Joint Channel 7 & 10 bid for AFL rights.

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Waz
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Post by Waz »

This thread needs to stay on f***ing topic. That's what it needs!

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sandyhill
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Post by sandyhill »

Waz wrote:This thread needs to stay on f***ing topic. That's what it needs!
But it was fun while it lasted. OK, I'll get back on topic - ch7 have improved a just little bit from a very poor start to the season. That's about it.

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Post by Ricardo »

sandyhill wrote:
Waz wrote:This thread needs to stay on f***ing topic. That's what it needs!
But it was fun while it lasted. OK, I'll get back on topic - ch7 have improved a just little bit from a very poor start to the season. That's about it.
The only good thing i've noticed is on Sunday (Geel v North) they didn't have the long ad breaks but instead just had one after each goal, and didn't (for the most part) wait until they commented and replayed the goal to then start the ad break.

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yob
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Post by yob »

Channel 7 has redefined boring in sports broadcasting.

I mean, talking about the weather... in the middle of the play?

The AFL broadcast rights are now worth 0. The breakdown of depreciation is as follows:

Bruce: -100 million - old and crusty
David Schwarz: -200 million - no insight, mouth too fat to speak, does not deserve a nickname
Rick Olerenshaw: -80 million - no insight
Commetti: break even.
Tim Watson: -400 million. Puts you to sleep in seconds. Thinks he has insight, but here's a hot tip, he can't #$%^ing coach. He picked up a grand final squad at saint kilda and the whole club nearly disappeared off the $%^&ing map. The closest they had to getting a coach was the bus from the f***ing airport for their regular interstate 100 point molestation.

Some quotes from Port v Melbourne:

Commetti: 'this match has been a real thriller.'
Watson: 'why wouldn't you have a tall player on the mark?' - bet he had his hand on his knob when he came up with that one.

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Waz
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Post by Waz »

What are you doing watching paaaa games anyways?

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broncos
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Post by broncos »

10 sure aren't happy with 7's coverage:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 82,00.html

Seven, Ten start war over football

* Michael Bodey
* May 17, 2007

AFL broadcast partners the Seven and Ten networks have begun a sledging war only four months into the first season of their new $780 million five-year broadcast agreement.

Ten's head of sport David White told Media that Ten's former AFL broadcast partner, the Nine network, did a superior job of covering Friday night AFL matches.

"Nine did a very good job on their Friday night coverage last year; I would dispute it was better than ours, but it was different, newsy and had a great commentary team," he said.


"Certainly, Seven's nowhere near them yet. They certainly didn't learn anything from their first 45 years broadcasting footy and anything they did learn they've forgotten."

But Seven's spokesman Simon Francis said Ten's comments were simply "sour grapes".

"Ten remains aggrieved at the loss of V8 Supercars, that V8s are delivering higher audiences on Seven than on Ten," he said

"They're also aggrieved by a simple, blunt statistical fact: our Friday Night Football and Sunday Afternoon Football out-delivers their AFL coverage.

"And we won't mention the collapse in their audience share in prime time against us this year. Ten's observations should be seen for what they are: sour grapes."

And gripes from viewers about Seven's coverage haven't been reflected in audience figures.

The network's Friday night telecasts are averaging more than 700,000 viewers (primarily in the southern states), despite them all being Victorian derbies thus far.

Even better, it's helping deliver Friday night ratings wins: Seven has won all 11 weeks of the official ratings year and every Friday night since the start of the AFL season.

Its Sunday afternoon telecasts have also performed strongly, negating Nine's previous dominance leading into the key Sunday night line-up.

"AFL's certainly assisting Seven and when you look at the detailed audience figures, they're certainly doing arguably a bit better than the Ten network," said media analyst Fusion Strategy's Steve Allen. The AFL last year accepted an offer from Seven and Ten worth $780 million to broadcasts AFL from 2007 to 2011, a deal Foxtel shared from February. Before that, Nine and Ten shared the broadcast rights along with Foxtel's now-defunct Fox Footy Channel.

Network Ten can this year claim the highest-rating AFL broadcast each week as its Saturday night matches are averaging more than 800,000 viewers, after drawing 919,000 last week.

It also topped Nine's previous Anzac Day ratings with an average 1.294 million viewers for the Essendon-Collingwood clash.

