We have seen a lot of talk over the past week about what the impending AFL TV deal may end up looking like following news that Channel Ten is considering making a play for the rights, with speculation that the AFL has become increasingly dissatisfied with the coverage provided by free-to-air broadcaster Channel 7, along with the ever-changing media landscape providing us with seemingly endless entertainment options.
So, what could be in it for the fans?
Broadcasting deals are incredibly important to any professional sporting league, be it the NFL, EPL, NBA or our very own AFL. Without them, no one would be able to view or interact with the game they love save for the lucky few in the stadium.
The majority of us would be limited to what we read and hear in the press. As technology has improved, we have seen sports broadcasting go from being described in exquisite detail on radio, to the days of black and white and then colour television.
In 2021, the AFL’s revenue was $738.1 million. This was actually an increase of $63.3 million from 2020, largely as a result of increased broadcast returns.
Fans and some sections of the media are often quick to decry the league’s perceived eagerness to appease broadcasters, but given how much broadcasters chip in, it’s somewhat understandable that the AFL has to walk an extremely delicate tightrope between pleasing the fans without whom the league could not even exist and the media giants that fans rely on to even view the game.
So, where are we currently at?
The current TV rights deal was signed in 2015 between the AFL, Telstra, Foxtel and Seven West Media for $2.5 billion over seven years. For that, we got:
• A minimum of three matches per week live on free-to-air television during the premiership season.
• All nine matches per week live on Fox Sports and mobile and tablet during the premiership season.
• All finals matches (Weeks 1-3) live on free-to-air television, Foxtel and mobile and tablet.
• Grand final live on free-to-air television and on mobile and tablet.
There was also several market specific specifications for states outside of Victoria. Some of these resulted in free-to-air games being shown on delay in Perth and Adelaide, a situation completely unacceptable in today’s media landscape but somewhat exacerbated by the numerous time zones that exist in Australia.
(Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
In some ways, we’ve made progress. I am old enough to remember Friday Night Football being shown on free-to-air a 60-minute delay (granted, I turn 29 in June). It seems crazy now, but that was even in Melbourne.
The rights deal wasn’t perfect. For starters, Friday Night Football was considered the prime time slot, yet was often the domain of Victorian teams. Rarely would you ever have a Friday night game without any Victorian team.
Now that could somewhat be excused given half the teams are based there and it’s unlikely all of them would be down the bottom of the ladder at the same time. But it also meant we end up seeing VFL powerhouses like Carlton given heaps of Friday night appearances over other stronger performing team at the top of the ladder (at various times this would be Brisbane, Port Adelaide, Sydney and GWS, to name a few).
A major bugbear for a lot of fans was also the arrangement in place where free-to-air games simulcast on Foxtel still carried the Channel Seven commentary. Now, I’m not certain whether Fox Footy would have been allowed to have their own commentary on these games, but it would’ve been nice given ad-free broadcasts is the big appeal to watching games on Fox Footy.
And let’s be fair, escaping Seven’s pretty mediocre commentary (more on that at another time) would be the cherry on a luscious cake.
And where might we end up heading?
Everyone has an opinion on how the TV landscape should look for the AFL, so now it’s my turn.
Fellow Roarer Harry Gibb summed this up so much better than I ever could last year by referring to how the NFL breaks their games into five categories: Monday night, Thursday night, Sunday night and Sunday afternoon matches for the American and National conferences, respectively.
I like this idea so here is how I think it could work for the AFL.
Personally, I am not certain the Ten Network can afford to carry even the entire free-to-air rights on their own and it is also hard to see both the Seven Network or Foxtel wanting to give up their rights without a fight.
So, you could possibly end up with Ten bidding for say Thursday night and the Saturday matches, whilst Seven bids for the Friday night and Sunday matches and Foxtel simulcasts all free-to-air games as well as carrying cable-exclusive ones.
Granted, this works on the assumption Thursday night football becomes a permanent fixture.
It has been reported that Ten is considering carrying games through Paramount+. Given the issues fans have experienced trying to stream the A-League, this would need considerable investment to be a viable option for fans.
None of this considers whether timeslots would remain the same or whether there would be any changes (personally, I would prefer to see the 1:45pm Saturday game be shifted to start at 2:40pm). But a key requirement must be that all free-to-air games are broadcast live irrespective of the broadcast market.
Of course, I could be completely wrong (most likely I am). Ten might end up with all the rights or none at all. Despite growing dissatisfaction from both fans and the governing body, Seven may end up retaining the rights and Foxtel may end up just walking away. The coming months will be interesting to watch as we wait to hear whether we will be ushering in a new era in AFL broadcasting.
What are your thoughts? Drop a comment below and let me know.
Ac
Guest
I wonder if TEN is just playing spoiler. In a nutshell forcing the opposition (Seven) to pay more. TEN is a mess - it’s ratings are poor right across the board.
Ten here here here
Guest
Thank you Mr Warburton.
