Seems likely, especially given Seven are pushing for some Sunday Night matches - would help ensure that the same amount of matches air on FTA TV while Fox get Saturday exclusivity in Victoria outside of Marquee matches.
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I wonder where Seven can get in Sunday night matches. Obviously with Seven News airing at 6pm, games could only start as early at 7.10pm. Some opportunities in the first third of the season may be:
- Target young families in the Victorian school holidays with Sunday night games in April
- Sunday night game to close out Gather Round with two blockbuster Victorian sides
- Easter Sunday evening game in Melbourne on April 20
- Sunday night game in Queensland on their Labor Day eve in May, hosted by Brisbane or Gold Coast against a high profile Victorian club
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Also throw some games in for QLD and NSW during their school holidays, and maybe some in SA and WA as well (especially if local teams perform well).
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More Thursday nights and some Sunday nights. It just makes much more sense for 7 and Fox. Less chances of games crossing over my pet hate. And if they do cross over. Stagger the starts at least.
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Fairly certain that both the Lions and Suns want this as a regular Q-Clash going forward. Doubt Seven will want to produce that.
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I think a Sunday night game only works if there is a public holiday the next day in the state where the game is being played. We have seen that being successful while random Sunday night games have been a flop.
Another option 7 can have is having Sunday twilight in Perth (4:30pm) being broadcast nationally before daylight savings ends. Not all but like a Freo vs big Vic team or even the Derby
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This is great news, now we can get 5 games with no overlap at all.
Thursday 7pm (Ch7)
Friday 7pm (Ch7)
Sunday 12pm, 3pm (Ch7) and 6pm or 1pm, 4pm and 7pm (Ch7)
Neither WA side particularly likes that timeslot, i’d expect them both to make some noise about it if they end up getting a lot of games there - it can be a challenging timeslot for ensuring appropriate break lengths and travel time too.
I doubt Seven are all that interested in 7pm Sunday football outside of any marquee games
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Curious about Seven’s (supposed) play for Sunday Night Football.
They must think it’d rate better than Sunday Arvo, but then you’d lose a great lead into the news, not to mention it’d give Fox a triple-header on both days of the weekend.
Thing is I don’t think Sun Arvo Footy has been providing as great a lead-in to the news as it has been in previous years.
I can see where they are coming from with Sunday night footy. Target the AFL markets and get big shares out of their on Sunday nights (and leave reality programs to Monday to Wednesday).
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If a match finishes quite early (say 5:50pm), it gives viewers the chance to switch to Nine instead of having to wait out the final ten minutes of the broadcast before the start of Seven News, whereas if it was a close match with a late finish, Seven would’ve had a better chance of its news rating well for that evening.
Similarly, over on Nine we do see some NRL matches go overtime, in some cases delaying the news. In Sydney, Nine’s strongest market, it helps them to set up their week beautifully as far as ratings are concerned.
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Sunday Night footy could also come in handy if any of Seven’s reality show’s are bombed, especially since Nine and 10 have a solid line-up of strong shows for next year - especially since they’ve apparently slotted in Stranded on Honeymoon Island for Q2 next year - perhaps Seven are worried and are trying to look for stuff to salvage their line-up if they need to move stuff to 7flix, etc.
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The first switch between Seven and Fox Footy ahead of the new AFL broadcast deal has occurred.
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Seven will get a pick in the 2nd round of the draft in return.
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I think Seven needed to offload someone anyway. With all their recent big name recruits, they weren’t all going to fit in the roster.
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I wonder if there will be any more who leave.
• I feel Hodge, Thomas & Richo will stay. they added Kane & Riewoldt.
• Bolton could go cause he could be used to cover 1 game a round by Fox.
• Ling potentially could go? We haven’t seen him a lot this year
But I don’t see anyone else who might leave.
Apart from Bolton, I high doubt the others would leave. Also remember, Seven also are apparently going to have AFL shows every night from next year, so they would need panellists, etc. Still roles for the current team members to play alongside the new one’s.
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Fox have generally broadcast one game a week in NSW anyway. Sometimes seven broadcasts a FTA game from NSW but generally it is Vic games
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This year’s AFLW grand final has already been confirmed for Saturday, November 30. Seven doesn’t have any cricket commitments for that day, as the AFLW GF is sandwiched between WBBL challenger (November 29) and grand final (December 1).
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From the Age article on Saturday delayed match starting times
Under the deal, announced in September 2022, delayed games, or hold-back games, will be broadcast on free-to-air two hours after they start on Foxtel or no later than 8.40pm local time. That means a 4.30pm game would start on free-to-air at 6.30pm; however a 7.30pm match would be shown on free-to-air at 8.40pm.
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