And the transfer of AFL from Foxtel's stand-alone Fox Footy Channel to Premier Media Group's Fox Sports 1 has also resulted in increased audiences, even if its broadcast direction has been sloppy, missing goals due to slow replays.

Only two AFL matches were among the top 100 highest rating shows on pay-TV last year (two Geelong matches with 210,000 and 189,000 viewers each).

But already this year Fox Sports has had five matches draw more than 200,000 viewers and the average audience for live matches is 160,000.

"We think they're all going really well," said the AFL's chief broadcasting and commercial officer Gillon McLachlan.

Much discussion has focused on Seven's broadcasts after an erratic beginning in the pre-season competition.

The commentators remain contentious for the wrong reasons: David Schwarz and Ricky Olarenshaw's credentials and performance don't appear to have much support outside Seven.

Olarenshaw's position as a boundary-rider is further complicated by his work as a player manager, a problem also encountered by Fox Sports commentator Liam Pickering. "They're commercial decisions for the broadcasters," MrMcLachlan said of the conflicts.

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Post by Ricardo »

Interesting stats there, the AFL has definitely helped Seven win some weeks in the ratings race, even with Ch.9 having a live NRL friday night and delayed game straight after in NSW and Qld.

I am surprised Geelong were in both the highest rating foxtel AFL games in 2006. The 1.294m figure for the Anzac day clash i presume is from first bounce of the ball to the final siren as Oztam has its figure as 1.192 & still a record).

When Ch.7 settle themselves into the footy coverage and finally produce some good telecasts the critics may back off and their decent ratings so far might become excellent ones into the future.

Lets just hope David Schwarz and Ricky Olarenshaw get boned (even though they aren't on Ch.9), Tim Watson is tolerable but the other two are plain as, they need to poach Dr Larkins from Ch.9 and possibly bring back Sandy Roberts.

Btw- anyone know what Ch.9s average rating was last year for the FN footy??

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Post by sandyhill »

First ch10 make a pitch for a twilight grandfinal, on the baisis it would deliver a minimum 20% ratings increase - the AFL have said they will consider it.

Now ch7 want 'flexible fixturing' for Friday nights. I hope (if not quite fully trust) the AFL will refuse to even consider it - bottom line is that it's not in the contract.

Seven seeks flexibility on Friday fixture
Jake Niall (Age) May 30, 2007

CHANNEL Seven said yesterday it would make a request for a flexible Friday night fixture in which the broadcaster would request a specific game only weeks in advance.
Seven's Melbourne head, Ian Johnson, said last night that Seven would "without doubt" ask for a similar flexible Friday night schedule to that operating in the National Rugby League, in which Channel Nine has significant input into which game it broadcasts only several weeks before, rather than having a fixed fixture. In the NRL system, Channel Nine's first request is a five-week block of games, then a 12-week block, and it finishes by giving only four weeks' notice for the concluding Friday nights before the finals.

As a senior executive at Nine, Johnson lobbied the AFL to allow his then network to implement an NRL-style broadcasting arrangement when Nine was broadcasting the AFL's Friday night matches. The AFL rejected the request, on the grounds that it needed certainty in the draw, for several reasons, not least the fact that fans tend to plan to attend particular matches — and are willing to travel — well in advance.

Johnson said Seven, which he said was "happy" with its Friday night results in this first year of its new broadcasting deal, would ask for the floating Friday night schedule as part of its season-end wish list. "We'll probably talk about it at the appropriate time in October when they sit down and talk to everybody about their wish list for the draw — not just the broadcasters, but the radio and all the clubs and the venue. So without doubt, (Seven will) probably bring it up again. It will come up again, yeah."

The AFL's chief broadcasting and commercial officer, Gillon McLachlan, said the league was willing to listen to Seven's request, but that it had long taken the view that the fixture required certainty.

McLachlan, asked how the AFL would regard the request for an NRL-type Friday night arrangement, said: "We always look at things our broadcasters put, as our key partners, but the AFL fixture's always been … something that we, I guess, respect in that it needs certainty. "We've had certainty in terms of timeslot, and certainty with fixture, so people can plan to go to games and work around it. That's been our position; that was our position with Channel Nine, but … we'll hear what Channel Seven's got to say."

