TV rights situation is just ridiculus.

[mattwinter]

The AFL's focus on improving AFL coverage to northern states is great, but the big loosers are South Australia and WA - and the way we have been treated by the AFL and broadcasters is ridiculus. Victorians don't have it that great Either.

Have a look at this weeks schedule:

http://prod.mm.afl.cfour.com.au/afl/docs/2007-Round-2-TV-Schedule.pdf

Note that both New South Wales and Queensland get every single match live.

On Thursday Night, Channel 7 shows the Brisbane game at 8:30 to Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth - Now the AFL is so desperate to push the game into Queensland that it allows this game to be shown live on Fox Sports Plus into Brisbane, where the game is being played, while we who live in the Southern States have to wait to see the delayed coverage.

Saturday Afternoon - the game is shown live into all states by Fox Sports, Sydney is playing so the game is also on channel 10 in NSW - fair enough, although you could argue that if Sydney gets an extra game broadcast on FTA because their team is in it, why shouldn't the Richmond fans get the game shown on FTA as well.

Saturday Night, Every state gets both games live - Geelong v Carlton is on Fox Sports, while West Coast v Collingwood is on Ten into Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane and on Fox Sports Plus into New South Wales. Here is what really gets me furious - The West Coast v Collingwood game does not involve the Sydney Swans, there is nothing 'special' about this game for fans in NSW, yet the AFL feels the need to ensure this game is shown live into NSW, by allowing Foxtel to show two games at once to NSW - one on Fox Sports and another on Fox Sports Plus (Mainevent). Meanwhile, on many occasions this year, viewers in the Southern states will see their local team's match on both Fox Sports and Channel Ten at the same time, while they completely miss out on coverage of the second game (the Ten produced game). The AFL feels the need to ensure that viewers in Sydney do not miss out on games like this, and puts them on Fox Sports Plus - but they don't care at all about viewers in the Southern States.

Sunday - Perth, Brisbane and Sydney all get all three games shown live. The Essendon Fremantle game is shown on 7 while the other two games are shown on Fox Sports. Melbourne gets the Essendon game on a 90 minute delay - prehaps a little bad for them, but it's hardly a disaster. Adelaide sees Port v Kangaroos and the Bulldogs v Adelaide on both Channel 7 and Fox Sports, but there is no coverage whatsoever of Essendon v Fremantle - now this game may not involve South Australian clubs, but the West Coast v Collingwood game didn't involve the Sydney Swans, and the AFL felt the need to force a live telecast of that game into NSW on Fox Sports Plus - even though that game was also shown delayed on Channel 10 into NSW. Meanwhile the AFL just ignores the situation in Adelaide...

The Monday game is shown live everywhere on Ten, except for Melbourne where it is on delay.

So all-in-all I think this situation is ridiculus - the AFL has been so focused on getting good coverage into NSW that it has ignored the fact that coverage is not good in the Southern States - they made improvements to coverage in NSW and QLD, but forgot that the situation was just as bad, if not worse, in South Australia and WA.

To be fair, WA had pretty good coverage this weekend, 7 games live and the Thursday night game on delay - not too bad, but they were lucky in that both the West Coast and Fremantle games were produced by FTA networks, and these FTA networks didn't have to rebroadcast Fox Sport's coverage at all this weekend - however last week they missed out on a game completely and the AFL ignored it. South Australia has missed out on games two weeks in a row.

The AFL needs to step in now, if this situation is not fixed now it will be like this for five years, and that would be a terrible thing to happen. The solution is not complex, the AFL needs simply to use the safeguards they put in place for New South Wales in Southern States as well - Essendon v Fremantle was not shown on FTA into Adelaide this afternoon, if this happened in Sydney then Foxtel would show it on channel 518 - why shouldnt' this happen for Adelaide as well?

This needs to be fixed.

 

[carnthedons07premiers]

The thing that enoys me is that I don't have pay tv My mum wont let me get pay tv, Essendons Last 4 games are on pay tv, Hirds last game is at subi and on pay tv (providing we don't make finals and thats looking unlikely)

 

[carnthedons07premiers]

What happened to greater coverage for all, I reckon not even half the people who watch the footy week in week out have pay tv, This deal favours the wealthier people in this country, FTA should at least have replays after say 11pm

 

[Le KooK]

It's because the AFL takes your support for granted.

If there were any sort of competition for the hearts and minds of sports fans in the southern states they would give more of a ***** about you.

But there is not, so the consideration factor is low.

(BTW everyone in QLD can't wait to watch every enthralling encounter between piddly Victorian clubs)

 

[mattwinter]

The thing that enoys me is that I don't have pay tv My mum wont let me get pay tv, Essendons Last 4 games are on pay tv, Hirds last game is at subi and on pay tv (providing we don't make finals and thats looking unlikely)

Part time job?

You'd make the $13 a week required from one hour of work each week...

Anyway, my complaint is about people having the option of watching games they want to watch - If you have this then at least people without cable can go to bars, go to friends houses etc. And of course the biggest part of my complaint is that NSW has got an amazing broadcast deal while SA and WA have an awful situation ahead of them.

