ads. And this will be the case in the "traditional football states".

No real details of the deal (if indeed there is actually one) have been announced, so speculation at this stage is unhealthy. I would have though that Lions games on FTA in Qld would be non-negotiable as far as the AFL is concerned.

Tristanturtleman - regardless of how the right end up, there will be live or "near-live" coverage for us here in Brisbane. Whether that's on FTA or Pay hasn't been officially announced yet. As for the definition of "near-live", well that's up in the air, although I imagine it'd be no more than an hour i.e. 8.30pm at the latest.

Many thanks for that - I reckon I can live with an 8.30pm kick off on a Friday night

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

Hey BoM. Nice to see you again. Hope the family is well.

Thanks. I'm enjoying not having to worry about a website! The family is very well.

I suspect they'll split that channel into state-by-state coverage. If Foxtel are televising Friday Night Footy in Qld/NSW, Channel 7 are hardly wanting to see the same game televised simultaneously on Foxtel where viewers will, if they have the choice, watch the game without ads. And this will be the case in the "traditional football states".

My understanding is that Fox Sports 3 can't be split into a different signal for each state like Fox Footy was. The bandwidth that Fox Footy used to send each separate channel is now being used for other things.

There won't be any simultaneous showings. FNF will be live on Foxtel via their Main Event channel in NSW and Qld, as they did with several finals last year. They won't be doing this with their Saturday/Sunday games. If Foxtel have the rights to your team's games it'll be shown on their channel.

What may actually happen is that Ten or Seven will purchase replay rights to Lions/Swans games in their markets, but these replays won't happen until after Foxtel's coverage has concluded. This is especially problematic if it's an early Sunday game - any immediate replay would conflict with Seven's rights to show the V8s, so you can expect any potential Sunday match replay to happen after the evening movie on Seven - around 10.30-11pm.

No real details of the deal (if indeed there is actually one) have been announced, so speculation at this stage is unhealthy. I would have though that Lions games on FTA in Qld would be non-negotiable as far as the AFL is concerned.

I would have thought so too. Let's hope so. It's probably significant, though, that the Seven-Ten bid had to match Nine-Foxtel's in order to be awarded the rights, and it would simply not have been possible for Nine to show every Lions match live on FTA. If Seven-Ten's bid is identical to Nine-Foxtel's, it's hard to see how they can now be obliged to carry Lions games live on FTA.

Tristanturtleman - regardless of how the right end up, there will be live or "near-live" coverage for us here in Brisbane. Whether that's on FTA or Pay hasn't been officially announced yet. As for the definition of "near-live", well that's up in the air, although I imagine it'd be no more than an hour i.e. 8.30pm at the latest.

There will be no delay on Foxtel (FS3 or Main Event) - all games they show will be live, meaning a 7.30 start most of the time.

 

[loyallion]

Lions fans based in Queensland should be aware that the new TV deal with Foxtel appears to bring an end to guaranteed Lions games on free-to-air. Looking at the schedule, I suspect we'll be lucky to get any games on FTA at all prior to round 8, and probably no more than 9-12 games on FTA all year.

This is because Fox Sports 3 does not have the capacity to send a different signal to different states as Fox Footy did over the last TV deal, which enabled Ten and Foxtel to swap games if Ten wasn't covering the Lions game nationally.

How do you know this? Do you work with Foxtel/Austar?

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

I don't know this for sure, but that what all indications are at present. There's an article in today's SMH by Richard Hinds which articulates the problem from a Swans/NSW perspective, which to all intents and purposes is identical to the Lions/Qld one.

 

[Vipertooth]

How many lions game will I see on T.V down here in tassie do you think? I hope its more then last year, cause I barely got to see any.

GO LIONS

 

[Warwick]

Surely there is no way Andy D will let that happen. It will set the code back 20 years if this was the case.

 

[weevil]

Yeah, I seriously, seriously doubt a situation like this would be allowed to arise.

I’ve been wrong (plenty of times even) before but I can not see the AFL or the FTA channels ever agreeing to an arrangement like this.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Nice to see you around again Brain. Hope all is well.

You'd remember me as Grug.

I find this whole TV rights thing confusing. I have the Foxtel Digital Sports package, can I assume I'll be watching all Lions Away games live?

 

[Le KooK]

If FTA coverage decreases for the Lions, I'd expect the support to drop quite a bit....

 

[xplo]

Well Foxtel were set to announce something this morning but have now pulled the plug on that. Even disassembled the little stage that the suit at Foxtel was supposed to make the announcement on.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

Well, according to the AFL site:

Queensland: Three or four matches per week live or near-live on Seven and Ten and five matches per week live on Foxtel. All 22 Lions matches and all matches on the Gold Coast will be shown live or near-live on free-to-air TV. Friday night matches will be live across the state on Foxtel, on a one-hour delay on Seven on the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Cairns, from 11pm in Brisbane and other parts of Queensland. Saturday night matches will be live or near-live on Ten across the entire state.

So, thank goodness for that. Looks like a slightly improved coverage, given the assurance of live FNF on Foxtel. They must have found some way of getting around the signal-splitting issue with Fox Sports 3.

 

[campbell]

I wish they had foxfooty back.

 

[loyallion]

It looks like we will be getting a better deal than what we had before.

 

[Lady Lawrence]

I have an issue with this purely from a Brisbane Metro POV. ALL LIONS games live into Brisbane, up against the gate when we need punters in the door?

 

[campbell]

I have an issue with this purely from a Brisbane Metro POV. ALL LIONS games live into Brisbane, up against the gate when we need punters in the door?

Yeah. We need all our members and supporters at the match.Not deciding, hey its cold or wet or whatever, I will watch it at home.
Maybe we can do some special suck up marketing campaign for all us members.

 

[John]

I have an issue with this purely from a Brisbane Metro POV. ALL LIONS games live into Brisbane, up against the gate when we need punters in the door?

But it has been live or slightly delayed for the last few years so in a sense it is no differant.

 

[campbell]

But it has been live or slightly delayed for the last few years so in a sense it is no differant.

Half and hour or hour hasn't it been. A quarter of footy is a long time in footy, in some matches.

 

[John]

It looks like we will be getting a better deal than what we had before.

Agree.

 

[AB09]

My understanding is that all Lions and Swans games will still be shown live or near live on free-to-air into Bris and Syd as per last year.

It is part of the TV rights agreement.

In addition it was also stipulated that QLD and NSW were also to have live or near live Friday night games broadcast.

During the bidding process Demetriou came out and stipulated that there will be increased coverage of games into the northern states (i.e. Friday nights) and that they will have better coverage than ever before.

 

[Lady Lawrence]

But it has been live or slightly delayed for the last few years so in a sense it is no differant.

I agree it is no different and it has been on a 20 minute delay, bounce at 7:10pm, coverage from 7:30pm.

I was at the AGM the first year we started to go live against the gates and we were assured that during the next round of TV rights negotiations the board and management etc would be fighting for no games against the gate unless sold out.

So have we fought for it, did the AFL overrule and tell us to naff off, etc etc?