Money isn’t endless, possibly it was worth conceding the cost of Melbourne Cup rights to go towards getting a share of AFL rights. And not just the $$$ to buy the rights but also having to consider the $$$ for mounting actual coverage.
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Kind of turned out great for both Seven and Ten though (losing and gaining one respectively), with both sports seeing famous eras and record audiences, remembered to this day. Probably topped by the Sydney Swans’ first flag in 72 years (the longest drought) and Makybe Diva’s 3 Melbourne Cup wins in a row, both twenty years ago in 2005.
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Also 7’s first Melbourne Cup broadcast was that emotional win by Damien Oliver on Media Puzzle the year before Makybe Diva’s first of 3 straight Melbourne Cups.
Still remains the most-watched AFL Grand Final in history, and it completed the true nationalisation of the AFL (because by that point, teams from all five major mainland states had won flags).
Of course we can’t forget the odd occasion when Iron Chef outrated the Swans in Sydney that season (in particular that season-turning loss to St Kilda after which Robert Walls said on Ten’s commentary that they couldn’t win the flag and that Paul Roos was coaching selfishly or something to that effect).
Viewers in Queensland saw a Fox Footy broadcast of Brisbane vs North Melbourne on 10 instead at the very same time.
A February 9 2007 Sydney Morning Herald article written by Richard Hinds about the then-new AFL rights.
This was the 2007-11 deal that put a staggering $780 million bid by Nine made on Packer’s deathbed as a sort of poison pill to Seven and Ten, which they swallowed to snatch the rights which for the previous five years had been held by Ten and Nine.
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Today marks exactly 30 years since Michael Bevan posted his greatest ODI innings, hitting a last-ball four to help Australia defeating West Indies at the SCG.
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New Years Eve 1989. I brought in the new year and decade watching this match
Low key i know but i guess like most of us in the Hunter that year were still reeling from a few days prior.
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And Bevan DIDN’T get the Player of the Match….Paul Reiffel did with his wickets and important role in being a willing ally for Bevan
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The Seven Network (and a roll call of participating regional stations) advertising its coverage of the 1980 Olympic Games, only 12 months in advance!
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News Archive Search
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Was GLV still on 10 by the time of the Moscow Olympics?
No, GLV moved to VHF 8 in January 1980, a few days before ATV moved from 0 to 10.
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The great Sandy Roberts was a host on this, originating from South Australia then venturing to HSV Dorcas Street South Melbourne. Would still be anchoring the network’s Olympics up to 2008 and remained with Seven until the end of 2013, when he went to Fox Sports. Later retiring at the start of 2019. He also featured on TV Week. And a few years back revealed a health battle.
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So would that have been before e knew of various countries boycotting these games?
Tomorrow will mark 20 years since Seven, in partnership with 10 and Foxtel, have won the AFL TV Rights from 2007-2011 after matching Nine’s already-lodged lucrative bid of $780 Million. Mind you we all know that is the first TV Rights Seven were to be involved in since 2001 and what was included was that not all 8 matches were shown each round in Western Australia and South Australia and both Seven and 10 shared Finals, Grand Final and Brownlow Medal Rights. I was so devastated when 10 lost AFL Rights in 2011.
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Not quite. Only Seven and Ten won the rights at that time. Foxtel had aligned themselves with Nine, who had already agreed to give Fox the four games a week they were after. Once Seven/Ten matched the bid and won the rights, there was a stalemate, as they only offered to give Fox the three games a week they had under the previous deal. The stalemate caused a delay in the release of the 2007 fixture and wasn’t resolved until Feb ‘07.
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It would have been interesting to see what the AFL media landscape would have been like had Nine and Fox got the rights instead of 7 & 10.
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Fair chance there wouldn’t be a Gold Coast Suns or GWS Giants to start with….
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ATN7’s coverage, highlights from the Armstrong 500 (Bathurst). Not sure if that’s Ken Sparkes doing the pieces to camera. It looks like him, and he was a 2GB announcer at the time, so maybe he was getting some TV work at the same time. Of course, years before he became the voice of Channel Nine.
YouTube: TheRacer120 (taken from 7+)
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Given that Sparkes hosted Nine’s F1 coverage for a time in the mid-to-late 80s (before Darrell Eastlake took over the gig) it wouldn’t be surprising
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