Keeping sports rights a clean fight
Free TV Australia has stepped up its campaign to win the Anti-Siphoning List review, with alarmist lines about sports under threat.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
The might of Free TV Australia (Seven, Nine and TEN) is behind a campaign to “Keep Sport Free” on our TV screens.
The campaign includes a website www.keepsportfree.com.au and new television ads, in the lead up to the review of the Anti-Siphoning List.
Commercial networks want to prevent the Pay TV market from getting access to more sporting events. In doing so, it includes information on its agenda, including taunting lines that viewers’ favourite sports could be “at risk.”
It even includes an online petition.
Amongst the facts it lists, it neglects to mention that the Productivity Commission concluded the list was anti-competitive, overly burdensome and too long.
But Free TV Australia does want some change, notably for networks to be able to play more sports on their digital channels (just take a look at the Bledisloe Cup on Seven on Saturday night to see why).
Rival body ASTRA says the anti-siphoning rules are in need of an overhaul but knows it won’t have any victories by being unreasonable.
It isn’t asking for sports already on FTA to move to Pay. It’s asking that those events that aren’t aired are freed up for the Pay TV sector.
ASTRA released its arguments in August via this Press Release.
Submissions can be made to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy by 16 October 2009.
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- Tagged with Bledisloe Cup
37 Responses
It just seems trajic that the TV powers-that-be can keep on getting away with clogging up the airways with total garbage and nobody cares. You will continue getting less and less on FTA until finally if you want to watch an AFL game you will have to Pay! . TV in aust is so bad now it is hardly worth buying a TV set!
I too can not afford Pay T.V. and wish that all sport continue on Free to Air t.v. I especially would like NRL games of a Saturday on t.v. too please. Thank you.
People who have Pay TV can afford to choose which channel they can watch their sport, people who can’t afford to have Pay TV don’t have the choice.
Please leave the sports the way it is and as it has been for many years, so that everyone may have the choice.
keep sport free
I am a Quadreplegic confined to a wheelchair.I love watching all kinds of sport,that is televised.I am a mad St,George Rugby League fan.But i like watching all kinds of sport that is on tv.I would never be able to afford to pay to watch sport,so we shopuld be able to watch it free.
Thank You
Jim Perrin
keepthesportsfree
Not every one cen aford Foxtel, free tv has been around befor Foxtel was even thought of. So I say free tv Rocks.
To Keepsportsfree stop putting those keep sports free ads on television no one wants to hear it Fox Austar And Foxtel have as much right to broadcast AFL or any other sport for that matter on there network as anyone else just becuase people cannot affoard Austar Or Foxtel is no excuse would people still be complaining if Channel 7 Channel Ten and Channel Nine we’re all Subscription Television? think about that? stop targeting Austar And Foxtel cause they do just as good a job of sports as any other network does people would probably start ganging up on Nine or Seven Or Ten if they we’re subscription television and start winging that they couldnt affoard it and plus the television stations arent free anyway the ads and the promoters pay for everything and quite frankly theres too many ads on television nowadays onnestly i dont wanna hear about it anymore im quite happy watching sport on Austar or Foxtel and i will continue to do so becuase i belive that they do a damn good job of it all this Keep Sports Free stuff is only on television becuase some people seem to reckon that they cannot affoard Pay TV well onnestly go cry to someone else nobody cares
thats where australians are also heading and quite frankly i enjoy Fox Sports coverage of The AFL and the rest of there sport so i say leave them alone they have as much right to broadcast sport as any other network whether it be free or not
onnestly i agree with Pay Television free to air television dosent always show the best sports they dont even come close to what Fox Sports has i was watching One HD a couple of weeks ago and they keep repeating every sport they’ve shown nearly whereas Fox Sports dont my parents belive that One HD is beating pay television it its sports coverage but the fact of the matter is that its not even coming close too it like for example Channel 7 has the rights to the AFL but there more interested in what the crowd is doing rather than whats on the sports field i dont mind Channel Ten and Fox Sports coverage people are only complaining cause they cannot affoard Austar Or Foxtel oh boo hoo quite frankly in a couple of years thats what its going to be like everything you watch on tv you will have to pay for americans have had that setup for years and you dont see any of them complaining
I cannot afford to pay for paid tv so I would’t like to lose sport on free to air. I would like to see more golf on channel 10 new sports station, and also would like to have the tennis live on channel 7 not delayed live tv, especially in Queensland.
I have never subscribed to pay TV because I have disagreed that people should pay to watch tv. Low income families have children who will only see their sporting heroes on tv. Everyone should be able to witness the great sporting moments of our countries athletes.
I support more sport on FTA as long as it is broadcast live. With the additional digital channels now available there should be no excuse for 1 of the FTA Networks to facilitate that & still satisfy the viewing interests of those who do not watch sporting programmes
Sport on free to air tv is an Australian institution, should never be allowed to be taken away
If it’s on the list then it must be shown live and in it’s entirety.
If not say goodbye to being on the FTA protected species list.
Economics times,being retrenched pay TV is a luxery $90 a month for decent pay tv, then they repeat them 5 thousand tmes. I had pay tv since 1996 had 2 let it go.
Yeah I love my LPGA & lots of other Women’s sport. I miss it, but that money can be spent on stress less about the bills.
Pull your head out of the sand,millions of elderly/unemployed/families can’t afford pay tv. Keep it free…. Give me the stickers & i’ll stick em everywhere.
Keep it free I’m with u Rabs.
As I’ve said before the main issue here is the use of multichannels for sport as well otherwise than the anti-siphoning list is just prohibiting from better sporting coverage. Would help out ONE a lot.
People whinging at sport hogging up there prime-time viewing. What are you talking about it, if it rates, it’s there and there are really only a few sports that are on primetime.
Use or lose it,is definately the case here.The line where they say your favourite sports could be at risk is a poor comment.All those popular sporting events will always be shown on free to air,because they rate.The powers at be if they have any sense will know what the correct decision will be.Let’s face it free to air has been given permission to screen these new channels at no cost.Foxtel deserves and should have no problem with this
I am all for abolishing the anti-siphoning laws.
If you want to be a fat, lazy sport-aholic and sit and watch sport on tv all weekend long then you can bloody well get Foxtel and stop hogging prime time viewing hours.
Ooh sport
i couldn’t help but laugh when they say in the ads that under the changes to the a-s rules that if you dont pay for foxtel you will miss out, in reality it’s more like even if you do pay for foxtel you will miss out because the ftas buy events and dont show them or show them several hours delayed just so foxtel can’t buy them, it do agree though with fta being able to show events of their multi channels. in theory the current a-s laws sound good but in reality it’s the viewer that misses out.
I hope the Government finally gives the viewers what they deserve.
This campaign is a joke. They’re acting like sport on free to air is a human right. “At risk”? Don’t make me sick.
If Pay TV can deliver sport live and uninterrupted then that’s actually preferable.
The commercial networks have treated viewers with contempt for far too long for me to feel like them having sports rights is a better deal and these tired laws should be done away with.
Hi There,
I Think sport such as soccer and rugby league should be made free to the public
as it is suppose to be the peoples game.As a user of pay tv for ten years mainly for sport i realised it was a waste of money.lets fight to keep our favorite sports on free to air.
Go you mighty tigers.
I am completely on ASTRA’s side. If Seven wants to show The Sound of Music instead of the Davis Cup or any other event, fine, but it shouldn’t stop me from being able to watch it on Foxtel. Those ads annoy me so much because they make out that Pay TV and “those that can afford it” are the bad guys when we wouldn’t even have a problem of this size if FTA got their act together. Use it or lose it.