Author Topic: $700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid  (Read 27019 times)

Offline WilliamPowell

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Re: $700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid
« Reply #105 on: December 20, 2006, 10:26:48 AM »
1. I believe today is Wednesday December 20, 2006  :thumbsup

2. I believe the average punter no longer cares about the TV rights :thumbsup

3. I believe that as of today Wednesday - Footy in 2007 will be on FTA only

I also believe that tomorrow is another day and that number 3 listed above probably will change because tomorrow as I said is another day...  :scream

However I will always believe that the status of number 2 will not change today, tomorrow or next week let alone next year :thumbsup



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Offline one-eyed

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AFL rights stand-off tragic, says Austar chief (The Australian)
« Reply #106 on: December 21, 2006, 02:19:05 AM »
AFL rights stand-off tragic, says Austar chief
The Australian
Michael Bodey
December 21, 2006

THE chief of regional subscription TV operator Austar, John Porter, has called the stand-off over AFL rights a "tragedy".

"I've never seen a deal in 30 years that made more sense, that didn't get done," said Mr Porter.

"It makes a huge amount of sense for the broadcasters, a huge amount of sense for our industry and distributors and, most importantly, it would be a compelling outcome for the viewers."

The consortium of the Seven and Ten networks on Tuesday night rejected Foxtel's revised offer of $50 million in cash, plus contra and production, in a move that flummoxed Foxtel management.

The offer is believed to be $8 million to $10 million short of Seven and Ten's cash demand, despite Foxtel's total package equating to $70 million.

Given the sale multiples of 13.3 and 11.7 recently attained by Seven Media and PBL Media, Ten's failure to take Foxtel's cash is a decision potentially worth $400-$500 million.

Sources close to negotiations suggest that two of Foxtel's owners, Telstra and News Limited (publisher of The Australian), and Austar remain willing to raise the cash component, but Foxtel's negative board control means Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, which holds 25 per cent, continues to limit its negotiating power. The AFL had also expressed concerns to Foxtel, suggesting it would not negotiate for the next round of AFL broadcast rights from 2012 unless it raised its offer from its original $45 million for four games per week.

Austar's Mr Porter did not rule out Foxtel continuing negotiations, although Austar is ready to negotiate for regional rights if Foxtel's national bid (of which Austar is a party) falters. "Our proposal is not in competition with the main deal, our position is as a back-up," Mr Porter said.

A deal with Austar would assist Seven and Ten's bottom line but complicate matters with its regional affiliates.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20959552-2722,00.html

Offline one-eyed

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Re: $700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid
« Reply #107 on: December 21, 2006, 06:48:45 PM »
Ch 10 won the toss for covering next year's Grand Final. Seven will host the Brownlow and preseason GF.

Offline one-eyed

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Official: Seven and Ten to broadcast all 8 games (afl site)
« Reply #108 on: December 21, 2006, 09:38:01 PM »
Ten to screen 2007 GF
5:53:34 PM Thu 21 December, 2006
Sportal for afl.com.au

Ten's coin toss victory came amid confirmation that all eight AFL games each week in 2007 will be telecast on free-to-air TV. Negotiations between Ten and Seven to sell up to four games each week to Foxtel broke down once and for all earlier this week.

Seven and Ten will each televise four games each weekend.

Seven will show one game on a Friday night, two on a Saturday and one on a Sunday afternoon

Ten will have two Saturday games and two Sunday games – the 1pm game and the new twilight fixture.

Seven is still keen to off-load Friday night matches to community broadcaster Channel 31 in Sydney and Brisbane.

 http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=310943

Offline mightytiges

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Re: $700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid
« Reply #109 on: December 21, 2006, 10:49:43 PM »
Seems a dumb decision all round and does nothing for increasing coverage in the northern growth states. Foxtel need AFL for their southern state audiences and Seven and Ten need the $$$ to pay for their tv $780m deal with the AFL.

Also, as much as this is good for those without Foxtel like me who can now watch any of 22 (plus :pray) Tiges matches, 8 games on FTA back to back to back is just too much footy IMO. They'll kill the golden goose.

All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be - Pink Floyd

Offline WilliamPowell

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Re: $700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid
« Reply #110 on: December 22, 2006, 01:57:01 AM »
Ten, Seven divide finals spoils
Caroline Wilson
December 22, 2006


CHANNEL Ten yesterday won the toss to televise the 2007, 2009 and 2011 AFL grand finals, with that network's sports chief, David White, later confirming that Ten and Seven would next year televise all eight free-to-air home-and-away games.

And the Seven Network unofficially confirmed late yesterday that it was negotiating with SBS in a bid to solve its Friday-night Sydney and Brisbane dilemma, while the AFL continued to emphasise it would not allow Channel 31 to show any league games.

