Here's Caro's article about Foxtel.....
Foxtel flexes muscle in AFL TV rights bid Caroline Wilson
April 7, 2011AS THE furtive dance that is the AFL broadcast rights negotiations two-steps its way towards a billion-dollar conclusion, there is at least one certain scenario for passionate football fans: and that is Foxtel, Foxtel and more Foxtel.
If the pay-TV broadcaster has its way - and it certainly appears prepared to fund significantly more than half of television money to make up the bulk of the AFL's proposed billion-dollar, five-year deal - Foxtel will televise every AFL game live from March through September, excluding perhaps the grand final.
In what would prove a fillip for fans in NSW and Queensland - for so long denied regular quality prime-time games, not to mention subscribers in Western and South Australia - the proposed Foxtel model would end once and for all the situation where top-shelf games are denied to audiences not prepared to stay up past midnight.
Advertisement: Story continues below The price, of course - and for many it will prove a daunting one - is an annual subscription, something which would become mandatory under the pay broadcaster's dream UK soccer-style model, which is currently prevented under the federal government's anti-siphoning legislation.
That legislation protects big sporting events for audiences without pay TV. But even under the proposed new model, a Foxtel box would appear irresistible.
Foxtel - for the first time permitted to bid directly for five of nine weekly games - has told the AFL it is prepared to pay $500 million for AFL football between 2012 and 2016, but only if its product includes all nine home-and-away games live - a push first revealed by The Age in February.
It is understood both the Seven-Ten consortium and the Nine Network have unofficially agreed to simulcast all AFL finals, including both preliminary finals with pay TV, although the grand final would potentially remain exclusive.
Seven and Ten remain the frontrunners for the free-to-air rights, but the stumbling blocks appear three-fold.
One is the refusal of the networks to share their respective best games with pay TV - in Seven's case Friday night football, and in Ten's case the best of the two Saturday night games.
Industry experts agreed yesterday with Seven's contention that should Foxtel share Friday nights, its audience would be diluted to the degree that it could lose the week's ratings war with Nine because of it. Whether or not that stalemate becomes a deal-breaker for Seven remains unclear. More clear is that Seven chairman Kerry Stokes remains determined to retain the AFL rights.
The second hurdle is that Ten's bid - Seven and Ten are contracted in the first instance to bid together - according to the AFL needs to increase, and new Ten boss Lachlan Murdoch, to date, appears unwilling to do that.
And the third hurdle is that Nine appears willing to make concessions to pay TV that Seven, to date, has not.
What also remains clear is that AFL remains the glittering prize in the crown of Australian sports media rights and everyone wants a piece of it.
And that games must be televised live. Channel Nine's Eddie McGuire slammed the proposed compromise between Seven and the AFL for Friday night games to start 10 minutes later to accommodate prime time, something Nine would not do.
Nine's opponents claim the network would struggle to fund four free-to-air games, but Nine rejects that. Analysts remain unclear over whether Nine is simply pushing up the rights price to ensure that Seven has no money left over for the forthcoming NRL rights.
But, while the defensive tactics being played out right now would probably defeat even Ross Lyon, there are already two clear winners. One, of course, is the AFL which will continue to set impressive Australian records for sporting broadcast rights. And the other one is Foxtel, whose control of the game increases dramatically every five years.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/foxtel-flexes-muscle-in-afl-tv-rights-bid-20110406-1d4hj.html
