The TV rights thread

[docbrown]

Those are some good points. I've always wondered as to why some Saturday games go so late, when many people are heading out for a night on the town at the same time. It just seemed a little strange. I was actually thinking more along the lines of back to back games at one stadium like ANZ/Suncorp/SFS, with one afternoon/evening game (like 2:45pm) followed directly by a night game. And then televising it. Make it the BIG night of football. I'd sort out the draw so the clubs alternate each week as to who gets it, with members of the four clubs getting pre-allocated tickets, with the balance made up of non-members/other supporters who have to purchase. Seating for pre allocated tickets will be based on what members paid earlier in the season - i.e. a better quality membership gets you better seats. I'd have the games televised live, with the news to follow. That would be fantastic! It leaves fans with the rest of the night to do whatever, they get value for money with games each week and it looks great for the code.

Well for a F2A broadcast other than 10 to want it it would need to be a 4pm to 6pm then a 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

I don't know about the actual ground double headers and their effect on crowds if it was a week in week out thing. If it's an event, then yes you can build a bigger crowd but every week's another story.

But as for TV time slots - that Saturday 3pm to 6pm is what they call "the dead zone". The networks are actually looking for ways to bump their Saturday news bulletins - but remember 1 afternoon game won't be as big a lead in as 2 arvo games back to back and of course again the Friday fatigue hangover. The 8:30pm end though may arrest that. You might see the opposite that people will skip the pre-news game. I don't know. In a way I guess the AFL have already do this on 10 but with a bigger gap and longer running period it probably kills off the back to back crowd. See my next thread to see what I mean.

To do it though you might have to give up either the Sunday arvo or the 2nd Friday game and consider that they would definitely bring it bigger audiences, I don't know.

 

[docbrown]

The niche market is Saturday night viewership because:

a) There is only 1 sport on FTA to watch and
b) Saturday is the lowest rating night of the week.

So the AFL get the "general" FTA sports fan and are able to create a consistant and some would say with time traditional, uncontested sporting night much like Monday night football all to their own. Hense the niche market. (BTW a niche market is a targeted audience not a small one...)

I agree with the general F2A sports fans sentiment and I think that was their intent but perhaps the dud game scheduling also helped kill them.

The thing about Saturday television coverage is that it doesn't follow on or lead it into anything so it also isn't worth much. At the moment AFL is leading into the lowest commercial news bulletin, following onto TV repeats for a bit and then more AFL. It kind of goes nowhere.

If we can lock up Fridays & Sundays on F2A and Saturdays & Mondays on Fox, we'll be laughing.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

If fox would pay What RL deserves for their Super Saturday games, I couldn't care less about a game on a FTA station that night, no one watches the swines or the Brions anyway.

All most RL fans want is the TV stations to front up with decent cash after screwing the game for the last 16 years.

What Fumbleball does has nothing to do with RL fans in our heartlands, they don't rate period

In noine RL states, we need to pull our finger out and MAKE the station show our games..

If for some magical reason the swines and brions do start to rate above 150/200k a week, then we should look at it again, until then, show us the money and show it nation wide.

 

[Spanner in the works]

Well for a F2A broadcast other than 10 to want it it would need to be a 4pm to 6pm then a 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

I don't know about the actual ground double headers and their effect on crowds if it was a week in week out thing. If it's an event, then yes you can build a bigger crowd but every week's another story.

But as for TV time slots - that Saturday 3pm to 6pm is what they call "the dead zone". The networks are actually looking for ways to bump their Saturday news bulletins - but remember 1 afternoon game won't be as big a lead in as 2 arvo games back to back and of course again the Friday fatigue hangover. The 8:30pm end though may arrest that. You might see the opposite that people will skip the pre-news game. I don't know. In a way I guess the AFL have already do this on 10 but with a bigger gap and longer running period it probably kills off the back to back crowd. See my next thread to see what I mean.

To do it though you might have to give up either the Sunday arvo or the 2nd Friday game and consider that they would definitely bring it bigger audiences, I don't know.

You might be right. I guess it's an option but not a great one. I'd go but that's just me. Love to see two games at the stadium live!

 

[docbrown]

All these options are what you need to offer to as many broadcasters as possible to get the most competitive auction that you can.

It's all a question of whether our management can pull their finger out and if they don't, then they shouldn't be involved in our game any more.

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...-just-weeks-away/story-e6frf9jf-1225994502803

$1b AFL TV rights deal could be just weeks away

* Michael Warner
* From: Herald Sun
* January 26, 2011 12:00AM

THE AFL is closing in on its richest pay day, with hopes a new five-year TV rights deal will be struck within weeks.

Negotiations between league and station chiefs have intensified since Christmas and could be finalised before the start of the premiership season.

The next round of footy broadcast rights, running from 2012 to 2016, is tipped to fetch as much as $1 billion - up from the current mark of $780 million - but final bids are yet to be lodged.

Networks are conducting evaluations and coming to grips with how the fixture and scheduling would work in an expanded 18-team competition.

