With broadcast negotiations still on-going, Football Federation Australia can thank Optus for an upturn in the number of viewers watching the A-League.
While many of those who actually watch the English Premier League on Optus swear the coverage is an improvement, the reality is the telco’s roll-out of its streaming service has been a disaster.
Even ignoring the thousands of social media complaints their coverage generates every match day, the uptake in new customers has been minimal, according to their most recent financial report.
I have no doubt Optus badly miscalculated the willingness of football fans in Australia to pay good money to switch providers solely for the purposes of watching English football.
But Optus’ pain is the A-League’s gain, with TV ratings surging on both Fox Sports and SBS following a stellar start to the domestic season.
While the addition of Tim Cahill and a couple of cracking derbies has helped, there’s another unspoken reason for the A-League’s ratings renaissance.
With Optus giving football fans next to no time to cancel their Fox Sports subscriptions, I reckon plenty of supporters who once subscribed primarily to watch English football are now using Fox Sports to watch the A-League instead.
That’s worth remembering for an FFA still shopping the A-League broadcast rights around – including to a telecommunications provider in Optus still struggling with the technology required for Over-the-Top streaming of live sport.
Fox Sports has their critics – although I’m not sure why, having lived in Japan and seen first-hand what the alternative for pay TV coverage can be like – but it’s worth remembering the incumbent broadcaster actually possesses the technical know-how needed to broadcast the A-League.
At any rate, fans who don’t have access to Fox Sports can watch tonight’s Suncorp Stadium blockbuster between Brisbane Roar and Melbourne City live on SBS2.
While the ‘Big Blue’ traditionally steals the headlines, I would argue tonight’s bell-ringer of a clash is actually the match of the round.
Even if Tim Cahill doesn’t feature, there are still so many plotlines to make this much more than your run-of-the-mill A-League encounter.
City midfielder Luke Brattan will be stinging after his unceremonious omission from the Socceroos squad, while Roar coach John Aloisi is quietly assembling the sort of dynamic outfit he once looked likely to build at the club formerly known as Melbourne Heart.
Such is the buzz around Brisbane for the match that upwards of 20,000 fans are expected to file through the turnstiles for this marquee encounter.
If football fans in Sydney have any sense, there’ll be at least as many people in the stands at Allianz Stadium for the eternal grudge match between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory on Saturday night.
It’s not often Sydney FC go into a clash with their most hated of rivals as outright favourites, but the Sky Blues deserve the favouritism tag following a scintillating start to the campaign.
Victory are far from pushovers – they proved as much with a 6-1 thumping of the hapless Wellington Phoenix on Monday night – but Kevin Muscat could be forgiven for approaching the trip to Sydney with a degree of trepidation.
And with Perth Glory hosting Western Sydney in an intriguing looking clash on Sunday afternoon, we’ve got three days in a row of must-see A-League action.
The great thing about the season to date is the fact that there has generally been more than one really entertaining match per round.
That hasn’t always been the case in the past, with many rounds often featuring one enthralling encounter mixed in with four relatively ho-hum affairs.
It’s no surprise to see A-League ratings on the rise this time around, not least because the quality of football is the best it’s ever been.
The broadcast rights should be worth a small fortune – FFA just needs to ensure we can actually tune in.
Jeff Williamson
Roar Pro
Mike, I am not sure why you are critical of Optus. They took a big decision to go for the EPL. Once they figured what they were going to offer, and how they were going to deliver, it has worked. I have no problems with the Optus EPL coverage. I am actually impressed by the streaming service as I was concerned about internet delivery (we are on ADSL). Football fans would probably like all the football coverage to be delivered from one service, but it is not. It is possible that more change might come with the next A-league broadcast. I am not making any predictions here - just reflecting some of the stories about commercial TV networks and other providers taking an interest. SBS and Foxtel have been good for the A-league and for football. We will have to wait until negotiations are complete to see who continues.
Pablo
Guest
Nemesis, if you want to limit yourself to the best streaming service rather than having the best picture thats your call. You can have your electric car while the rest of us will have the Ferrari at the same price. I guess Mark didn't make it simple enough for you.
