$700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid

[mightytiges]

Andy D announced today all 8 games will be on free to air tv but a SEN reporter still believes a deal with Fox will be done similar to the one we had but without Fox Footy channel obviously.

[WilliamPowell]

Andy D announced today all 8 games will be on free to air tv but a SEN reporter still believes a deal with Fox will be done similar to the one we had but without Fox Footy channel obviously.

When it is all said and done Andy D doesn't care if they are all on FTA or split between FTA and PayTV because the league still gets their $780 million.

Personally - I don't really care anymore either 

[mightytiges]

Andy D announced today all 8 games will be on free to air tv but a SEN reporter still believes a deal with Fox will be done similar to the one we had but without Fox Footy channel obviously.

When it is all said and done Andy D doesn't care if they are all on FTA or split between FTA and PayTV because the league still gets their $780 million.

Personally - I don't really care anymore either 

True WP. I just wish they make a bloody final decision  .

[one-eyed]

Devil is in the detail for TV rights
Caroline Wilson
The Age
December 3, 2006

Seven and Ten's relationship with the AFL shows little sign of improvement, writes Caroline Wilson.

IS THERE no end to the AFL's broadcasting saga? Virtually 12 months have passed since football chiefs Andrew Demetriou and Ron Evans announced the deal of a lifetime with Channel Nine and Foxtel, a deal that would plough millions of dollars into the game at every level and guarantee the survival of the struggling clubs for at least another five years.

For a time things moved quickly after that. Three days after the AFL's triumphant announcement, Kerry Packer died, leaving Australia's two other commercial free-to-air networks with a massive choice. But by then, channels Seven and Ten had already made that choice. They would match Nine's bid and worry about Foxtel later.

They did that less than a fortnight later. The AFL, knowing it had lost significant control over its broadcast rights — having sold Channel Seven the right to bid first and last back in the late 1990s — issued a brief press statement announcing its new media partners.

Actually sitting down and talking with Seven and Ten took much longer — summer had ended and the first meeting did not go well — and the reality now is that the AFL's loss of control, coupled with the Federal Government's insistence that it cannot deal directly with pay TV, means that the broadcast schedule for 2007 remains in doubt.

Foxtel is officially out of the picture but no one seems prepared to rule the pay network out unconditionally. Various Foxtel shareholders and subsidiaries continue to attempt to re-open negotiations, which is not surprising given the massive hit the network will take in Victoria, particularly, should it lose AFL.

The AFL is forging ahead with the prospect of eight free-to-air games each weekend and given that the Fox Footy Channel has been permanently removed whether or not Foxtel blinks, that seems the best result for the traditional football states and the struggling clubs.

But for the second media deal in succession, the developing markets, where the game must entrench itself, could be harmed largely because the AFL went for the dollar with not enough concern for the detail.

This time around, regional areas of NSW and southern Queensland — so channels Seven and Ten assure us — will be well served by regional networks.

They also assure us, less convincingly, that community television can take care of Sydney and Brisbane, which have been promised live Friday night football. Two days ago, the new rights-holders wrote to the AFL demonstrating why Channel 31 was a reasonable option. The AFL will not buy it.

The other argument Seven and Ten is conducting is over the prospect of Saturday night games. The networks are pushing the league to stagger Saturday nights to allow one game to start at around 6.30pm and the other closer to 8pm for an 8.30 television kick-off.

Again the AFL is dubious, having been happy with the regular timeslots of the past five years. But it has to work with its new partners and Demetriou is putting on a brave and diplomatic face at present. The problem is that neither party seems to fully trust the other, which is not exactly the basis for a solid partnership.

If there is one thing the AFL cherishes, it is its fixture. Unlike rugby league, or virtually any sporting competition in this country, AFL fans can plan their football travel months in advance, and by joining forces Seven and Ten antagonise the league by threatening that control.

Not surprisingly, when the subject of buying first and last bidding rights came up this time, a terse negative was the reply.

Seven and Ten insist that the AFL was greedy, that it wanted to do a deal with Nine and Foxtel and had it taken a minor financial hit a year ago, it would have done a better deal with them in terms of game development around the country.

If there is an uneasiness between Seven, which continues to remain coy over its commentary line-up, and Ten over Seven's plunder of the V8 Supercars and the question of which network will host the 2007 grand final — the much-mooted coin toss is reportedly days away — then both parties are denying it.