One scenario would see rival broadcasters Channels 7, 9, 10 and Foxtel all sharing a slice of the action, with Nine continuing its push to pioneer a new Monday night timeslot.

The AFL is also keen on live broadcasts from 2012, despite Seven's preference to air the top-rating Better Homes and Gardens on Friday nights.

Free-to-air television stations would be permitted to show AFL games on their secondary digital channels for the first time.

But the bulk of the extra windfall would come from pay TV giant Foxtel, which can bid directly for AFL matches under changes to federal anti-siphoning laws.

Foxtel pays about $50 million a season for four games a week, but will get an extra match with the introduction of the Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney.

A sticking point in the negotiations has been a failure by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to finalise an agreement with the AFL ensuring the best two home-and-away games of the week are protected for free-to-air networks.

The league's internet rights are also being sold, edging the full package towards the magical $1 billion mark.

"They're certainly going to get a healthy increase," one station boss said yesterday.

The current deal with Seven, Ten and Foxtel expires at the end of this year.

 

[El Diablo]

according to a radio report Ten would only get 1 game a week and that would be Saturday nights and 9 would also only show 1 game and that would be Monday nights

Ten would desperately want some sport if that was the case and 9 probably also want to keep Fridays and Sundays

all would probably be interested in Origin

 

[docbrown]

If you analyse that article you will notice it is all unsourced speculation until the second last line, which doesn't actually refer back to anything specifically stated in the rest of the article.

Even if 7 gets Friday AFL & Sunday AFL again, they'd still be in a position to carry NRL on the alternate channels.

If they controlled both Sunday NRL & Sunday AFL they would control Sunday nights for the next 5 years.

 

[El Diablo]

i'd wager that line came from the 9 AFL CEO

 

[applesauce]

FMD lets hope that we are going to be in the same boat. I just want it all over and done with so we can see where the dust settles.

 

[docbrown]

i'd wager that line came from the 9 AFL CEO

I'd say you're right.

However it doesn't quote/reference anything else in the rest of the article. To have only 1 source quoted - an unnamed one at that - in a purely speculative article is lazy writing.

 

[beave]

Doc and El D, you boys seem to be pretty knowledgeable with the TV deal we are about to begin negotiating, what are you honestly expecting $$$$ wise for us this time around?

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

The niche market is Saturday night viewership because:

a) There is only 1 sport on FTA to watch and
b) Saturday is the lowest rating night of the week.

So the AFL get the "general" FTA sports fan and are able to create a consistant and some would say with time traditional, uncontested sporting night much like Monday night football all to their own. Hense the niche market. (BTW a niche market is a targeted audience not a small one...)

A crap niche is a crap niche.

They've gone from regular 100k+ Sydney viewers to struggling for 50k and they consistently run last in their timeslots.

I guess you're right, they are consistent...

 

[applesauce]

A crap niche is a crap niche.

They've gone from regular 100k+ Sydney viewers to struggling for 50k and they consistently run last in their timeslots.

I guess you're right, they are consistent...

Like i have said in my previous posts I am not just talking about Sydney... I am talking about Australia wide on a Saturday night.

 

[El Diablo]

tell me the last time ten didn't run last on a Saturday night during the AFL season

 

[applesauce]

tell me the last time ten didn't run last on a Saturday night during the AFL season

In Melbourne or Perth? Not very likely...

 

[El Diablo]

nationally

that's what you keep talking about

 

[El Diablo]

eg random week http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/08/week-34-3.html

Saturday figures nationally

week 34

Network:
ABC: 30.8
Nine: 27.2
Seven: 24.9
TEN: 12.6
SBS: 4.5

week 33 http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/08/week-33-3.html

Network:
Nine: 27.9
Seven: 27.4
TEN: 19.9
ABC: 17.7
SBS: 7.1

week 32 http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/08/week-32-3.html

Network:
Seven: 25.5
Nine: 25.3
TEN: 25.0
ABC: 17.2
SBS: 7.0

week 31 http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/07/week-31-3.html

Network:
Seven: 28.6
Nine: 27.5
ABC: 19.9
TEN: 16.6
SBS: 7.3

grat niche

the week out of those that they performed best (32) on a Saturday night was a week no AFL was shown in Sydney

 

[applesauce]

eg random week http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/08/week-34-3.html

Saturday figures nationally

week 34



week 33 http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/08/week-33-3.html



week 32 http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/08/week-32-3.html



week 31 http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/07/week-31-3.html



grat niche

the week out of those that they performed best (32) on a Saturday night was a week no AFL was shown in Sydney

So those figures are for the night or for the time only while the AFL was on?

Like I said a niche market is a targeted market, just because it isn't first doesn't mean the AFL are not getting the majority of sports fans and using their demographic well.

Maybe non-sports fans and drama are in the majority during that time slot and there is nothing suggesting the NRL wouldn't do any better nationally.

 

[jasonstevenswedgie]

Doc, you wouldnt have the ratings of when monday night games used to be on fta?
Also do you have any projections/figures on the storm on how they rate when on fta in melbourne?