Seven chief executive David Leckie is understood to have met SBS boss Shaun Brown, who was positive about the prospect of televising football on Friday nights in the two northern capital cities subject to board approval.

And further underlining Seven and Ten's determination to go it alone without Foxtel, the two networks met yesterday after the coin toss to divide up its Saturday matches.

The AFL's new media partnership is expected to approach league boss Andrew Demetriou next month in a bid to stagger the two Saturday-night games, which under the current draw would result in the two stations running head to head on most occasions.

Channel Ten, which has first choice of every Saturday-night game, has selected the grand final rematch between Sydney and West Coast at Telstra Stadium on March 31 as its opening Saturday-night game, which would potentially go head to head with the Brisbane Lions-Hawthorn clash at the Gabba on Channel Seven. Seven has first choice of Saturday-afternoon games.

Another highlight for Ten yesterday was its securing of the round-11 Saturday night game between the Lions and the Western Bulldogs, when Dogs recruit Jason Akermanis will face his old team for the first time.

As media experts lament the failure of the two networks to secure an agreement with Foxtel, the AFL remains disappointed with the potential loss of its pay-TV provider, but the prospect of any agreement appears increasingly remote.

"I have found the process frustrating," said Ten's White yesterday, "but I'm looking forward to the challenge of four games on Ten and I'm delighted we will again be televising the grand final."

Following the apparent final breakdown of talks between Seven, Ten and Foxtel three days ago, Ten moved into top gear, signing up its on-air commentary teams along with its production crews for 2007.

Ten confirmed that retired Lion Michael Voss would provide special comments on its Saturday and Sunday games, while Seven's two-day production meeting in Melbourne this week was working on four televised games a week. Channel Ten chairman Nick Falloon and White met Leckie at Seven's Sydney headquarters yesterday.

The group moved onto a pier at the back of Seven's office with Leckie tossing a 20-cent coin and White successfully calling tails as the coin was in the air. The most anticipated coin toss involving broadcasters in Australian television of recent years allegedly had
Seven staffers practising the action with various coins in the belief that Falloon would call and that he would choose heads.

As a result of that lucky victory, Ten will host three and Seven two of the next five grand finals, with the non-grand final host on any given year televising the Brownlow Medal, the pre-season grand final and taking first choice of games in the first three weeks of the AFL finals.

8 GAMES ON 7, 10:

HOW IT WILL WORK

ROUND 1
Friday, March 30 Melbourne v St Kilda, 7.40pm
7
Saturday, March 31Kangaroos v Coll'wood, 2.10pm
7
10 Fremantle v Port, 4.10pm
7 Bris Lions v Hawthorn, 7.10pm
10 Sydney v West Coast, 7.10pm

Sunday, April 1Adelaide v Essendon, 1.10pm
10
7 W Bulldogs v Geelong, 2.10pm
10 Carlton v Richmond, 4.40pm

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/12/21/1166290679693.html

"Oh yes I am a dreamer, I still see us flying high!"

from the song "Don't Walk Away" by Pat Benatar 1988 (Wide Awake In Dreamland)

Offline one-eyed

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SBS to telecast AFL matches (The Australian)
« Reply #111 on: December 22, 2006, 03:17:25 AM »
SBS to telecast AFL matches
Michael Bodey
The Australian
December 22, 2006

SBS is likely to broadcast Friday night AFL matches live into Sydney and Brisbane next year.

The Australian understands that the Seven Network and SBS are in active discussions.

The deal is still subject to negotiations and approval by the SBS board.

It is understood that SBS would take the live feed direct from Seven, the only complication being SBS's inability to carry more than five minutes of advertising an hour.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20963155-2722,00.html

Under the AFL TV contract, Friday and Saturday night matches must be broadcast live or near-live into NSW and Queensland.

SBS is considering a proposal from Seven to broadcast the Friday night matches into those states, and may attempt to do so via its secondary channel, available only to digital subscribers.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20961875%255E20322,00.html

Offline Fishfinger

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Re: SBS to telecast AFL matches (The Australian)
« Reply #112 on: December 23, 2006, 09:19:26 AM »


It is understood that SBS would take the live feed direct from Seven, the only complication being SBS's inability to carry more than five minutes of advertising an hour.


As a pay-TV subsciber this is where I'm disappointed, from a selfish perspective. The more goals, the more ads now. I'm used to  ad-free live games and replays.
It's 50 of one and half a dozen of the other - Don Scott

Offline mightytiges

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Re: SBS to telecast AFL matches (The Australian)
« Reply #113 on: December 23, 2006, 05:16:50 PM »


It is understood that SBS would take the live feed direct from Seven, the only complication being SBS's inability to carry more than five minutes of advertising an hour.