The AFL continues to insist it is more than happy with the current state of affairs despite the fact it seems to have more control over the Kangaroos and Carlton at present than it does over just who will televise Friday night football into Sydney and Brisbane.

The fact remains that we are nearing Christmas yet again and still the 2007 AFL picture is unclear. The AFL might boast a lucrative partnership, but right now it is not showing any signs of being the start of a beautiful friendship.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/12/02/1164777848990.html

[one-eyed]

Seven to call TV rights bluff
07 December 2006   
Herald-Sun
Daryl Timms

FOOTBALL'S most expensive game of bluff will finally end tomorrow when Channel 7 starts to hire footy commentators and broadcast facilities for the 2007 season.

Seven's Melbourne chief executive Ian Johnson last night said there had been plenty of "rumblings" in recent days that Foxtel would make a late, improved offer to secure the broadcast rights for four games each round.

While Foxtel has offered $45 million for the four games, it has refused the $60 million demanded by Channels 7 and 10.

Without Foxtel, or an alternative broadcaster, to televise four games a round, all eight games will be shown free-to-air by Seven and Ten, which paid $780 million to televise footy for the next five years.

Johnson said his network could wait no longer than today.

"We have to go, we have to book the OB vans (outside broadcast vans) by Friday," he said last night.

"We are booking them on Friday, that's it."

While Johnson said there had been a lot of "rumblings" about a Foxtel offer, he had heard nothing official.

"I would imagine we would hear something in the next two days and if the rumours are right it could be good, but I can't substantiate the rumours."

Johnson said that, ideally, Seven only wanted to broadcast two games a round, which would also leave Ten with two and Foxtel with four.

An AFL spokesman last night described as "absolute rubbish" a suggestion that the league would consider providing the $15 million shortfall to Foxtel to guarantee the game's coverage.

Channel 31's Melbourne chairman Peter Lane said last night there had been no last-minute approach for the community network to broadcast any AFL games in Melbourne.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20884749%255E20322,00.html

[one-eyed]

Two up for grand final coin decision
Caroline Wilson and Geoff McClure
The Age
December 8, 2006
 
The full picture of next season's AFL broadcast schedule is finally beginning to take shape, with Channels Seven and Ten set to decide the host of the 2007 grand final as early as today.

A series of communications in Sydney this week have set up the tossing of a coin - to take place early today or on Monday - with a Channel Seven executive throwing up the coin and a Channel Ten executive calling heads or tails.

In another broadcasting development, Channel Seven has virtually secured the services of Channel Nine's Friday night football caller Dennis Cometti, who will now certainly call the marquee game each week for the Seven Network alongside host Bruce McAvaney.

As reported in The Age last month, the two will join special commentator Tim Watson with a second special commentary position yet to be decided. Former Bomber and physiotherapist Ricky Olarenshaw continues to firm as Seven's boundary medical expert.

Cometti is understood to have spoken several days ago with Seven chairman Kerry Stokes and cleared up issues Stokes might have had with his former employee.

Although Cometti, who has worked with Nine for the past five years as a commentator as well as a sportscaster in Perth, has not yet signed a contract at Seven, the unofficial agreement is that he will call Friday night football and one other game each weekend for his old network.

The two networks were last night planning to announce the grand final result in a joint statement either today or on Monday. The grand final coverage will be shared over the five years of the broadcast agreement with the biggest game of the season alternating each year and the Brownlow Medal count being hosted by the non-grand final station.

Despite speculation regarding the prospect of a new bid from Foxtel and the widespread belief that the AFL is still quietly working with Foxtel in a bid to convince the pay TV carrier to increase its offer for four weekly games, no communication between the free-to-air and pay networks has taken place this week. Seven and Ten continue to insist they will host all eight weekly home-and-away games.

The loser of the coin toss will host not only next year's Brownlow count but also have choice of preliminary, semi, qualifying and elimination finals.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/12/07/1165081089035.html

[Moi]

According to Johnson this morning, Cometti will be there next season

[one-eyed]

New hope for NSW AFL fans
By Nikki Tugwell
Daily Telegraph
December 13, 2006

THE fight to have AFL matches accessible to NSW fans on free-to-air TV took an encouraging twist last night when SBS emerged as a potential saviour.

Seven Network spokesman Simon Francis confirmed Friday night matches will be sold to SBS or Channel 31.