TV Guide
Guest
The AFL is still living off the fat provided by Kim Williams' cozy deals while at Fox. Next stop when Williams left Fox - straight to the AFL. :laughing:
The real SC
Roar Rookie
Ten’s AFL coverage was great – Since Channel 10 gained the rights to the AFL in early 2002, ten revitalised the coverage with new innovations – new graphics, the 5-minute warning, the short disco music intro to Ten’s AFL coverage (2002-06), the Holy Grail for the Ten’s AFL theme. As well, Network 10 also introduced a post-game TV program – The Fifth Quarter. The Fifth Quarter is a great footy program where two hosts discussed the AFL matches played up to them and discussing some topics that has arisen during the week. I also liked it when Channel 10 covered Saturday Specials where they took some footage of the outstanding marks, goals or other efforts that had taken place on the day just finished. In addition to this – Channel 10 launched a comedy Footy Program, Before the Game which started from early 2003 and went through to end of 2013 (even though 10 don’t have the AFL rights anymore). Each week, panel members took turns at reading funny newspaper headlines from different news outlets. As well TEN also launched new locally footy programs – Perth’s The Western Front (hosted by Tim Gossage and Lachie Reid), Adelaide’s Simply Footy (hosted by Corey Wingard) and Melbourne’s Totally Footy (hosted by Belinda Russell). The Western Front was great and this helps to promote local grassroots footy in WA.
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
That’s the worst bit of the lot. They pick a team and barrack for them all the time.
Sunshine Tiger
Roar Rookie
Coverage of commentary ? Their. Momentary is disgusting they barrack for sone teams
Anon
Guest
Sevene has been appalling the entire time it's had the rights to the AFL games, their culling of their AFL talk shows (Game Day and Talking Footy) I feel was the last straw. Hope they lose it! As for Ten, their not the same company they were back in 2011 in terms of money. Their backed up by a huge international media conglomerate. If they really want the exclusive rights to AFL and Paramount Global sees potential they'll throw the $$$ in. Its not really a matter of money for Ten its more a matter of whether their deep pocketed owners see it as a worthy investment. And in a very competitive market Paramount may see this as a opportunity to get more subscribers to its Paramount+ service. Ten's coverage of the AFL was absolutely superb! Amazing presenters who actually loved their jobs rather than just filling the seats in the commentary box, their talk shows such as Before The Game were great as well. Hopefully they regain the rights!
Knoxy
Guest
Agree. I can honestly say that I watch less football on tv these days because I can't stand their coverage. Bring back Channel 10.
G money
Roar Rookie
I pay for fox and watch most games.. there's no way I'm subscribing to 4 platforms to watch my team. I'd estimate 90% of footy fans would feel the same. Surely the AFL realise this. They've seen whats happening to cricket
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
For the networks to consider CST & WST Zones exacerbations is to call their audience, by extrapolation, also exacerbations. As if geography is an impediment to their service. It's a structure they have to work with. Maybe the next time they use a piece of steel, say their car, or eat some tuna, drink our best wines, maybe they should consider where it comes from. We're not a vacuum.
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
I don't care who gets the rights as long as Channel 7 doesn't. They deserve to lose them as punishment for their abhorrent coverage.
.kraM
Roar Rookie
Would be good for Foxtel to have their commentary for all games (like Fox League do for games that are also shown on 9) but at the extra cost I can’t see it happening. I’d be surprised if Fox didn’t do everything they could to keep AFL rights but wouldn’t be surprised to see someone like Amazon get the pay tv rights to a permanent Thursday night fixture.
Mick Jeffrey
Roar Rookie
To me this is a massive opportunity to make the change from the assumption that overlapping games would cannibalise audiences, which in the era of streaming makes little to no sense (people will watch if they want when they want, not necessarily live). If the league really wants premium money for premium slots by selling them individually, then offer only ONE game on each of the prime time nights (Thursday which I personally don't agree with but it seems they're hell bent on it, Friday, Saturday), perhaps a stand alone Sunday Afternoon or Twilight game which they could offer exclusively to a streaming outlet if they don't do this for Thursday which I can absolutely see happening, then offer another general package to be played at the same time on a Saturday. The only hurdle would realistically be venues but as shown through the Covid era there's no reason why they can't use a venue twice in a day in Melbourne.
NamanMehra
Roar Rookie
Really well articulated. The rights may very well be split based on the days. One needs to only look at EPL broadcasting rights in UK to understand how complex it can get. Sky does some games. BT a few. Amazon does a few rounds as well. I don't believe 10 doesn't have the funds to carry this on their own. Their pockets are deep post CBS acquisition. Their sports offering is limited to A-league and their streaming platform, Paramount+ shoddy and struggling. They need investment in sporting deals to make sure Paramount survives. However, their sporting broadcasts have been worse than Optus during FIFA WC, so I really fear for the sport if 10 gets it all. Foxtel is a very important player in this. They've identified 4 major sporting codes to survive in this market - AFL, NRL, F1 and now cricket. Lose one and it pushes them close to the extinction everyone has been predicting for a decade. However, there's only so much they can bid. Lastly, Amazon might want their slice of the pie too. I'll be surprised if they don't make a big bid but surely local players get precedence