As a pay-TV subsciber this is where I'm disappointed, from a selfish perspective. The more goals, the more ads now. I'm used to  ad-free live games and replays.

Too bad SBS are taking a live feed from Seven and not doing their own broadcast. They were impressive with the Ashes and World Cup coverage plus there's no ads interrupting the game. 
All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be - Pink Floyd

Offline one-eyed

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Rohan Connolly - 8 FTA games is too much footy (The Age)
« Reply #114 on: December 31, 2006, 05:52:10 AM »
Risking a schedule fit to burst
Rohan Connolly
The Age
December 31, 2006

YOU only had to turn on the box for five minutes at some stage this year to observe just how much of 2006 was spent looking back.

With television in this country celebrating its 50th anniversary, there seemed to be a cavalcade of most memorable this, our favourite that and top 10 such-and-suches.

Sport featured prominently in many of those nostalgiafests, this year also the 50th anniversary of Melbourne's hosting of the Olympic Games, a milestone that managed to spawn not a lot less publicity than did the original.

AFL football did its share of reflecting, too. It was 40 years since St Kilda's famous one and only premiership, and 10 years since the dramatic "year that football changed forever" with its ill-fated attempt to merge Hawthorn and Melbourne, birth of the Brisbane Lions and death of Fitzroy.

Yet there's another football anniversary falling today that has slipped completely under the radar, and with pretty good reason. It's not an auspicious occasion — perhaps more a reminder that as all-consuming as we often like to think is our indigenous game, even a football-mad public can be served up too much of a good thing.

It was six years ago tonight that Carlton and Collingwood graced the MCG for the much-vaunted "game of the millennium", a pre-season cup clash dragged forward a couple of months in a bid to cash in on the dawning of the new year and new century. It seemed like a good idea at the time. This was Melbourne, the home of sport, where you could draw a huge crowd to watch two spiders race up a wall. A game involving the AFL's most famous and bitter rivals. And a town where too much football is never enough.

Except this night. The pre-game hype had predictions of a crowd as big as 65,000. The reality was 50,000 less, only 15,000 witnessing Carlton's 88-point demolition of the Magpies, and a 12-goal haul from a controversy-free Brendan Fevola. (Yes, it was a long time ago.)

About the only thing the millennium game proved was that even a sport that has spawned an appetite supposedly as insatiable as the football fan's, there are limits. And scheduling a game before the turn of a new year, let alone a new football year, clearly breached them.

You won't see an official AFL game late in December again. Nor, hopefully, one in January. But come next football year, under the terms of the new broadcasting agreement, even without pay television, it looks like you'll be presented with enough football on free-to-air TV every weekend to make your head spin.

At least it will come within the confines of a time far more associated with the season than a New Year's Eve. But that might not make death (of interest) by football overdose any less a possibility.

Even those of us who love the game with a passion have our breaking point. Let alone those whose interest is less rabid, or, heaven forbid, only passing. And all groups will be sorely tested by the weekly football marathons in store next year.

The fable of the goose and the golden egg comes to mind, not just when it comes to the punters, but particularly for the two networks entrusted with getting about 24 hours of televised football to air each weekend next season.

Should Foxtel fail to pull off a last-second Lazarus and networks Seven and Ten split the eight games a week, you're going have to work pretty hard to miss the sight of 36 blokes chasing a ball around.

And the two stations are going to have to work even harder to make what initially might have seemed a potential ratings bonanza pay off in ratings terms, as the simultaneous glut of football on the box threatens to become a mutual throat-cutting exercise.

Those heathen folk who choose to watch something other than AFL on a Saturday night once in a while won't be appeased much whether the league ends up agreeing to the two networks' request to stagger the starting times of two games, the choice being either two stations televising the same product at once or at least one screening a game over an even longer stretch.

SBS's Iron Chef has embarrassed AFL in the ratings stakes before. The fever-pitched cooking show could really baste its timeslot opponents in 2007 as it picks up a bigger share of the football unfriendly.

The fanatics, meanwhile, who'd been happy to pay a Foxtel subscription to have access to eight games a week, might be able to do so free next season, but, in the advent of staggered Saturday night starting times, perhaps have to give up a meal time or two, with games possibly scheduled to begin on the box at 2.30, 4.30, 6.30 and 8.30pm. There's fanaticism, and then there's obsession, and that sort of commitment leans more towards the latter.

Of course, those who can stick it out will be rewarded with their share of memorable football. They'll also witness plenty of the sort that makes a few hours tending the garden a far more pleasurable proposition. Serve champagne on tap and in time, it will start to taste like water.