The AFL, however, must approve any deal -- and its strong preference is SBS. If an arrangement eventuates, it would be the third major coup for SBS in 16 months -- following its Ashes and World Cup successes.

When asked specifically if the arrangement would be with either SBS or Channel 31, Francis said: "Correct. They are the two primary options."

The games in question are non-Swans fixtures. AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou doubts Channel 31 has the required penetration.

"If SBS were showing it, they have an outstanding reach and they are a great broadcaster," Demetriou said.

"They (Seven) need our consent. That is part of the deal so we'll wait and see."

The ABC could still televise AFL, if they were to strike a deal with Ten.

Under a Seven-SBS arrangement, SBS would broadcast Seven's coverage of Friday night football live into Sydney. That match would also be replayed on Seven about 10.30pm or 11pm.

"Channel 9 (when they had the AFL's TV rights) were not willing to televise that (Friday night) game until about 11.30pm," Francis said. "It will be earlier on Seven and also live on another broadcast platform."

Live free-to-air coverage of both Swans and non-Swans games in Sydney will, in part, fill the void left by the Fox Footy Channel's closure in September. Northern state fans, often starved of AFL coverage and information, were the hardest hit by Fox Footy's demise.

In January, Seven and Ten secured the AFL's $780 million broadcast rights for 2007-2011. Part of the deal is that Friday night games are televised live into Sydney and Brisbane. Under the deal, the two networks can on-sell up to four games a week.

Foxtel wanted a four-game package and the free-to-air networks were pushing a three-game package. Neither could agree on a price, leaving Foxtel out of the loop.

"The offer that was put forward last year," Francis continued, "where the matches go live into every capital city ... in the northern states, the matches would not be seen on Seven in particular or on Ten in some cases. They would be on another broadcast platform."

The "live" clause in the AFL rights deal is an improvement for AFL fans in NSW.

Under the previous deal, Friday night games were shown after 11pm on Nine into the northern states (unless Sydney or Brisbane were playing) or at 9.30pm by Fox Footy.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20916754-23211,00.html

[WilliamPowell]

Sounds like good news for people in regional areas

==========================

Austar splits on AFL deal

Mark Day
December 14, 2006

PAY-TELEVISION provider Austar is close to reaching a deal with the AFL rights holders, the Seven and Ten networks, to provide a regional AFL coverage next year.

The move, expected to be confirmed in the next few days, will increase pressure on the dominant pay-TV operator, Foxtel, to reach a similar agreement covering the nation's capital cities.

Foxtel is already under heavy pressure from the AFL to lift its offer of $45million for four live games a week in the 2007 season.

Reports have been circulating for the past two weeks that new negotiations were under way after a year of fruitless discussions and a last-minute agreement was possible.

It now has emerged that the new negotiations involved Austar, which services all regions outside the capital cities and the Gold Coast.

An Austar spokesperson told Media: "We have been very keen to make sure AFL is still available for our customers and we are still keen to encourage that as an appropriate outcome."

Foxtel and Austar customers have been watching AFL games for the past five years, with Foxtel subcontracting rights from its 25 per cent owners, News Limited (publisher of The Australian).

Austar shares the programming of most of its 80 satellite-delivered channels with Foxtel.

In January this year the Seven-Ten consortium matched a bid of $780million made by Nine Network owner Publishing and
Broadcasting Limited to snare the rights from 2007 to 2011. It offered to sell pay-TV rights to Foxtel for $60 million a year but Foxtel has refused to budge beyond $45 million a year.

Foxtel has already closed its dedicated Footy Channel, saying AFL would be shown on Fox Sports 3 if any deal were made. It is believed Austar would provide a new channel to carry games live across regional Australia if it closes its deal with Seven and Ten.

Sources at Austar say they have been increasingly frustrated by the inability of Foxtel and the AFL consortium to reach an agreement, and have attempted to mount pressure to bring about a change of mind.

In the absence of any movement from Foxtel, Austar initiated detailed talks with the consortium about establishing a regional channel. "These talks have been very positive," according to one source.

At the beginning of December, Seven and Ten locked in their plans to broadcast all eight games live on their free-to-air channels.
Seven will carry the Friday night game and Ten will carry the new Sunday twilight game. The partners will be in head-to-head competition on Saturday and Sunday afternoons but say this makes better economic sense than assigning rights to Foxtel too cheaply.