 

[CattyBossDog]

Have a look at this weeks schedule:

http://prod.mm.afl.cfour.com.au/afl/docs/2007-Round-2-TV-Schedule.pdf

Note that both New South Wales and Queensland get every single match live.

WTF?????

We've had 2 games on so far this weekend, and we're not getting tomorrows. Most of our replayed games are on after midnight.


...at least 9 lost the footy. They played the games between 3am and 5am.

 

[mattwinter]

It's because the AFL takes your support for granted.

If there were any sort of competition for the hearts and minds of sports fans in the southern states they would give more of a ***** about you.

But there is not, so the consideration factor is low.

(BTW everyone in QLD can't wait to watch every enthralling encounter between piddly Victorian clubs)

That's true, and as I said in my opening statement it's good that the AFL fought hard for better coverage into Northern States - but they should have to provide at least as good coverage for the Southern States - these are the areas where the AFL can't afford to be disapointing fans.

 

[mattwinter]

WTF?????

We've had 2 games on so far this weekend, and we're not getting tomorrows. Most of our replayed games are on after midnight.


...at least 9 lost the footy. They played the games between 3am and 5am.

Did you even click the link? You get superb coverage compared to what South Australia gets.

 

[CattyBossDog]

Did you even click the link? You get superb coverage compared to what South Australia gets.

Where I live we don't get FOX, we don't get Channel 7, and (yep - you guessed it) we don't get Channel 10.

I live in QLD btw.

 

[thunder33]

I dont have fox and i was really pissed off there was no telecast of the sydney , richmond game therefore no saturday afternoon football on free to air in SA.

 

[NSWCROW]

Take the FOX coverage out of NSW and we'd get SFA !!

SA has the lowest subscription rate for FOX too .....Hmmmmmm

 

[mattwinter]

Where I live we don't get FOX, we don't get Channel 7, and (yep - you guessed it) we don't get Channel 10.

I live in QLD btw.

You don't get fox? What do you mean by that?

Is there actually an area in Australia where the foxtel/austar satellite doesn't reach?

 

[Tas]

I think the most annoying part is they play games that are on in Melbourne on the TV and games on interstate which you can't get to obviously are on pay-tv.

Priority should be given to show local teams playing interestate on free-to-air TV, irrespective of the state.

I think the new TV rights are going to undermine the competition in the heartland states. If I was Soccer Australia I would be thinking that this is really the time to move the sport back to winter, get a good fta deal with 9 to play, set up another team in Melbourne and the Soccer will get a foothold here that that will get stronger and stronger.

Pay-TV money is nice, but they pay what, a third of the money for half the exclusive games plus replays of every game. They came out of it making 7/10 looking like morons.

 

[NeRFaHoLIc]

I'm getting Foxtel soon so I don't have much longer of this crap, though I should have it already but this 0.1mm of rain prevented the lard ass tech to get here.
The thing that annoys me most about the new TV rights deal is the early game or the twilight game not being on FTA. One of those games should have been on FTA. Nothing was better than getting up at 11 watching the Sunday Footy Show (if you liked it), possibly watching Any Given Sunday, or just waiting till 1 and then watching the Footy LIVE!
Now we don't get any footy live on a Sunday on FTA. It'd be good at least if twilight game was live on FTA, be good to watch instead of half this crap shown on Sunday nights.
But as I said, soon I won't have to complain Foxtel should be installing it in about a week
Unless they come up with some other bull**** excuse

 

[crackers57]

The thing that enoys me is that I don't have pay tv My mum wont let me get pay tv, Essendons Last 4 games are on pay tv, Hirds last game is at subi and on pay tv (providing we don't make finals and thats looking unlikely)

I'd say your time might be better spent doing your homework.

 

[footyman]

I agree with you mattwinter, the AFL were so paranoid about the TV rights in the northern states that they neglected the fans in footballs heartland. Amazing how their desire to please a small few comes at the expense of a much larger group of fans who have been pumping money and support behind this competition for years.

It was visible as soon as the contract was announced, it should never have been allowed to slip through.

The joke of all this is how much of a major issue that QLD and NSW fans were going to have to until 10.30pm for a FNF replay on Channel 7 (three hour delay), but it doesn't seem to be an issue that WA fans have to wait until 8.30pm WA Time (three hour delay) for their chance to watch Friday Night Football? If anyone can explain to me the difference I'd love to know what it is.

 

[CattyBossDog]

If anyone can explain to me the difference I'd love to know what it is.

For me to go to an AFL game I have to travel further than someone living in StKilda would have to go if they went to watch a game at the Gabba.


...and I still get sweet FA coverage apart from what's broadcast on the net. With the AFL doing sweet FA with their website it makes it hard to get coverage. I find myself reading the gameday threads here, and refreshing them continually, just to know what's going on in games.

Pretty pathetic huh!

 

[Hap Hapablap]

desi arnaz is that you?

otherwise you bring a few good points. i hope the next tv rights are worked out better than the farce seven and ten did.

