Nine didn’t dropped the NRL when it had AFL from 2002-2006. No doubt they’ll want the lot when the rights come up for renewal in 2027
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I agree. For the “best sport in the world” Seven are yet again playing catch-up in the modern world. Another 3 years until they have streaming for AFL… by then who knows that the landscape will actually be like.
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There is precedent here.
Kayo amalgamated AFL Live pass into its offering to get the full streaming rights, and Foxtel negotiated with Ch7 to take on the clean 504 feed instead of the Ch7 feed with ads for streaming on Kayo and Foxtel Go.
When asked, Gil didn’t rule out some of the changes from 2025 potentially starting earlier (subject to negotiation between 7, Fox and the AFL), such as Fox Footy doing all 9 games from 2023. With streaming rights already changed for the better since from where they were in 2016 when the current deal started, no reason why 7 might not be able to get that done (7+ streaming) in 2023 or 2024.
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I would be interested to see what each side could bring to the table in order to get this changed sooner.
One I’d like to see would be Seven gets their streaming rights early in return for Fox being able to simulcast 7’s coverage of the Grand Final (with 7’s commentators/ads etc) on 504/Kayo as that maximises the number of platforms for the biggest game of the year (and solves that perennial issue of some people getting to the Grand Final and/or Brownlow and finding they have no easy way to watch the coverage on 7. It’s not like Fox is able to broadcast anything up against these events anyway.
This arrangement only worked because 10 had the rights to Saturdays, and the AFL agreed to schedule the majority of Swans and Lions games on Saturdays because 10 could air them live into the northern markets.
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I agree that Seven should produce more proper AFL Panel Shows in the new deal. Shows like Talking Footy and AFL Game Day should return.
Nine that has no rights, and has Footy Classified twice a week and also the Sunday Footy Show that goes for two hours each Sunday morning. Does put Seven to shame.
AFL Entertainment shows, like The Front Bar and Armchair Experts, should remain.
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Nine didn’t have sole free to air AFL rights though. That’s a bit different as it’s a bigger commitment.
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Don’t know about seven - but the backend of Kayo is supplied by akamai.
Given they are one of the world’s largest distributed computing platforms - there is no way they could not handle the demand.
most complains about streaming is people with shit cheap ISP’s with cheap plans that expect wonders…
me - Unlimited 1Gbps Fibre with Internode - no problems streaming multiple 4k streams (tested with Stan Sports).
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Because they are market defining programs in Melbourne. Nine knows Melbourne is an AFL market through and through, and the local station management would have fought to keep them up till now.
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This was never going to be the case, the bulk of the extra money is coming from Fox.
Doesn’t matter as Seven still provide their team for their own matches.
I don’t think it matters, particularly when both Seven and Fox are outlaying more cash, being squeezed further.
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I would like to see TF return, although they were losing on Sundays to the Sunday Footy Show. I think they are better off spending elsewhere in this day and age than duplicating. They also have Sunday Session, although that is an online-first model, I understand many probably don’t know about it.
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I see no reason why Sunday post-game and Sunday Session couldn’t be on 7mate from 6pm for those who want it.
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Sunday Session needs to start later to cover Sunday’s final match. If the final match starts at 4.40pm, then Sunday Session should start at 7pm so the last 30 minutes of the program can be used to review the twilight game. If the final match starts at 5.20pm (based on 2022 fixture), then Sunday Session should start at 8pm.
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The deal, mind blowing. This thread, mind blowing.
One thing I’ll say is, in regards to Seven not having Saturday prime time for at least the first two months (apart from some broadcasts probably into markets outside Melbourne - although some of these will be delayed), I think it presents a momentum challenge. In that there’ll be Thursday night into Friday night and then nothing until Sunday afternoon, you regularly have the Saturday night coverage promoting and building up the Sunday game - a timeslot which until recent months had been struggling in Melbourne. I’d hazard a guess Seven top brass still view Saturday night with higher regard than Sunday, but obviously the AFL caved into Foxtel’s demands.
And what happens if a ratings week goes down to the wire, say WTD within a couple of points or far less? Thursdays should be stronger more consistently now, will also depend on the teams, but Nine having NRL I’d be surprised if margins are always as large as say Fridays or even Saturdays. Sometimes Nine and 10 have strong entertainment offerings on that night too, meaning heated competition.
And it also poses challenges for Home and Away (usually a triple episode) and TBH I think they’ll have to seriously consider the position of 7mate with the AFL, you’d think they’ll want as much main channel exposure as possible nationally, considering the investment and continually fragmenting media environment and declining terrestrial FTA TV.
I hope the AFL have made it a condition for Seven to have more footy shows on each week
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Seven sacrificing regular Saturday games for Thursday night games. Won’t work well for regional Eagles or Freo fans who have to travel to the game if there’s a home game scheduled on a Thursday. Plus they’ll be 5 or 6 day turnarounds.
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I’m guessing the price for Foxtel and Seven won’t change if Tasmania is granted a licence, and the comp grows to 19 teams.
Also guessing that this extra (or so) per week will end up behind Foxtel’s paywall, so in a way there will be a smaller percentage of FTA games than before.
No extra games with a 19th team, unless they decide to inflict an extra round of matches, unsure if the players would agree to that. I think their deal will be up for renegotiation shortly. The GWS/Suns inclusion provided an extra match per round, supporting an increase in broadcast rights fees, despite the poor initial quality from those teams.