I know this is just to pressure foxtel, but looking at it seriously, over-saturation needs to be considered in any schedule. To that end the best bet is the maximise games of local interest.
2 x Friday 7:25pm games
3 x Saturday 6:45pm games
3 x Sunday 1:55pm games
1 x Monday 7:10pm game
In all there could be 7 key time slots:
Friday NRL (7pm -11:30pm - with pre-game, between-game & post-game)
* Friday Live (7:25pm)
* Friday Delayed (9:10pm)
Saturday NRL (6:30pm - 11:00pm - with pre-game, between-game & post-game)
* Saturday Live (6:45pm)
* Saturday Delayed (8:30pm)
Sunday NRL (1:30pm - 6:00pm - with pre-game, between-game & post-game)
* Sunday Live (1:55pm)
* Sunday Delayed (3:55pm)
Monday NRL (6:30pm - 9:30pm - with pregame & post-game)
* Monday Live (7:10pm)
Rather than 8 or 9, minimising the saturation effect. And you always get the best game of highest interest live with lower interest games covered by the later time slots.
Assuming we expand, this means:
* You can have at least 1 Qld team broadcast live into Queensland every Friday, Saturday & Sunday
* You can have 1 team from WA/VIC/NZ broadcast live into those markets on each of those days on digital (or Sky in NZ)
* You can have 1 team from regional NSW broadcast live into those markets on those days
* You can have at least 1 team from Sydney broadcast live into that market on those days - plus even more on delay seeing that there's effectively 8-9 Sydney teams.
The strongest matches up would be shown in the live slot and the remaining games shown in the delayed slot.
On a Saturday & Sunday where 3 games are played, there can be 2 games shown in that delayed slot (one on the Main, one on the Digital - especially when it's 2 teams outside of the market).