The AFL is mindful that its supporter base has a different viewing culture to rugby league, with a large number of supporters who plan well in advance to travel long distances to games. It also has to take account of corporate hospitality and other factors that encourage a fixed fixture for all games, including the marque Friday nights. "That's a key consideration for us, our supporters getting organised for our games, as well as clubs selling season ticketing and corporate infantry and otherwise," McLachlan said. "But we look forward to hearing what Channel Seven's got to say."

Johnson said the ratings for Friday nights were "line ball" with what Nine had achieved to round nine last year. "They're pretty well line ball. Admittedly, a little bit under, but pretty well line ball with last year on Friday nights."

Johnson said Seven, like Channel Ten, would like a night grand final, too.
"All the TV broadcasters would like a night grand final. But the AFL makes those rules and we'll fall into line." Johnson said Seven accepted how the schedule worked. "We know the rules, so we're happy. It doesn't help if certain teams aren't performing. It all comes down to who's performing well."

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Jeffles
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Post by Jeffles »

AFL fans know to worry about their game when the AFL is getting its ideas from the NRL.

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Post by Rob »

I don't have a problem with 7 having some input into the fixture before it's drawn up, but not determining it until a few weeks before is just plain ghey.

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yob
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Post by yob »

Jeffles wrote:AFL fans know to worry about their game when the AFL is getting its ideas from the NRL.
Yeah like state of origin.

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Post by sandyhill »

yob wrote:
Jeffles wrote:AFL fans know to worry about their game when the AFL is getting its ideas from the NRL.
Yeah like state of origin.
Thats the que for this -

Ten wants state game
Caroline Wilson (Age) May 31, 2007

AFL broadcaster Channel Ten has unofficially proposed a pre-season state-of-origin blockbuster at the MCG, to be televised in prime time and used as a launching pad for the competition's 150th anniversary.

As momentum continued to build for a revival of the one-time annual fixture, Ten has indicated a desire to help stage a one-off state-of-origin clash — potentially between traditional rivals Victoria and South Australia — on the eve of the season. The network's general manager of sport David White told The Age: "We're right behind the idea. I'd love to televise state of origin and I think that would be a terrific celebration to start the season. We'd be receptive to other ideas and there are obviously a number of scenarios but the idea of, say, a Thursday night game on the eve of the season in which you would fill the MCG and create just a massive celebration to kick off the football year would be fantastic."

White is understood to favour a fan-friendly event which would open up the MCG to all supporters with a large number of discount-priced seats. Melbourne Cricket Club chief executive Stephen Gough has supported the Ten suggestion, saying last night: "I'm very much in favour of something like that. "I think the AFL have got to seriously look at the 150th and we believe state of origin, with everyone's support, would be fantastic. We would be very pleased to host it."

The AFL will appoint an executive sub-committee within weeks to consider the pros and cons of revisiting state of origin, a concept which continues to enhance rugby league and drew massive ratings for Channel Nine in Melbourne earlier this month. AFL chief Andrew Demetriou has thrown his support behind the logistically-tricky concept, which he said had the overwhelming support of the players but required the removal of the considerable stumbling block of the AFL coaches to truly succeed.

Certainly the competition's best player, West Coast captain Chris Judd, would make himself available for the Channel Ten proposal if his pre-season comments to the AFL were any indication. Judd told commissioners Mike Fitzpatrick, Bob Hammond and Demetriou that his preference for a Big V debut was pre-season.

Demetriou has also confirmed that Ten's proposal for a twilight grand final would go before the AFL Commission next month. "David White and his network will be sending us an official proposal early next week," he said.

AFL sponsor NAB suggested it would be prepared to drop the pre-season cup for a year in exchange for an NAB-sponsored state-of-origin competition.

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yob
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Post by yob »

State of big fat f***ing origin.

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Post by Dasher39 »

Seven can request it all they like, I'm confident it wont happen.

As much as I don't like Demetriou, he is a man who generally stands by his word and he said last year that it wont happen.

Bloody hope not anyway!

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Post by Ricardo »

I would love to see at least a one off game with Vic vs S.A at the MCG.....that would really be something, although i'd prefer a proper SOO with Vic, WA, Tas, S.A, NSW/ACT and Qld during the season, around the Rnd 8-9 mark.

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