Asked if a last-ditch deal with Foxtel was imminent, a source at Seven said: "There have been no more talks. The broadcast trucks are ordered, the graphics are done and the commentary teams are in place. If there were to be a development, we could regroup and revisit our plans, but we don't expect it."

A Foxtel spokesman said the company had no comment.

Meanwhile, the operators of Sydney community station TVS Channel 31 have warned their service will be switched off December 22 if new funding arrangements cannot be put in place. TVS partners Slice TV and the University of Western Sydney are at loggerheads over funding issues and it is unlikely that new funds can be arranged unless Slice agrees to leave the partnership.

If Channel 31 closes, Seven and Ten will be denied an opportunity to pass on Friday and Sunday night games for broadcast on its signal while it carries programs that would rate higher than AFL in the Sydney market.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20922781-2722,00.html

[one-eyed]

Foxtel lifts bid for league rights
Caroline Wilson
The Age
December 15, 2006

THE first significant indication that Foxtel would return to cover AFL next season occurred yesterday when the pay television network unofficially lifted its bid for four weekly games next year.

In a move that has been strongly encouraged by the AFL, fearful at the damage community television would inflict upon its Sydney and Brisbane markets, key Foxtel executives are believed to have indicated to Channels Seven and Ten that they would be prepared to pay at least $50 million a year for the right to broadcast half the AFL's home-and-away fixtures.

Channels Seven and Ten, in turn, are believed to be prepared to drop their asking price from $60 million to $55 million, creating a scenario in which a deal now appears highly likely. Foxtel's change of heart — the AFL's five-year pay TV broadcast partner has insisted it would not pay more than $45 million for four AFL weekly fixtures — has come about following a series of talks believed to have involved AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou.

News Ltd and Fox Sport executives also have been pushing for a resolution to the fractured negotiation that fell apart late last month at a meeting in Sydney involving Seven and Ten chief executives and Foxtel chief Kim Williams, who is believed to have departed from the negotiation process.

At the time of the breakdown of talks, all parties said the inevitable scenario involved eight free-to-air games each weekend during the AFL season. As a result, a series of appointments and moves have been made within the network, including Ten's unofficial appointment of a Sunday twilight calling team, a move that has led to a key commentator such as Robert Walls relinquishing his Sunday radio commitments to call football on Ten.

While the Foxtel approach remains unofficial and uncertain, key figures in the long-running saga agreed that yesterday's move was the first real sign of a three-way partnership.

The AFL has repeatedly denied that it would inject money into any Foxtel bid — football would be shown on Fox Sports Three under any new agreement, with two games shown each Saturday and two on Sunday — but it remains determined to bring its five-year partner back to the negotiating table.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/12/14/1165685824222.html

[mightytiges]

THE first significant indication that Foxtel would return to cover AFL next season occurred yesterday when the pay television network unofficially lifted its bid for four weekly games next year.

Thank gawd all this bluffing is nearing a end.

[one-eyed]

TV rights deal looms
16 December 2006   Herald-Sun
Damian Barrett

FOXTEL, Channel 10 and Channel 7 are hoping to reach agreement on AFL broadcast rights before Christmas.

After 12 months of bluff, a meeting in Sydney yesterday brought the three parties closer to agreement.

Seven and Ten have lowered their financial demands from the pay-TV provider to broadcast four matches a round from next year.

The AFL's free-to-air partners had told Foxtel they wanted $60 million a year. Foxtel said it would pay $45 million a year.

The parties are now working towards a $50-$55 million a year agreement.

Seven and Ten in January committed $780 million for the 2007-11 AFL rights when they matched a Foxtel-Channel 9 bid.

The AFL is desperate for Foxtel's involvement.

It sees the pay-TV network as the best avenue for promoting and broadcasting the game in the northern states.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20934995%255E20322,00.html

[one-eyed]

On 3aw tonight they are saying this on again off again tv rights deal is off again  due to a dispute over who shows SA and WA games, and it's back to Seven-Ten showing all 8 games on FTA. Apparently Caro will have more about this tomorrow.

[one-eyed]

Foxtel rejected in bid to show four games weekly
Caroline Wilson
The Age
December 20, 2006

THE long-running football broadcasting saga seems to have come to a close, with Channels Seven and Ten last night rejecting a $50 million cash bid from Foxtel to buy and televise half the competition's 2007 home-and-away games.

