And no reduction in the amount of games televised
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Is all 7 wanted to be a copy of Nine’s deal?
Sports lovers missing an AFL (and NRL) match on FTA on a Saturday night, can still watch other sports on FTA. There’s the A-League on 10Bold, and the Super Rugby (Union) on 9Gem. Not the same calibre, but they are still there.
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long reply
No.
They wanted 7Plus streaming rights most of all, which were held by Telstra (who co-own Foxtel) the previous deals.
I’m sure Seven would’ve still liked Saturday nights, live in Melbourne, more or less, as it’d helped get them across the line on multiple weekly occasions over the years, as well as rating higher than movies.
But News Corp and Telstra (Foxtel) weren’t just going to budge for nothing, they themselves had equally desperately wanted ‘Super Saturday’ live exclusivity for years, like NRL.
So Seven, Foxtel and AFL came to agreement this contract for Seven to pick up streaming (to their own telecasts), in return for Foxtel getting live exclusivity on Saturdays for the first 16 rounds in Melbourne and 8 nationally.
But later Seven gave remaining Saturdays to Foxtel in exchange for more Thursdays.
And the first 16 lack of Saturdays became either Thursdays or Sundays for Seven. Some of the Sundays are also nights. Seven also get marquee like Opening, Anzac Eve, Day, DreamTime and King’s Birthday, plus finals.
There’s pros and cons for both broadcasters. Seven lose Saturdays, but get Thursday games pretty much every week now and Sundays and retain all the marquee and quota of weekly games. Foxtel lose streaming exclusivity, but pick up an extra Saturday game and get Saturday all to themselves in the core Melbourne market and nationally live for the first 8 rounds plus get own commentators and graphics for every game.
IMO Seven gain more than Foxtel. As Foxtel already had every game and the Saturday audiences were never that high for Seven anyway and had been progressively falling. Whereas Seven never would’ve picked up all these lucrative, higher rating and larger share contributing and controlling Thursdays had it not been for losing Saturdays. Foxtel can only hope they’ll pick up extra subscribers, who purely watched that Seven Saturday night game in Melbourne, what, like 100k-odd, wildly fluctuating.
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There will still be footy on Saturdays on FTA… VFL, SANFL and WAFL.
Looks like Seven are counting on fans of the “Big 4” Victorian teams (Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond) to tune into their 2nds team.
Does anyone have screen caps of the 7AFL coverage of WCE or GCS? Was hoping to watch it on the mini highlights package on 7+ but only the Fox coverage
That’s not real footy. 
NOTE: The interview by Kath Loughnan with Andrew McQualter, featuring the non-Fox-branded Sunday Ticket mic was not carried by the Seven broadcast. It was a production slip-up and was shown onscreen without the interview’s audio, rather the commentators talking over it about their tips for the game.
NOTE 2: Yes, the boundary rider - Dani Shuey - is the wife of Norm Smith Medallist and former Eagles captain Luke Shuey. She has a sporting media presence in WA as she is one of the presenters of Seven’s 4WD Adventure Show, is a member of Triple M Perth’s Weekend Huddle, and has served as an MC for the 2023 Women’s World Cup matches in Perth, the 3x Matildas matches in Perth in 2023, Perth Wildcats home games, Perth Scorchers BBL and WBBL home games, and Cricket Australia matches at Optus Stadium and the WACA Ground.
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Dani Shuey had also been part of Seven’s AFLW coverage in recent years, as boundary reporters for Perth matches.
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I’m thinking the Agenda Setters might actually be coming from Collins Street?
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https://x.com/7afl/status/1901901615906357408?s=46
This shows where it’s coming from
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Like I said at SEN studios
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Yep, can’t get much more evidence than that.
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This Saturday (March 22) Adelaide will get two Fox Footy-produced matches on delay.
2.30pm Essendon v Adelaide on Seven (match starts 12.50pm ACDT)
5.30pm Port Adelaide v Richmond on 7mate (match starts 3.45pm ACDT)
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Do SA lose a channel 7 produced game for the round? That’s what would happen in the previous deal. Can only get 1 extra game per round.
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No, SA will still get North Melbourne v Melbourne (Seven produced) this Sunday afternoon.
However, Queensland and WA will lose Roos v Demons as it will get the earlier game between Brisbane and West Coast.
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Melbourne have been getting a lot of specifically produced 7mate promos, such as during Front Bar, for Thursday - Saturday programs. Saw ones for Dogs, BGT and Notting Hill.
Would be interesting to see later in the season how many extra NSW, QLD and especially SA and WA subs (STB or SVOD) Foxtel have picked up.
If a thrilling game let alone win, can see quite a few still tuning in on delay to the FTA broadcasts.
Abbey Holmes features on Better Homes and Gardens this Friday.
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