Just because you (and I) can afford Foxtel, why should millions miss out on iconic sporting moments? Why should sport be the preserve of the middle class?

Keep it… an expand it in my opinion. Sport is for everyone.

The other consideration… economies of scale. Pay TV in Australia (2.2 people per sqare klm) has to provide much more remote infrastructure as say Brazil with 22.6 people per square klm or Argentina with 15 per square klm. Don’t even think about Europe!

The whole business model of exclusive sport for pay TV will never work in Australia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcWVLmCmhto

On the other side of the coin is the coach and player training FTA does… IMO one of football major problems is at park level we lack coaches… not quality coaches … but people willing to coach a park side…

Meaning that talent is very often not understood … skills not developed… FTA does a lot of training and helps junior players and their coaches develop at least some basic skills..

The third sister in this FTA debate is setting expecations … our media vary a lot and you get the feeling that Fozzie expects a level a little below Bacca … and some others are willing to except the old NSL standard…

The timing of the FTA is important as Towser says … don’t go FTA with crap… otherwise another ARC

In hindsight maybe FFA could have made more money and gotten more exposure if it sold to FTA as well as Pay TV when it first started (but SBS was only bidder) and Fox took the gamble – although they made it a 7 year deal so they are making good money on that deal at the moment.

If the A-League was on FTA when it first started and interest was growing then it would have accelerated the impact and been a good thing.

But now as A-League loses momentum and perception about inferior quality grows etc (although not really true) the A-League FTA wouldn’t get the ratings right now to keep it in a decent time slot.

Socceroos would definitely succeed on FTA, but Fox reluctant to give that away as it’s given them their 2 highest rating pay TV programs to date.

I reckon it’s about right as it stands right now and lets see how the ONE football program goes and if any FTA’s want to pay Fox for any A-League games.

In India you get the same sort of pay TV we get for about 5 bucks a month and by 2012 they expect to have over 38 million subscribers, Japan 56 Million and China 165 million.

In Australia, we’ll never get those numbers.

What is really irritating is why I can see a half hour long A-league highlights show every Wednesday here in the UK, and no one sees this in Australia. Surely fox could derive some further profit from selling this to one of the free to air channel’s. Selling the footage to be shown on a Thursday for example, after the completed round would not take away anything from their product. That could only increase the profile of the league and that would benefit everyone involved

But – the current deal states that were Australia to go to any sort of playoff that would be played later on in 2013 then that would belong on the anti-siphoning list. (As that would be after June 2013).

Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup (Assuming we don’t host it – we all know we won’t) will start in 2016 – so this would really be the first World Cup qualifying campaign for the Socceroos fully on FTA TV. Unless we do host it, then that would mean the first World Cup qualifying campaign for the Socceroos fully on FTA TV would not be until 2020-21! Phew.

http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/166576/socceroos-games-to-be-added-to-anti-siphoning-list

The World Cup qualifying matches of the Australian national team, the Socceroos, will be shown on free-to-air television after the Australian government agreed to add them to the anti-siphoning list.

The move will not come into effect until 2014, however, after Communications Minister Stephen Conroy accepted Football Federation Australia’s pleas that to do so now would cost them millions of dollars in penalties from their existing deal with Fox Sports.

Conroy said: “We will be placing the Socceroos matches on the anti-siphoning list in the near future; however, there is a significant financial penalty for FFA if this overlaps with the terms of its contract with Fox Sports.

“The listing will only come into effect at the end of the existing contract.

People largely want games or highlights packages not chat shows and the FFA has been more than happy to sell everything to Fox.

Done for 2 reasons. To avoid crowd trouble in England, and also to sell more easily into Asia.

I totally agree that the league is a work in progress like others have said but i definately think there’s an audience for the big games.

OneHD is a great start.

But that said, the EPL managed its penetration into Australia’s sporting market off several years of late night highlights on the ABC and then SBS. A HAL highlights show on FTA is a good incremental step towards broad-based recognition and acceptance.

Good news for the HAL clubs though.

Have a huge flatscreen TV with Fotel IQ – why on Earth do I now need to upgrade it to Digital?

What’s the big deal?

Other issues:

- the amount of time given over to adverts on Pay
- crap programs – with some being aired several times a year
- you can’t cherry pick channels and just pay for the ones you want – you have to take packages of channels – some of which you will never watch.
- dodgey signal quality – we get a decent signal only around 99% of the time (we just get pixels at least 10 mins a day – and the screen always breaks up at the critical moment)
- did I say crap programs?

At the moment the money is more important no doubt.

FFA hits a $300m jackpot with Fox

EXCLUSIVE: Val Migliaccio
16 December 2009

Football Federation Australia is on the verge of signing a new deal with pay-TV provider Fox Sports that would pump some $300 million into soccer.

The Daily Telegraph has learned Fox Sports is expected to replace the existing seven-year agreement struck in 2007, with a new deal worth nearly two-and-a-half times as much.

The new agreement is expected to be worth nearly $60 million a year to Football Federation Australia, with negotiations believed to be close to agreeing a five-year term.

Fox’s current deal still has four years to run but could be replaced as early as next season.

Fox Sports appears set to secure the same package, which includes Socceroos home internationals, the Asian Cup, the Hyundai A-League and the AFC Champions League once the deal is signed off.

The deal will be seismic for the A-League clubs, hugely increasing their handout from FFA and putting them all on a far more secure financial footing.

It is understood the A-League clubs will each receive an estimated $3 million annual payment, which will directly cover all clubs’ wages and expenses under the current $2.25 million salary cap, women’s league teams and national youth league teams.That in turn is likely to attract more investors to the A-League’s clubs with financial burdens lessened due to the TV cash injection.

Despite falling crowds this season the ratings for the Socceroos continue to to be a banker for Fox Sports, with excitement generated by Australia’s 2018-2022 World Cup bid and the unchallenged hosting rights to holding the international nations 2015 Asian Cup tournament.

FFA chief executive Ben Buckley was yesterday reluctant to talk about the pending TV deal.

“Our current contract with Premier Media Group is set to expire in June 2013,” a tight-lipped Buckley said.

“It is our practice not to comment on commercial arrangements outside the contract duration.”

Fox Sports chief executive David Malone declined to comment last night on the new contract.

All A-League matches will continue to be screened live on Fox Sports as part of the deal.

With Melbourne Heart entering the A-League next season and Sydney Rovers due to follow in 2011 the competition will be up to 12 teams and possibly 14 by 2018.

The extra teams are expected to force the Asian Football Confederation’s hand to increase the A-League’s Asian Champions League representation from the current two clubs to four.

It’s not known whether the new deal will contain any provision for free-to-air coverage, though FFA chief Frank Lowy has declared his desire to see some of the A-League on a terrestrial station.

I agree with your patience ideology & logic says you are correct to say so.
I think the problem is that many fans see the progress post Lowy & from that expect instant success.
After all compared with the previous history of the game in Australia it is for me anyway somewhat unexpected.
But dig a little deeper & you can see that much is based on Football as the global game in mature football markets & not the fledgling Australian one.
So structurally like USA ,Japan as you say it takes time to build a proper base to grow

Both the MLS and Jleague started with a bang, had a few lean years and then emerged stronger. Let’s just give it some time and expect that it will have a few ups and downs on the way.