 

[whatwhatsaywhat]

the funny one in the northern states now is when sydney's match is a foxtel match - like next sunday.

it means that they're broadcast simultaneously on fox sports 1 and ch 7 at the same time...while the melbourne-geelong match won't be seen until 8.30pm that night, as a replay, on fox 1.

the thing i've found really interesting so far is the consistency of broadcast - everything is on fox sports 1 (and on plus when it's northern states only broadcast).

i wonder whether the afl-brokered deal between 7, 10, and foxtel was that all afl and afl-related (eg. "on the couch") would be seen solely on fox sports 1.

it's much better than what happens with the 2 rugby codes, the epl, and the cricket world cup - they're shifted and shunted between 1, 2, and 3.

 

[Dan26]

I agree that the heartland states seem to be getting shafted. The situation of two games being shown at the same time on Foxtel and fre-to-air while another game is not on at all, is ridiculous. This situation happened today in Adelaide with SA viewers unable to see the Ess-Freo match.

Why couldn't an agreement be done whereby channel 518 (main event) broadcast the Ess vs Freo match into South Australian homes? It's so simple. Same where any of these "double up" matches occur.

I've also notived the FNF ratings in WA are always a bit lower than what they should be, due to the 3 hour delay. They should be able to get FNF on channel 518 (Main Event) live at 5:30pm on Friday nights, with Channel 7 getting some sort of free advertising. After all, if they just broadcast the live Seven signal, with the same advertisements, Seven would benefit from having viewers watch it.

That's exactly what happens (but in reverse) when free-to-air broadcasts the Foxtel signal, such as with todays Dogs vs Crows match into Adelaide. Foxtel would no doubt get more subscribers in WA and Channel 7 would have more people watch its signal if this happened. A 3 hour delay is crap. Hell, I reckon a one hour delay is crap.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Andrew Demtriou doesn't care.

 

[brucetiki]

I dont have fox and i was really pissed off there was no telecast of the sydney , richmond game therefore no saturday afternoon football on free to air in SA.

Yes there was Saturday Arvo footy on FTA in SA - Sturt v West was on ABC.

However, I agree that the new TV rights deal is a disgrace - especially on Sundays. If the broadcast set-up had been reversed (7 do the early/twilight game and Fox do the mid-afternoon game), then it would have been better for all. I can't see why Essendon v Freo couldn't have been shown on Fox Sports+ in SA today.

Also, Fox Sport's coverage of the AFL has been very disappointing. I expected the same amount of replays the NRL has has during the week - but only one replay on Tuesday's is very dissappointing.

 

[alley_cat]

I agree that the heartland states seem to be getting shafted. The situation of two games being shown at the same time on Foxtel and fre-to-air while another game is not on at all, is ridiculous. This situation happened today in Adelaide with SA viewers unable to see the Ess-Freo match.

Why couldn't an agreement be done whereby channel 518 (main event) broadcast the Ess vs Freo match into South Australian homes? It's so simple. Same where any of these "double up" matches occur.

I've also notived the FNF ratings in WA are always a bit lower than what they should be, due to the 3 hour delay. They should be able to get FNF on channel 518 (Main Event) live at 5:30pm on Friday nights, with Channel 7 getting some sort of free advertising. After all, if they just broadcast the live Seven signal, with the same advertisements, Seven would benefit from having viewers watch it.

That's exactly what happens (but in reverse) when free-to-air broadcasts the Foxtel signal, such as with todays Dogs vs Crows match into Adelaide. Foxtel would no doubt get more subscribers in WA and Channel 7 would have more people watch its signal if this happened. A 3 hour delay is crap. Hell, I reckon a one hour delay is crap.

Good point my family was a victim of the double up of the Adelaide match today, being Essendon supporters (though not myself) they had to wait until 7.30 to see the game. I know the Crows are the team de jour over here but not everyone follows them and having their game on not one but two channels was a bit of an over kill not to mention a stomach turner (but that is for another board )

I like to think that one day the desires of the supporters will be listened too, OK a number don't want Foxtel to have rights but that issue aside with "3" channels able to broadcast the footy the fact that some games slip through the cracks is shameful and from an Adelaide point of view if Crows or Port FNF games are able to be shown live then doesn't that mean ALL games should be able to be shown live.

With the movement of people across the country with work among other reasons. there are more and more people following teams not based in the state they live and I would think they have some rights too, or am I being too idealistic???

 

[CF]

Where I live we don't get FOX, we don't get Channel 7, and (yep - you guessed it) we don't get Channel 10.

I live in QLD btw.

I live in FNQ as well and I get Austar which broadcasts foxsports. Surely you get that? To not get those stations you must live on some remote station or something?

 

[Blue Dawn]

For me to go to an AFL game I have to travel further than someone living in StKilda would have to go if they went to watch a game at the Gabba.


...and I still get sweet FA coverage apart from what's broadcast on the net. With the AFL doing sweet FA with their website it makes it hard to get coverage. I find myself reading the gameday threads here, and refreshing them continually, just to know what's going on in games.

Pretty pathetic huh!

What's REALLY pathetic is that i live in Melbourne and i get coverage of an insulting 7 of 22 fixtures on FTA this year!!!! AFL PRICKS!

If i lived in the middle of nowhere in Qld my expectations would be totally different.