The prospect of eight free-to-air games on television each weekend appears a certainty, with Channel Seven last night unofficially insisting it would negotiate with the AFL to stagger the two networks on Saturday night games and put Friday night football in Sydney and Brisbane to Channel 31.

Yesterday's failure in talks between the three parties looks certain to create more tension between Seven, Ten and the AFL, given that the league has continued to reject Channel 31 as a broadcaster and has indicated that it will not be moving the timeslots of its Saturday night games to appease commercial TV.

Both those issues are expected to come to a head in the new year, with the AFL stipulating it would accept only the ABC or SBS as an alternative to Seven as a free-to-air broadcaster of Friday night football into its two crucial northern markets.

After two weeks of delays, Seven and Ten will toss the 2007 grand final coin this week and both networks will finalise their broadcast teams. A more immediate issue will be the division of the eight pre-season games for round one of the NAB Cup series in February.

As revealed in The Age five days ago, Foxtel returned to the negotiating table last week, lifting its four-game bid from $45 million to $50 million. While the extra $5 million was to be funded by Austar, the pay-TV carrier also put forward a series of demands involving eight exclusive live games into Perth and Adelaide — demands rejected by Seven and Ten.

Yesterday, Channel Seven chief executive David Leckie, Ten sport chief David White, Foxtel executive Peter Campbell and Fox Sports chief David Malone — along with their respective legal teams — took one hour to discuss Foxtel's terms before Seven and Ten, after the close of talks, rejected the bid.

According to Foxtel's Campbell, the bid fell $8 million short. "We thought it was a good offer," Campbell said last night. "Obviously, Seven and Ten have a different methodology to us.

"It's been a 12-month period of us trying to get the broadcast rights and I suppose I feel the way I did in January, when Seven and Ten matched our offer with Nine. It's been a period of 12 months almost to the day since the AFL accepted our bid and our offer has been on the table since the beginning of the year.

"I think it's getting too late now to plan everything for next season and we're a fair ways apart."

Foxtel's five-year relationship with the AFL has been in trouble since the pay-TV provider announced in August that it would close its 24-hour, seven-day Fox Footy Channel.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said then he believed the game would return to free-to-air full-time, and while the league has been privately barracking for a successful Foxtel bid, it is believed that Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd chief James Packer has resisted lifting the pay-TV bid while Seven boss Kerry Stokes has become more determined to retain all AFL rights on free-to-air.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/12/19/1166290544951.html

[one-eyed]

On the other hand The Australian still believes there's hope of a deal:

----------------------------------

Foxtel big money flies with $70m for AFL
Mark Day
The Australian
December 20, 2006

PAY-TV provider Foxtel has lodged a revised offer for AFL rights worth up to $70 million, but reached no agreement with the Seven and Ten consortium.

Premier Media Group chief David Malone made the offer late yesterday on behalf of Foxtel and its regional affiliate, Austar. Premier runs the Fox Sports channels, which are carried by both providers.

It is understood Foxtel's $70 million a year offer yesterday was made up of $50 million in cash plus $7.5 million worth of contra advertising. Foxtel also offered to pick up production costs that could be valued at up to $15 million a year.

Seven and Ten rejected the Foxtel offer at yesterday's meeting but the possibility of further talks was left open.

A source at Seven, which has the $780 million five-year AFL rights contract, said several issues were under discussion, and talks would probably continue today and tomorrow. "There is still a fair bit of daylight between us. It's not massive, but there is no agreement."

Under the terms of its deal with the AFL, Seven and Ten are bound to broadcast all eight games a week live on free-to-air television if no deal is done to on-sell up to four live games a week to pay-TV.

Seven/Ten have demanded $60 million a year for four games, up from $36 million a year paid under the previous rights deal for three games a week. During six months of negotiations, Foxtel has refused to budge from its original $45 million offer for four games.

It is understood Austar contributed most of the extra $5million cash in yesterday's offer.

Greg Baxter, a spokesman for News Limited (publisher of The Australian), which owns 25 per cent of Foxtel, said the Seven/Ten rejection was "an extraordinary outcome, given our last offer, valued at $70 million, is well above the last ask by Seven and Ten of $60 million".

"The great shame is that footy fans, particularly in northern states, are set to be deprived yet again of the coverage that they deserve."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20954848-2722,00.html