Looks like this is the first sign that all is not well with the AFL negotiations,and its becoming increasingly obvious that 7 and 10 have paid way overs on the AFL rights...
As I have been saying for months now... Sell your 7 and 10 shares now...
10 is especially vulnerable in my opinion.. they have been bankrupt before you know...
I honestly hope that 10 and 7 are forced to show games into Sydney live every Friday and Saturday night ( including non Swans games..) Can you imagine what a bath they will take in the ratings...
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/ ... 42,00.html
Fox plays hardball with Seven, Ten
16 August 2006 Herald-Sun
ANALYSIS by Damian Barrett
THE Channel 7-Ten consortium that secured the 2007-11 AFL TV rights has been involved - again - in talks with Foxtel.
Depending on with who one speaks, a deal to on-sell at least three of the eight weekly matches to the pay-TV network is either a matter of days or months away.
Either way, and for a variety of reasons, including legal, negotiations have been extremely difficult.
Clearly money is the biggest problem for Seven and Ten. There is lots of it to lose if they are not clever from here, as both, particularly Ten, committed way beyond budget in securing the AFL rights.
They do not want to be broadcasting eight weekly matches between them, and know Foxtel is desperate to retain AFL.
But Foxtel is not prepared to pay any price.
It has fought for access to the four weekly matches and access to the big timeslots it had secured in its agreement with Channel 9, but will settle - for a massively reduced price - for three games.
Foxtel was prepared to contribute up to $60 million a year in the Nine arrangement, but is understood to have offered as little as $17 million in talks with Seven and Ten.
Five matches on free-to-air and three on pay-TV remains the most likely scenario for next year. But until Seven and Ten can crack the Foxtel conundrum, eight matches on free-to-air remains a possibility.
The AFL says it does not care how Channels 7 and Ten break up the matches for coverage from next year, simply because it will achieve everything it wants out of the TV deal, regardless of the broadcaster.
Matches on Friday and Saturday nights will be beamed live in to New South Wales and Queensland, most rounds will have a 5pm Sunday twilight fixture and $780 million will head the AFL's way.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the TV stalemate was not a problem for the the league. "It's not for us, because we have an agreement with Seven and Ten to show our eight games next year," Demetriou said. "To finalise everything with another partner, I am sure they are conscious of having to do it soon in preparation for next year."
But eight months after the AFL sold its 2007-11 broadcast contract to Seven and Ten, the situation effectively remains as it was at the start of the year.
A few more weeks of stand-off between Seven-Ten and Foxtel, and the situation will become a major problem. Should it drag on beyond September, then it might even be referred to as a crisis.
Contrast the current situation with that of the previous awarding of AFL broadcast rights. When Nine, Ten and Foxtel secured the free-to-air rights for 2002-06, the AFL began a series of planning discussions with the successful networks in January 2001.
The AFL claims it can successfully compile a fixture for 2007 without knowing the network break-up of matches.
But can it? Surely, knowing which station is locked in to each timeslot is all but a pre-requisite for scheduling.
Then there are the associated problems for the networks, including acquirement of on-air talent, and alerting media buyers of the rates for advertising during coverage.
As one TV executive said this week: "Clearly, Foxtel is, and has been, playing hard ball. They need AFL, but not as much as Seven and Ten need them. Foxtel is the only one that can't lose from here."
