Does football need a boost from Foxtel?

It is millions at a WC and hundreds od thousands at other times.

"Fox sell on the A-League highlights package to 110 countries...." Unfortunately I don't think China is one of them. Would be a decent market to crack but I've never seen anything to do with the A-league on the sports channels here.

Also, Fox should look at preventing the broadcast of live games into cities where the games are being played...its been said a thousand times, but it needs to be done.

mmmm don't know about that. I recall seeing some figures from the last world cup but I am not looking for a fight or a petty argument so . . . .

Fox could even wait until Friday Night AFL & NRL matches are over then sell Friday Night games to 7, 9 or even ONE HD or SBS. People would watch simply because they are so used to sitting down to watch Friday night footy every week that it would be okay that the "footy" is a different variety as long as it's on FTA TV and the beers are cold.

Video killed the Radio Star, MP3 killed the CD and finally the Internet shall rule them all. All i want from Foxtel is Football. To be more precise, Australian Football. So why pay for the rest when im not going to watch it? & what would a Foxtel Football subscription be worth via the internet? My comment still dosent solve the FTA issue which is a must, but it would broaden its subscription users.

Well, that will be tested by how well the new NBL goes.

Rugby's experience shows that having all your games live on Foxtel will only hinder development of your game; you need FTA exposure to remind viewers your game still exists!

I guess i was talking about free to air and the world cup and this discussion is about Foxtel and the qualifiers, my bad! ;)

Foxtel have done a great job with A-league coverage, maybe a little TOO great, in that it might keep fans from going to games. However, like me, I suspect a lot of football fans have been subscribing to Foxtel for years in order to see Premier League. I'd like to know how many fans took the decision to subscribe to Foxtel because it was the only place they could see A-League. For that matter, how many Super Rugby fans did the same thing. Probably impossible to work out but would provide an interesting view of whether the A-League have generated a fanbase keen enough on the game to pay for it.

Sports & LinK I was going off what I had read from Fox on a number of times... and on the Soccerroos ... Fox do not have the WC... On RU rating ... the Tahs may rate well... have you looked at the other Super 15 teams... and as someone said there is also number teams and number of rounds... But I agree the Tahs rate well ...... check the ratings on a NZ V SA match or Reds match... but lets not start a war... However the nexus behind what I am saying is this... if Fox where to sell one match of the A-League to a FTA channel ... the product would grow... if they allowed a delayed broadcast of Socceroo matches the product would grow... However is it in Fox's interest to do so or hold strickly to the existing contract... Also what would Fox expect from FFA to lend a hand now... My reading of the Tea Leafs is Fox will not let Football fall over it is to important to them... they also see Football as a long term growth product... At what point do Fox offer a new package ...considering the 60 million per year instead of 17 million per year has been rejected by FFA... The other interesting point is as the Fox's contract gets closer to an end the more power goes to FFA... Assume Football makes it to mid next season say another 13 months... from this point AFL will have done their deal and more than likely so will the NRL... with Football able to put together from about this time on... OK from 18 months from now Football could do a deal ... Giving Fox have already offered 60 million per year or 43 million more than the current deal... say Fox said we will give FFA an exdra 25 million now ... thus covering all A-Leagues losses and a FTA match is sold to a commercial by Fox thus they could recover part of the 25 million... .. in return for ? ? ? ? ? ...

I don't know about millions Axel. Hundreds of thousands certainly was true.

Socceroo's would out rate the Wallabies surely? Wallabies are popular in 2 states, Socceroo's are for 6 states of Australia. Millions get up at 4:30am to watch the Socceroo's, now that dedication! The Wallabies aren't even on live tv in Victoria, i remember they use to be like 10 years ago on Channel 7, havn't seen a Wallabies game in ages despite having a slight interest in them

Your rant seems just as loose. Tahs play just 13 times compared to SFC's 30. Tah's are the only team in NSW and Rugby had no pressence in Sth Australia and Victoria. And when the Tahs play in Sth Africa they sometimes don't make it into the top 50/100 whatever it is Astra release. The Tahs Semi final was one of those games that didn't make the list, nor did the Super 14 final (http://www.talkingfooty.com/tv_ratings_2010.php). So unless your currently in the year 2011 (with the Rebels and more derbies) then your not exactly representing Rugby very well.

A league outrates Union??????? Are you forreal??????/ What planet are you on? Tahs average 100k. Sydney FC anywhere from 30- 60. What a joke. With comments like that, you start to hope the A-League finally keels over and dies and saves us all the misery!

The A-league isn't but it is well known that the Socceroos will be when the next version is released (expected in2011). As Foxtel will lose the choicest piece of their rights deal, you do have to wonder what the motivation for them to give away games FTA would be. It should be noted the the condition likely to be s sticking point in the deal that foxtel has on the table for the FFA is that the Socceroos stays with Pay TV. How much do people really think the A-league rights are worth when you un-bundle the Socceroos from them.

worth noting that Fox Sports paid the NZRU $20m to broadcast all their NPC/ITM Cup games live in Australia (including a Thursday night game)

Mid - I understand this is not the point of the article but there are some facual errors in your piece. While its true the Socceroos have the highest rating Pay TV show in the last 5 years (all time?) for one of the WC qualifiers, Socceroos matches do not consistently beat NRL for Pay TV figures, in fact they are generally on par, if not below (e.g. last few asian cup quals rated 250 - 280k broadcast only, a typical NRL game). Hard to compare to the Wallabies as well as none of their home tests are exclusively on Fox. Also, the A-League doesn't outrate Super 14. Super 14 matches for Aus teams are typically between 80 - 110k broadcast only, with a spike if a team makes the semis. A-League games are typically between 50 - 80 broadcast only, with a spike over the finals The Socceroos provide the ROI for Fox in covering Football. Problem is there's only so many games they play a year.

No, soccer outrates Union that does not involve an Australian side or that is on in at a god forbidden time of the night.

A league isn't on the list, there freee to do whatever they want.