The game is worth more the TV channels than it is to the AFL, so that won't happen. The TV channels lose money broadcasting the football compared to what the get from advertisers who want their ads on during the football, but they make the money back by people staying on the channel to watch other shows.
The AFL may try to also stream every game but it will never be exclusive. What they want to do is handle the complete broadcast and then sell the complete package with commentary to the channels a bit like how the Olympics do it.
The AFL may try to also stream every game but it will never be exclusive. What they want to do is handle the complete broadcast and then sell the complete package with commentary to the channels a bit like how the Olympics do it.
Broadcast television IMO has a very limited lifetime remaining, I include pay-tv in this also. Watching TV shows when a channel decides to air them is quickly becoming a thing of the past, and On Demand services such as Netflix and Stan are set to replace them. People won't be 'staying around to watch other shows', they'll be going back to their streaming service.
Personally I haven't watched a TV show live in a couple of years. I only watch the footy and cricket on broadcast TV, so I'm a net loss for them, and more and more people are becoming this way.
The options will be the AFL selling the rights to one of those streaming services (or perhaps we'll see a new one that specialises in sports), or streaming it themselves.



