Foxtel execs threaten Logie ban
Foxtel executives may refuse to attend the Logie Awards, furious at the sponsorship by Freeview.
- Published by David Knox
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Foxtel executives may refuse to attend the Logie Awards, furious at the sponsorship by Freeview.
Freeview, which represents the ABC, SBS, TEN, Seven, Nine, Prime, Southern Cross and WIN, is the official sponsor of the evening. In the battle for eyeballs, it is a rival to the Pay TV sector, represented by ASTRA.
Foxtel’s Director of Television Brian Walsh has written to Logie organisers venting his anger.
“The Logies is traditionally a night that celebrates the best in Australian television and it shouldn’t be political,” he told The Australian.
“It should really be a celebration of the best in television — irrespective of whether it’s commercial, public broadcasting or subscription — and I think by Freeview taking out a sponsorship it’s sending out a message that the subscription industry is not welcome. I don’t want to suggest they shouldn’t present their position — it’s their job — but to take out a sponsorship on an industry `night of nights’ is very pointed and, looking overall, I don’t think it’s in the spirit of the night.”
But talent would still be encouraged to attend the night. After all it’s too good a marketing opportunity to miss. That means they will still need to be escorted by Foxtel publicists. And if any of them win, it would be a disppointment not to be there to accept.
Other Pay channels would also still be likely to attend.
Freeview declined to respond to the Foxtel claims, reports the newspaper.
Maybe the answer is to go and buy some airtime and promote Foxtel product during the ceremony? After all when Nine lost the AFL rights to Seven / TEN / Foxtel, the Pay TV giant was perfectly happy to sponsor The Footy Show and boast that it had more coverage than any other network.
All’s fair in love, war and television?
Source: The Australian
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- Tagged with Logie Awards, The Footy Show
16 Responses
Get your facts straight. In terms of original drama in the running for Most Outstanding awards, Foxtel have by far the strongest series.
As much as i love Underbelly, it’s not all that well made.
I often wonder why I fork out $106 a month for Foxtel. Either there is nothing worth watching, or if there is something worth watching they squeeze a few minutes of the show in amongst the ads. As for Freeview, regional WA doesn’t even rate a mention on their online guide.
@matt, i often hear people complaint about the amount of repeats on foxtel, and granted they do have lot, but they also air many series that have never aired on fta before, and when you consider all the documentary, sport, news etc, thats a heck of a lot of original programming, besides, many people, myself included enjoy watching, repeats of shows like friends, king of queens etc.
Well its not like Foxtel shows anything new anyway. Its a wase of money with all of the repeats of stuff, and how many shows are even nominated each year like one?
It’s a huge slap in the face to Foxtel,which is not deserved.Maybe if the government didn’t give out there very generous offer to FTA this wouldn’t be happening,and shouldn’t be
nothing is stopping foxtel from running ads of their own. while i love foxtel they do seem to have a problem while competition, such as there criticising of abc news channel and abc3.
@Andrew I didn’t mean exclusive coverage of the red carpet.
oh no, how can we possibly enjoy the logies if the executives aren’t there..?
(actually, just end that sentence after the word logie)
what bad sports foxtel are, if they want sponsorship they have every right to pay for it. if freeview is willing to pay for it they have every right to have it.
“The Logies is traditionally a night that celebrates the best in Australian television and it shouldn’t be political,”
someone get me a bucket
I get the impression from Foxtel’s media releases over recent months that they’re feeling a little threatened by the expanding FTA landscape. Isn’t a virtual monopoly of the ASTRA Awards enough for them?
i don’t think they can complain. i assume foxtel had the right to sponsor it too if they were willing to cough up the cash?
they didn’t, freeview did, so freeview gets the sponsorship.
And besides if Foxtel doesn’t want to play ball with the Logies well they have their own awards which I’m sure the free-to-air networks aren’t invited to.
@Craig: Given that TV Week (which is tied to Nine) own the awards, I can’t see them allowing Foxtel to have any exclusive red carpet or after party coverage.
@Kuttsywood: I don’t quite understand your point. Freeview is only sponsoring the Logies – so it’s just advertising – they are not running it. Sponsoring the Logies is not straying from their business which is promoting digital TV. I don’t quite understand what you mean about local newsreaders etc?
Oh, that makes as much sense as no-one from 7 going because 9 has the telecast. Puh-leeze.
boo hoo. Poor Foxtel. And this sob story is being run in The Australian, owned by Rupert Murdoch who owns a chunk of Foxtel. Perhaps The Australian should focus on reporting actual news rather than just pushing the interests of its owner (another example: Sky News versus ABC News Channel).
Freeview shouldn’t be sponsoring the Logies. I’d much rather the money spent on a proper “local” push in the capital cities/regional areas where alongside your favorite drama, is your local newsreader(s).
Foxtel have every right to flood the Logies with Foxtel ads, they are a business, but Freeview should stick to their original plan of being a brand name for FTA.
Can you just imagine the TV landscape without PayTV?
I hope they steal the thunder of FreeView and take out some top awards, like they have in past years. Maybe Fox8 Should do there own Red Carpet & After Parties (Like in the US) and show up the FTA coverage?