Red Block
Guest
If like me, you are missing the EPL. here is where you can lodge your complaint with the EPL. https://www.premierleague.com/contact/getintouch
BITZA
Guest
You appear to be very anti Optus. have you seen some of the negative things people say about Fox. How about you look at the fact that they are paying more for sports than ever befor, yet prices have almost halved for foxtel. Yeah sure its an ok price now. BUT clearly they were ripping us off for years. Optus are doing an OK job. with Chromecast you can easily watch games live on your tv. if they offer a substantial increase and at the same time allow 2 games on FTA would be great. Looks like the first offer Fox gave was for exclusive rights again which woyld have been detrimental to our game http://www.sportingnews.com/au/football/list/the-secret-agent-ffa-reject-fox-sports-tv-rights-offer-aleague/1vbb67xpwf2zt1vgwdi8y06670/slide/3
marron
Guest
That's funny DH. Everyone I've ever attended an A-League match with has made positive comments about the atmosphere created by the home end. That's not to suggest they didn't go to watch a game of football and comment about that too. But they haven't looked at the home end as being "idiots" - or condescendingly suggested that these people have nothing else in their lives in smug satisfaction at their own worldliness and maturity.... did you reflect on the fact that you have nothing better to do with your life than watch grown men kick a ball about I wonder? How arrogant to suggest that there is a "real" way to be a fan, which is, of course, your way. Yes football goes on without fans - but there's a reason why a-league advertising is packed full of vision of the home ends. Atmosphere is a big drawcard.
mattq
Roar Rookie
Agree I would dump fox and dump my nbn isp to follow aleague. I'd go anywhere.
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Yeah it aint.... season avaerage and the fans should be one, you could run with 75% turning up but bybyour numbers the average crowd is 25k
Zircon
Guest
I hope you're correct - not that I give a stuff about Victory as I am looking forward to beating them on Saturday in the real derby!
hogdriller
Roar Rookie
Great memories of big crowds at midweek games at Hampden JB, early 1978 me and couple of mates skipped (plunked we called it then) last two periods of school to jump on a bus thru to Glasgow, typical Glesgie wether, pishin doon it was.... and Scotland were playing Bulgaria in a friendly. We got to Hampden and couldn't afford to pay at the turnstiles so we saw the masses getting pulled up over the walls into the ground and we had to do the same, something to brag about at school the next day I suppose. I had someone reach down and pull me up over these massive, high concrete walls where all of a sudden the cops came charging down with Alsatian dogs snapping at every one. Back in those days as you know, there was nothing like today where the 'polis' were held accountable, not a chance.....every dog was instructed to bite, clear and simple. Anyways, we all got in and saw a huge crowd and a brilliant midweek game.......only to return a few months later playing England where the only winning goal was scored by a player from my favourite English team (Leeds Utd) called Tony Currie, with Scotland heading off to the Argentinian World Cup shortly after......as they say, them were the days.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
I don't particularly like Broxham, but that should tell where I think Brattan stands in the pecking order; now if you want to compare Brattan with the incumbents of Rogic and Mooy---not even close.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Don't forget, all, that you can put your tips in for the round here: http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/11/04/the-roars-a-league-expert-tips-and-predictions-round-5/
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Is that you, Rob? Great photo!
Lionheart
Guest
Good post Mike. I think you're right about the impact BeIn Sports and the FC channels on Foxtel have had - I love having LFCTV, can still watch their games around the same time I used to, and great to see so many other games from around the world. We can see more Australians overseas than ever before, and that's a positive. As to tonight's game, can't wait but watching from home unfortunately, out of my control. I must add that the quality of Friday night games this year has been high, which has attracted and kept viewers I think. In my experience, people who dismissed the A League in previous seasons are more willing to engage and comment this year, and that's saying something. Let's hope it keeps up, it's a great product with much potential.
marron
Guest
The roar gets good mileage out of its photos Rob... expect to see it regularly. Closest I've got to that kind of notoriety was half a second on a copa90 video... :lol: Grand final?
punter
Guest
Exactly!!!!! How can anyone who knows football put Broxham anywhere near Brattan's level.
punter
Guest
Haha, brilliant JB, especially about those overturned Ice cream vans. Football & it's many guises.
Lionheart
Guest
I just like to see Arnie lose, but same goes for Muscat so I'm truly neutral for the BB.
Nemesis
Guest
Primary. Secondary. All becomes meaningless once Foxtel decided to sell streaming services. Foxtel isn't giving streaming to customers for free. If I want to buy streaming services only, I don't care if Foxtel's cable service is great because I'm never going to buy it. If I want to buy an electric car, I don't care that Maserati, or Ferrari, etc is a better car than Tesla. Tesla is the best electric car on the market & I only want to buy electric cars.
Mark
Guest
Let me make my point more bluntly. When comparing the quality of Foxtel's football broadcast with the quality of Optus' football broadcast, you (not just here but in any board this comes up) are disingenuous because you artificially limit your comparison to give you your desired result. You compare Optus' streaming platform, which is their primary (only) platform, with Foxtel's streaming platform, which is a secondary platform and is not the one with which the vast majority of Foxtel subscribers consume Foxtel. You can't pretend that Foxtel's cable TV broadcast doesn't exist just so you can proclaim Optus' football broadcast is better than Foxtel's.
Swanny
Guest
I agree with realist , living 2 hours from Sydney makes regular attendance to afl games impossible , lucky I have an a local league team in the jets . Long May that continue