Next AFL TV Rights deal

[one-eyed]

Footy live on Channel Nine
  * Brigid O'Connell
  * Sunday Herald Sun
  * February 21, 2010

CHANNEL 9 is poised to offer live Friday night footy in a bid to win the looming $1 billion AFL television rights battle.
 
The network's top secret plan to snatch the lucrative deal from rival Seven is expected to be spearheaded by the switch to live Friday games - a move that will also be a winner with hundreds of thousands of fans.

Most AFL presidents contacted by the Sunday Herald Sun last week backed live Friday footy, while 90 per cent of fans also called for the switch in a Sunday Herald Sun survey.

Nine chiefs have started talks with the AFL over the 2012-2016 deal, expected to be the most expensive in Australian sporting history.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou would not be drawn on any negotiations with Nine, but indicated support for live footy was building.

"Our research has shown us that live or near-live sport does not impact on crowd numbers, but increases the interest and awareness of sport and contributes to greater growth in the long term," he said.

"It is the AFL's view that there is an increasing demand for live sport among fans and AFL fans have been telling us that they wish to see more live football as part of our next rights agreement."

The Sunday Herald Sun believes Nine will guarantee showing Friday night games live in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Nine also plans to show Aussie Rules live in the rugby league-dominated states of New South Wales and Queensland on its digital channel Go!

That practice is banned under anti-siphoning laws which state that sport must be shown on the main television channel at the same time.

But Nine hopes the Federal Government will open the door for sport to be broadcast on digital channels.

"Nine believes that sport is best shown live and that's what the network intends doing," a source said.

Last week, the Sunday Herald Sun reported that football greats were calling for Channel 7 to abandon tradition and broadcast football live instead of Better Homes and Gardens on Friday nights.

Seven has vowed to stick by its delayed telecast strategy, under which games finish well after 11pm.

Geelong president Frank Costa urged Channel 7 to listen to the fans.

"The best way to grow the game is to give people what they want and they want to be able to watch it live and at home," Mr Costa said.

Western Bulldogs president David Smorgon said it was important to show games live to preserve a tradition.

"I'd love to see Friday night games live," he said. "I've got grandkids so I know that when the games finish very late it's disruptive."

Richmond's Gary March said live games helped attract a new generation of fans.

"If there's a 40-minute delay it's pretty hard for the kids.

"We need to keep attracting a younger audience," he said.

But Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett said Seven was entitled to broadcast delayed footy because it owned the rights.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/footy-live-on-channel-nine/story-e6frf9jf-1225830047210

[Penelope]

Channel 9 is a rugby channel. If they get rights those in Qld and NSW will be screwed. Should help GC WS just fine that. Up here they have 1 live and one repeated game of league friday nights so we will get screwed.

 

[one-eyed]

Ten pledges live Friday football
ARI SHARP
February 16, 2010

CHANNEL Ten says it will show Friday night football live if it wins broadcast rights to the slot from 2012, putting further pressure on current Friday night broadcaster Channel Seven.

The declaration puts Ten in the same position as Channel Nine, which has also pledged to show Friday night games live, but opposed to Seven, which opts to delay the broadcast by an hour to accommodate lifestyle show Better Homes and Gardens, which it says rates better nationally than the football.

Ten Network chief executive Grant Blackley yesterday said the AFL should give preference to broadcasters who pledged to show games live.

''All rights should be dealt with in a live capacity, because I think that's where consumers expect the code to be,'' Blackley told The Age.

Asked whether Ten would show Friday night football live, he said: ''Yes, we would.''

Ten and Seven currently share the free-to-air TV rights under a $780 million five-year deal due to expire at the end of the 2011 season.

Blackley declined to say which of its free-to-air counterparts it would bid with for the next five-year agreement, nor speculate on the deal's possible value.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/ten-pledges-live-friday-football-20100215-o2xq.html

[mightytiges]

Channel 9 is a rugby channel. If they get rights those in Qld and NSW will be screwed. Should help GC WS just fine that. Up here they have 1 live and one repeated game of league friday nights so we will get screwed.