It was Collingwood president Eddie McGuire who six years ago predicted that turnout of 65,000 for the millennium game. Even a man who loves footy as much as McGuire learned something out of that.

You'd never suggest Eddie wants the game to suffer now, but as chief executive of the Nine network, watching rivals try to wade through a football schedule bursting at the seams, there's something to be gained from a stark reminder that even for AFL, less might well be more.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/12/30/1166895525107.html

Offline one-eyed

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Foxtel back in the TV rights picture
« Reply #115 on: January 19, 2007, 01:53:01 AM »
Foxtel back in the picture
Sasha Shtargot
The Age
January 19, 2007

THE prospect of eight free-to-air AFL games on television each week could be over as speculation mounted last night that Foxtel had been included in a coverage deal.

Channels Seven and Ten, who from this season will jointly televise football for the next five years, have been in on-off negotiation with Foxtel. The Age reported in December that Foxtel was prepared to up its bid to $50 million a year for the right to broadcast four AFL home-and-away games a week. Channels Seven and Ten, in turn, were believed to be prepared to drop their asking price from $60 million to $55 million. Foxtel has previously insisted on a price of $45 million. The two free-to-air stations paid the AFL $780 million for the broadcast rights.

Several Melbourne radio broadcasters yesterday suggested a deal had been done, but TV networks were tightlipped.

Foxtel spokeswoman Rebecca Melkman would not comment on whether the channel had secured football coverage rights, nor whether it would make an announcement today.

The resolution of next season's coverage has been a hot topic for months as Ten and Seven have negotiated with other networks, including SBS, to finalise the programming. Channel 31 was also briefly on the radar.

For some time, the prospect of eight free-to-air games televised by Seven and Ten has tantalised football fans.

In December, talks between the two networks and Foxtel broke down, raising the likelihood of such a prospect. Foxtel's $50 million cash bid to buy and televise four home-and-away games was rejected at the time.

Foxtel's relationship with the AFL has been in trouble since the pay-TV provider announced last August that it would close its 24-hour, seven-day footy channel.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2007/01/18/1169095911896.html

Offline one-eyed

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Re: Foxtel back in the TV rights picture
« Reply #116 on: January 19, 2007, 01:55:04 AM »
Fox ups AFL bid
19 January 2007   Herald-Sun
Damian Barrett

FOXTEL has re-entered AFL broadcasting talks with Channels 7 and 10, and is close to securing rights to telecast four weekly matches.

The pay-TV network this week increased an offer that was rejected by the free-to-air stations in late December.

With the NAB Cup starting on February 23, all three networks are working towards finalising pre-season and premiership season TV schedules in the next two weeks.

Foxtel's previous offer to Seven and Ten was $50 million cash, $7 million contra and a commitment to production costs (about $12 million) for each year of the 2007-11 deal.

Seven and Ten paid $780 million for the rights.

If accepted, Foxtel would broadcast four of the eight weekly matches, including the twilight fixture on Sunday nights.

Foxtel's bid has been assisted by input from country region pay-TV provider Austar.

AFL chief broadcasting and commercial officer Gillon McLachlan said the 2007-11 TV contract would guarantee quality coverage, regardless of the breakdown of broadcasters.

"What Seven and Ten have been going through is a negotiation around sub-licensing and that is their responsibility and I understand why those discussions have taken a long time," McLachlan said.

"We are talking about big numbers and a big deal, and it is not embarrassing for anyone that it has taken this long."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21083079%255E20322,00.html

Offline mightytiges

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Re: $700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid
« Reply #117 on: January 19, 2007, 02:21:41 AM »
Not surprised. Foxtel needed AFL otherwise they would have lost many subscribers in the southern states and Seven-Ten needs Foxtel to help pay for the hefty rights.

I see Foxtel will be televising the Sunday twilight fixtures and we have 4 of them  :(.
All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be - Pink Floyd

Offline WilliamPowell

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Re: $700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid
« Reply #118 on: January 19, 2007, 10:40:09 AM »
Huddo said on SEN yesterday that something could be happening today (the yawn fest continues)  ::) ;D :help :whistle

Just on Channel 7 and the footy has anyone else seen the ads during the Tennis promoting the footy?

It is excellent!  :clapping

It involves having tennis players hitting footies around the tennis court – they super imposed footies where the actually tennis balls would be – it’s very impressive!

 :thumbsup
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Offline Stephanie

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Re: $700 million TV offer from Seven-Ten bid
« Reply #119 on: January 19, 2007, 11:28:50 AM »
Seen that ad, I like it  :thumbsup
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