★★★★★ 0/5

Seven juggles AFL and Wimbledon obligations

Seven's hopes to move AFL in Sydney and Brisbane get the thumbs down from Senator Conroy.

27
Leave a comment

Friday night’s coverage of Wimbledon coverage in NSW, ACT and Queensland will be telecast exclusively on 7TWO commencing at 10:00pm.

The network had planned to telecast Wimbledon on Seven this Friday in New South Wales and Queensland and move live AFL to 7mate.

But Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy has not allowed the AFL to be shifted, leaving Seven contractually obliged to show the AFL on Seven at 11.30pm.

Wimbledon, Friday July 1:
Begins 10pm on 7TWO in Sydney and Brisbane.

10pm – 11pm on 7TWO in Melbourne
11pm – 4am on Channel 7 in Melbourne

9.30pm – 11pm on 7TWO in Adelaide
11pm – 3.30am on Channel 7 in Adelaide

8pm – 11pm on 7TWO in Perth
11pm – 2am on Channel 7 in Perth

27 Responses

  3. Your kidding me just went to turn on a awesome friday night AFL game one of the closest match up for the weekend, only to find that some tard has stopped it. We cancelled all plans to be able to watch this game tonight.

  4. @ Dave – Regional viewers in NSW aren’t able to get it on 7Mate anymore either. Word is that Conroy allowed the games to be shown on the multi channels until round 14 and then the decision would be reviewed. Apparently Austar kicked up a stink and that is the reason for the change.

  5. As a further blow, it should also be noted that Regional NSW, who have been getting the games all year at either 7:30 or 8:30 on 7MATE won’t be getting such treatment tonight. Both the AFL Website and, yourtv.com.au say the game will only be on PRIME7 from 11:30pm!
    The disappointment continues…
    Let’s hope Conroy can get the list through Senate before the Finals this season so then at least, we’ll see that part of the season Live!

  6. What the hell Conroy. How come it was ok last week but not this week? Why are regional viewers in NSW and QLD allowed to see the AFL live on 7mate but footy fans in Sydney and Brisbane are not? What a joke. Was actually looking forward to another live Friday night game and was hoping that would be the case for the rest of the season.

  7. @Frankie: BBC World Service does a great job in covering Wimbledon each year. You can hear the BBC’s description of women’s singles final on ABC NewsRadio this Saturday night.

  8. Sam – the current Wimbledon broadcast deal means 7 get to pick two games per day which will be exclusive to them. They were always going to pick the Tomic match (and the ratings more then justified the choice) but because federer was playing at the same time they couldn’t do both.

  9. @ Sam, its to do with the contract they have with the All England Club, as I understand they get first pick of matches then Fox Sports picks up the rest.

    Who is doing it on the radio? I love tennis on the radio. Weird, I know.

  12. Nine wasn’t allowed to show Origin earlier on GEM in Perth. Conroy just seems to hand out exemptions depending on his household TV watchings schedule.

  15. seems a bit stupid and inconsistent. they were allowed to do it last week and they were also able to switch the friday game that actually involved sydney earlier in the year to 7mate for the royal wedding. besides surely most AFL fans in NSW & QLD will have Foxtel where it’s live on Main Event?

  18. good on 7 for playing the tennis at the start of play live- but last night all i wanted to watch was federer and Tsonga after tomic had lost and because fox had that match they could not show it – so i had to listen to it on radio like it was 1956…hopeless….

  19. Obviously the current situation – of a minister being required to take up the role of part-time tv scheduler is ridiculous. It will produce inconsistent results, even more so than usual.

    Come 2013, after the full analogue switchoff, and some consistent, logical rules may be permissable.

  20. I would have thought considering AFL doesn’t get big numbers in NSW or QLD at any time, showing it live on a multichannel would be perfect for those that are fans, and keep the majority happy by showing other programming on the main channel.

    I think Seven was right here, bad decision Conroy!

  21. Common sense should prevail. If the AFL was being telecast in prime time you could understand why it shouldn’t be moved but 11.30pm at night!!

  22. If Senator Conroy could grant an exemption to Seven last week to show the AFL on 7mate in Sydney and Brisbane last Friday (Hawthorn v Essendon), why not this week? Does it mean in Sydney and Brisbane, the tennis will continue on 7TWO before moving to Seven at 2am Saturday when the AFL replay finishes?

Leave a Reply