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Seven and Nine to share footy?

Reports today that Seven and Nine have had discussions to share coverage of football codes, NRL and AFL.

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It’s almost too far-fetched to be believable….

Seven and Nine have had discussions to share coverage of football codes, NRL and AFL.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that under the proposal, Nine would broadcast an AFL match in the southern states while Seven would show at least one NRL game live in New South Wales and Queensland.

That may allow FOX Sports the flexibility to simulcast all rugby league matches, which could boost the price for NRL rights.

It is believed the Nine-Seven discussion about the potential sharing of AFL and NRL games was raised several months ago.

”It’s definitely on the table,” said a source. ”It’s been discussed and there’s a real chance it could happen.”

But such a union could also shut out any hope by TEN to nab NRL rights. TEN has already had discussions with the Australian Rugby League Commission following bids by Nine and Seven.

The newspaper speculates that a joint bid by Nine and Seven is expected in the next two months, and the ARL hopes to reach an agreement by September.

16 Responses

  1. nacawing, what’s next, the government telling them what to eat and what time to go to bed.

    The less the government has to do with broadcasting rules the better. The disgraceful anti siphoning list is bad enough. we need less regulation, not more in broadcasting.

  2. maybe conroy should follow the example of what was done in argentina where the government made a law that meant that all football had to be on fta, resulted in a massive jump in the polls for them as well.

  4. I don’t care who gets the FTA coverage as long as fox sports gets all 8 games live (like the AFL). The FTA coverage is a discrace. Last night the dragons scored and nine went to an add and came back and the dragons were running the ball back from the kickoff. Where was the conversion and kickoff.

    Linkin-Phoenix, Foxtel does a fantastic job with the sports they cover – live, in glorious HD, no interuptions during play. The way sport should be covered. Not delayed, in disgraceful SD and with interuptions every 10 minutes.

  5. I’m not a Rugby League fan but I hope this deal goes ahead particularly if it means for sport on FTA. I’m so sick of Foxtel hogging all the sport on channels less than half the country watches.

    If I were the minister for communications I would have another serious look about how we divide up sports coverage in this country. How can it benefit any sport particularly smaller sports like Soccer being bound to a financially crippling deal like the one they have with Fox. You want a reason for Soccer being so much in debt, that’s a big hint.

    If the NRL and AFL aren’t getting what they want out of the deals with the networks coverage wise they should include performance clauses. Deliver X quality coverage or we’re going to go to another network that can deliver. It’s time the footy codes to stand up and demand the quality coverage we deserve.

  6. Channel 9 deserve all the bashing they get about NRL

    1 they only show 1 live game a week
    2 the broadcast of every game is full of ads
    3 commentators shamefully plug their networks shows they are probably forced to do this by nine
    4 except for the 1 live game all other games are delayed
    5 they only show 3 games a week

    Give the rights to another FTA network or even better give the rights to foxtel they know how to treat NRL with the respect it deserves

  7. Oh good lets ruin the game more. Unless the RLC like what they see it really doesn’t matter what the networks want to do. They will do what’s best for the NRL and not the networks.

  8. quite simply and its starting to let this great website down, but the 9 bashing is not always warranted …. its getting out of control…i think people need to start declaring an interest if they work in the industry, to validate their comments, otherwise so called armchair critics who have no idea about the industry and how and why things are done, can get on here and say any garbage…by the way i do workin in the industry and its for a public broadcaster, and have worked in the past for all three networks and would do again if needed

  10. I absolutely hate watching NRL on Nine with the amount of advertising and the delayed telecasts, resulting in me only watching games on FOX Sports where there are no ads till half time and their games are live. If FOX Sports could get all games live like they have done with the AFL I will be extremely excited as it will mean no more FTA sports!

  11. I find it very very hard to believe. Seven would be stupid to pair up with Nine. Nine are their nearest rival and why would they give them an advantage? Its smarter to pair with TEN or even go it alone. Nine has ruined rugby league and need to be kept away from it.

  13. I’m surprised it’s taken them this long to put this on the table. Both networks suffer ratings-wise when they show the non-dominant code in the other code’s state. If they don’t show it until later at night, it means that some regular series end up at different eps in different states or they have to find a filler, as well as cop abuse from the few fans of the non-dominant code.

    In theory this should lead to more live matches in the dominant code’s state. Non-dominant code games can be shown on 7mate or GEM.

  14. Does this mean if seven give up 1 afl game to nine, then seven would only broadcast 3 games instead of 4 games.

    Seems strange seven would do this considering nine drove up the afl rights, wouldn’t seven want to do the same for the nrl

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