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the saga continues.....BUT
the AFL posted this on their website just after 2:30pm when the press conference was meant to go ahead but didnt and now there is further delays
http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=314097
the AFL posted this on their website just after 2:30pm when the press conference was meant to go ahead but didnt and now there is further delays
http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=314097
More games, more viewers
2:30:25 PM Thu 8 February, 2007
Ashley Browne
Sportal for afl.com.au
AFL football will be available to a wider audience with more live matches available to all viewers as part of the league's new broadcast agreement, chief executive Andrew Demetriou announced on Thursday.
Foxtel will pay existing free-to-air TV rights holders the Seven and Ten networks $315.5 million for the next five years for a sub-license that gives it the right to show four live games each weekend, including for the first time, matches involving the South Australian and Western Australian teams into their home markets.
Fans in New South Wales and Queensland will also receive far better coverage, with Friday night matches to be shown live on Foxtel and in prime-time on free-to-air TV in key developing markets such as the ACT, Wagga, Dubbo and Northern Rivers in New South Wales and the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and Cairns in Queensland.
On Saturday night, Network Ten will broadcast a match in prime-time each week across all of Queensland, while in New South Wales, Network Ten will broadcast all Swans matches live or near live.
Victorian fans can also now watch three live matches every Sunday for the first time.
Seven and Ten will each show two matches each weekend. Seven will have a Friday night and a Sunday afternoon match, while Ten will again have a Saturday double header. Foxtel will show one match on a Saturday afternoon, another on a Saturday night, one at 1pm on a Sunday and will have exclusive national rights to the new weekly Sunday twilight match.
Foxtel won't revive the Fox Footy Channel for its match coverage, and will instead screen its AFL coverage on its Fox Sports 3 channel. The arrangement also includes the NAB Cup, which starts later this month.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said he was delighted with the outcome, which has taken more than a year to resolve following the original announcement of the successful $780 million bid by Ten and Seven.
"We are in the privileged position that our free to air and pay television partners will now take our games to more people than ever before in our history. In partnership, we will all work to build AFL football as a spectator sport and as a television sport to build crowds, to build participation and to build audiences," he said.
This arrangement delivers on our key broadcasting aim. That aim was to have more people in more locations across the country able to watch our game on television either live or near live than ever before, he said.
And this agreement as you know has provided $780 million in cash and kind which underpins the $1.4 billion Next Generation strategy the greatest investment into our game in the history of Australian Football which will secure our 16 AFL clubs and provide record investment for the game at all levels.
The deal also includes confirmation that all AFL finals will be broadcast live or near-live nationally on free-to-air TV. Night finals will be broadcast into NSW or Queensland no later than 8.30pm.
Seven returns to AFL broadcasting after a five-year absence and its first match back will be the NAB Cup clash between the Kangaroos and Collingwood from Carrara on 23 February.
And in addition to recouping part of their massive rights fees, both Seven and Ten will be relieved to have achieved an outcome that means not having to schedule games against each other and at times that will force changes to non-AFL programming.
Key points of the deal:
Victoria: Four matches per week live or near-live on Seven and Ten. Four matches live on Foxtel. Unlike previous years, there will be one free-to-air game on Sunday, starting at 3pm on Seven and broadcast in full. If the Sunday early match is played in Canberra, Launceston or the Gold Coast, it will be replayed later that evening on Seven.
South Australia: All away matches featuring Adelaide and Port Adelaide will be broadcast live, while home games at AAMI Stadium will be televised near-live, except for four AAMI Stadium matches (not the Showdowns) will be screened live on Foxtel and on a three-hour delay on free-to-air TV. If a local team is due to play in a live Foxtel-produced match on a Saturday or Sunday, it will also be shown live or near-live on Seven or Ten. That may mean some weekends with five free-to-air matches in South Australia on some weekends.
Western Australia: All away matches featuring West Coast and Fremantle will be broadcast live on free-to-air, while home games at Subiaco will be televised near-live, except for four Subiaco matches (not the Derbies) will be screened live on Foxtel and on a three-hour delay on free-to-air TV. If a local team is due to play in a live Foxtel-produced match on a Saturday or Sunday early or twilight, it will also be shown live or near-live on Seven or Ten. That may mean some weekends with five free-to-air matches in Western Australia on some weekends.
New South Wales & ACT: Between two and four matches live or near-live on Seven and Ten per week and five or six matches per week live on Foxtel. All Swans games will be shown live, or near-live on free-to-air TV. Friday night matches will be live across the state on Foxtel, on a one-hour delay on Seven in the ACT, Wagga, Dubbo and Northern Rivers, and from 11pm in Sydney and other parts of New South Wales. Saturday night matches involving the Swans will be shown no later that 7.30pm across all of NSW.
Queensland: Three or four matches per week live or near-live on Seven and Ten and five matches per week live on Foxtel. All 22 Lions matches and all matches on the Gold Coast will be shown live or near-live on free-to-air TV. Friday night matches will be live across the state on Foxtel, on a one-hour delay on Seven on the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Cairns, from 11pm in Brisbane and other parts of Queensland. Saturday night matches will be live or near-live on Ten across the entire state.
