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Why didn't the AFL experience a super league war?

L

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,969
RL was the number one in Australia for corporate and TV at the time. AFL had virtually zero reach in Sydney and Brisbane.

League was huge on the back of the Tina Turner ad campaign. The game had most areas covered.

It was a no brainer for Murdoch to go after league to drive his pay TV.
 
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marshall stalin

marshall stalin

Bench
Messages
4,619
Packer actually won in the end as both comps were FTA on Channel 9

Not sure how that would have worked out back then though if FOX did get exclusive rights noting the following.

Australia anti siphoning protect important sporting events being siphoned off to pay TV, rather than broadcast free-to-air to provide access to all Australians.

These anti siphoning laws are up for renewal - The current anti-siphoning list expires on 1 April 2023


A lot of major sporting comps can only be viewed live on pay tv nowadays - The EPL for an example with only highlights viewable on free to air TV - BBC

Not sure how this review will go as no doubt Pay TV will want to greater slice of the sport broadcast market and sporting organisations the extra money vs FTA Broadcasters who would want more regulation of this market.

The following article is of interesting reading

Australia’s most popular sports are urging the federal government to ease laws that determine which matches can be watched for free, warning any further restrictions would prevent them from gaining large sums of money needed to invest in the future of their games.

The Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS) – which represents the AFL, Cricket Australia, the NRL, Tennis Australia, Rugby Australia, Netball Australia and Football Australia –said in a submission to a government review of Australia’s anti-siphoning laws that it wants to number of sports competitions and matches required to be shown on free-to-air television to be reduced, and more content put behind a paywall.

Australia’s anti-siphoning laws currently make it difficult for events such as the Melbourne Cup, State of Origin and the winter football grand finals to be shown on paid platforms such as streaming services and pay-TV.

COMPPS said in its submission to the review that easing restrictions would allow sports to access more money that could be used to invest in women’s games and diversity and inclusion programs. If successful, the group’s lobbying efforts would almost certainly result in Australians being required to pay to watch more sporting matches across a number of codes.

In a league of their own​

​
Existing sports and events on the anti-siphoning list
• Olympic Games (Summer and Winter)
• Commonwealth Games
• The Melbourne Cup
• All AFL Matches
• All NRL matches
• All State of Origin matches
• International rugby league (involving Australian team played in AU or NZ)
• Rugby League World Cup matches (involving Australian team played in AU, NZ or PNG)
• Rugby union matches (involving Australian team played in AU, NZ)
• Final Rugby World Cup tournament
• Cricket test matches (involving Australian team played in Australia)
• The Ashes
• One day cricket test matches played by Australian team in Australia

COMPPS’ views are similar to News Corp-controlled cable TV and streaming company, Foxtel, which is currently prevented from acquiring major sporting events before the free-to-air networks. However, its views contradict Australia’s largest free-to-air television networks including Nine Entertainment Co, the owner of this masthead, which want more regulation.

“The commercialisation and sale of their media rights is critical to COMPPS members being able to invest in their sport from the grassroots to the elite level,” the submission says. “The scheme and the associated list are outdated and overdue for reform.

“Put simply, the anti-siphoning scheme and associated process limits and restricts competition and innovation in a rapidly evolving media landscape.”

Australia’s anti-siphoning laws were introduced 1992 at the dawn of the pay-TV era, and were designed to keep major sporting and cultural events free for the public. They were also considered a way to protect the free-to-air networks from losing key rights (and with that profits and influence) from Rupert Murdoch’s newly created pay-TV company, Foxtel. The laws give free-to-air networks first dibs in broadcast negotiations on a range of cultural and sporting events such as the AFL grand final, Australian Open and Commonwealth Games.

www.smh.com.au

Major sports want anti-siphoning rules eased, eye more paywalled matches

Sports administrators say easing anti-siphoning rules would increase investment in women’s games, but it could also result in Australians paying for their favourite sports.
www.smh.com.au www.smh.com.au
 
marshall stalin

marshall stalin

Bench
Messages
4,619
Captain Apollo said:
Maybe also no one really wanted the Pay TV rights for AFL?
Click to expand...
That is certainly not the case when you compare the AFL's new 4.5 billion 7 year broadcast deal vs the NRL's 2 billion or so 5 year deal

AFL - $643 million per season
NRL - $400 million per season

Seven and Foxtel to keep AFL rights in record $4.5bn seven-year deal. Seven West Media and Foxtel have confirmed they have secured the AFL media rights from 2025 to 2031 in a historic deal worth $4.5bn
 
Captain Apollo

Captain Apollo

Coach
Messages
15,440
marshall stalin said:
That is certainly not the case when you compare the AFL's new 4.5 billion 7 year broadcast deal vs the NRL's 2 billion or so 5 year deal

AFL - $643 million per season
NRL - $400 million per season

Seven and Foxtel to keep AFL rights in record $4.5bn seven-year deal. Seven West Media and Foxtel have confirmed they have secured the AFL media rights from 2025 to 2031 in a historic deal worth $4.5bn
Click to expand...

For crying out loud sunshine, go back and read the context of the post (and the ones preceding it) before responding, as you have NFI what you are talking about in this instance,
 
Get Rid of The Donkeys

Get Rid of The Donkeys

Coach
Messages
14,822
LeagueXIII said:
Not back in 94-95. League was the pace setter.
Click to expand...

Other than the success of the Tina Turner "Simply The Best" campaign and State of Origin, how was our game setting the pace?

AwFuL drew much larger attendances and had a team in all five metro markets by 1991. We only had teams in two metro markets until 1995.

LeagueXIII said:
I dont think so it was purely about selling pay tv subscriptions and league had the bigger reach. League was also growing each year under quayle and arko from its nadir in 1983 until 1994/95.
Click to expand...
AwFuL had five metro markets covered by 1991. We didn't crack into a third market until 1995. We had more regional markets covered, but weren't Foxtel and Optus Vision limited to the metro markets back in those days?
 
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