 

I'm guessing the commercial networks will use their digital channel(s) for live coverage into non-AFL heartland markets. TEN did it the other night with our game and used ONE to show the game live into NSW and QLD.

[Penelope]

Fair call MT, the only problem is many regional areas don't get the second channels. All we get is elevator music and scenery from country towns on 1 at the moment, but I see your point. The digital broadcasting will allow for more flexability

[mightytiges]

Fair call MT, the only problem is many regional areas don't get the second channels. All we get is elevator music and scenery from country towns on 1 at the moment, but I see your point. The digital broadcasting will allow for more flexability

From memory the original date for Australia to go full digital and turn off the analogue signals was 2009. So typical this date is being pushed back and back. I think it's now 2013 so who knows when rural and regional areas will finally get all the digital channels us city folk already have. Hopefully by the time the new tv rights is in place (2012) you guys will have them.

[one-eyed]

$1 billion TV rights figure floated ahead of negotiations

    * Jackie Epstein
    * From: Herald Sun
    * March 13, 2010 4:27PM

NEGOTIATIONS are due to begin on the next AFL broadcast rights agreement and it could reap more than $1 billion.

David White, Ten's general manager of sport, confirmed the figure when discussing the network's plan to stretch its eight-year involvement with the sport.

The last five-year deal fetched $780 million for the AFL, with the current arrangement to expire at the end of next year.

"It's a nice round number," White said of the $1 billion price tag.

"I'm sure the AFL, if they get a collective agreement from one or more broadcasters for that amount of money, they'll be happy with it. Whether it's $1.2 billion or whether it's $800 million, I don't know. We'll have to wait and see what's on offer.

"We've got a very clear idea of what works for both the Channel 10 format and what works for the ONE (HD) format and we'll be talking to the AFL about that."

White said he was a fan of Monday night football.

"I think it's a good thing," he said on SEN today.

"I know it was trialled many years ago and I don't think it was overly successful then. But I think the competition's a bigger and more robust and more popular competition now. I personally think that a Monday night slot would work well."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/billion-tv-rights-figure-floated-ahead-of-negotiations/story-e6frf9jf-1225840368937

[mightytiges]

Rebecca Wilson in Sydney is hardly a reliable source but apparently TEN is making a big play for the NRL tv rights now that News Ltd is giving up their control of rugby league. If this is true interesting to see what affect this has on the value of the AFL tv rights which is expected to be around $1 billion and also on  scheduling of AFL games in Northern states on FTA tv if multiple networks team up to show NRL. The digital channels will most likely need to carry games separate to the network's main channel.

[Penelope]

when i was looking to see if footy confidential was shown up here i found an article that had this
"Since the arrival of GO! it is also unable to air the show via 9HD, an issue which also denies The Footy Shows airing to different cities."
http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/03/footy-classified-out-of-the-north.html

So there must be issues with televising different content on different channels at this stage

[one-eyed]

Caro must think we'll be crap until 2017 

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/battle-for-tv-rights-stalls-20100526-weet.html

An inferior break-up where Foxtel is concerned would also harm the less popular and less successful AFL clubs, with North Melbourne, Richmond and Port Adelaide potentially set to struggle to be shown on free-to-air.

[bushranger]

Here in Sunraysia we will lose the old Analog TV signal on the 20th of June this year.
We are the first region to have the full Digital signal and no Analog signal in Australia.
The reason behind it was, we were the region to swap over to digial, by that, they said we went out and bought set top boxes.
So we could see channel 10 up here.

Now to the real thing I really hope that Channel 9 don't get the rights.
I hate to think we will have to listen to Gotta Get My Head On TV Eddie Maguire again.
And his narrow minded opinions again.
No Thanks.

[one-eyed]

Ninth game worth $100m
Jon Ralph and Michael Warner
Herald Sun
June 24, 2010


TELEVISION network chiefs are refusing to give up on Monday night football - declaring the timeslot could make the AFL $100 million richer.

Rivals Channel 9 and Foxtel are pushing hard for a regular Monday night fixture as the TV rights war hots up.

Do you think Andrew Demetriou is doing a good job? Have your say in the Footy Fans Survey and you could win Grand Final tickets. 

A senior station executive told the Herald Sun the timeslot could add another $100 million to the next five-year deal from 2012-16 - to edge the AFL tantalisingly closer to its desired $1 billion pay day.

And at a business lunch last week, Nine chief Jeff Browne admitted it was ultimately "the size of the cheque that counts".

He said that with the network's investment in rugby league, a foray back into AFL "needs to make sense" financially.

AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan appeared to rule out regular Monday night football during an interview early this year.

But the right offer could change the league's mind.

Full-blown negotiations remain stalled because of a delay in the release of a crucial Rudd Government report detailing changes to Australia's strict anti-siphoning laws.

The laws determine which sports are protected for free-to-air stations.

The AFL and Foxtel have been lobbying for new legislation to allow pay-TV stations to bid directly for at least four home-and-away matches a round.

There are fears the Government will hold off the anti-siphoning announcement until after the federal election - due towards the end of the year - but AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou is keen to kick-start negotiations.

Demetriou this month visited the networks without his key lieutenants, an indication he wants the ball rolling.

In previous TV rights negotiations the AFL has given successful bidders at least a full season to prepare for the contract, but the delay in Canberra may alter the timeframe.

Tensions surrounding the high-stakes bid were on display at this month's AFL Hall of Fame dinner at Crown, where a top league administrator clashed publicly with a leading TV executive on the issue.

As the fight for footy rights heats up, the Herald Sun can reveal:

MONDAY night remains the preferred option for at least two networks for footy's ninth game.

THE league is keener on a 4pm Saturday twilight game.

LIVE football will almost certainly be enshrined as a condition for the broadcasting of many games, allowing gambling firms such as Tabcorp and Betfair to promote in-play odds.

CURRENT rights holders Seven and Ten will again bid together, so a TV deal that excludes both networks is extremely unlikely.

NINE is unlikely to make a play for full control of the deal, but is confident of winning some games for the creation of its own "clean space".

MATCHES could be auctioned individually, with the key Friday night football slot to attract the highest bid.

VIRTUAL crowds have been all but eliminated as a possibility, with an AFL rule banning them and virtual advertising.

TELSTRA is considered the favourite to take control of the league's internet rights.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ninth-game-worth-100m/story-e6frf9ix-1225883442956

[mightytiges]

TELSTRA is considered the favourite to take control of the league's internet rights.

Oh great 

[Stripes]

I worry that the AFL may be out-smarting itself here by dividing up the games and auctioning off each component of the rights seperately. The last TV rights went through the roof because of the passionate competition between the networks to buy the complete package. With Channel 9 stating they will only bid for the Monday night game leaving Channel 7 and 10 the rest of the rights, I fear the AFL will have very little competitive bartering and therefore a low value to the whole rights. If their is no bidding then effectively each Network can take a small piece of the deal for a steal because their is no one else who wants it. Foxtel is the only smokey to this if they are allowed to bid for 4 games a week regardless.

My other concern lies with Foxtel buying off other games that we currently enjoy watching. For example if Foxtel buys the Saturday games, playing the games on various channels similiatenously, then we could effectly have no Footy to watch on Saturdays unless you have PayTV.

Finally I believe a HUGE part of the deal should be that games are televised live into ALL markets. If this means on secondary network channels such as Go or One then that's fine but it needs to be a priority for the growth of the game into these markets.

Stripes

[mightytiges]

Yep the HD digital channels (One and 72) will be used in the non-Aussie Rules markets for non-Swans games in Sydney and non-Lions games in Brisbane. The AFL will be hoping GC17 and GWS eventually attracts similar ratings to their state rivals so the AFL has at least a game every week on the main channels 7 and 10 in Sydney and Brisbane. Making all night games shown live will also be a prerequisite for the new tv deal. The NRL has got the jump with their live Friday night games and it's boosted their ratings.

Foxtel will want more access to the better games in exchange for offering the AFL more $$$.