AFL fans vent as 7plus apologises for technical difficulties
Don't mess with AFL fans on Grand Final day.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Sports fans are frequently vocal when it comes to their broadcasts and yesterday some took to social media to vent over 7plus.
Seven doesn’t own full streaming rights to the AFL Grand Final, only available through 7plus via select connected TV, set-top-box and gaming console devices. Other rights went to the AFL Live Official App. AFL Replays are also currently not available to 7plus.
That left some fans confused and frustrated with 7plus streaming a Border Force / Police Force marathon via its web and some devices.
But there were also technical difficulties with Android TV / Google TV and Amazon Firestick forcing the network to apologise.
We are aware that some users are experiencing technical difficulties accessing the Grand Final on 7plus via Android TV.
We are currently investigating and hope to have an update very soon.
We apologise for the inconvenience.
— 7AFL (@7AFL) September 24, 2022
Sources indicate Android issues were resolved prior to kick-off.
Network Seven was contacted for comment.
@7AFL @7plus Border Security on the dedicated AFL Grand Final channel on Google TV. Said it was supported?
— Andrew Foti (@freeky5) September 24, 2022
It is literally beyond belief how hard it is to watch the AFL Grand final on 7+. Right now it keeps sending me to the horse racing. WTAF @7plus ?
— Dr Davie C (@Davidjcraig_99) September 24, 2022
@7plus suddenly I can't watch the AFL GF. I only stream via tv as antenna is broken. Wtf is going on? I have android tv
— Tim (@Tim61916290) September 24, 2022
We were just streaming from the 7plus phone app and it cut from AFL coverage to “the best of border security” about 10 minutes ago. Had to switch to the awful built in TV app to get it to work.
— tim (@ABigDumbBaby) September 24, 2022
Has anyone else got kicked out of the AFL GF coverage on @7plus on the NVIDIA shield ? It's on the list of playable devices
— arsendragon (@arsendragon1) September 24, 2022
#7plus Totally unacceptable that I can’t watch the AFL Grand final on my Tv or app on any device I own !! pic.twitter.com/BbhcRBtHiA
— Tash Singh (@Nitasha6) September 24, 2022
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- Tagged with AFL, AFL Grand Final
7 Responses
The rights for a “free to air” broadcast should automatically include “free to air” TV being broadcast online, not just terrestrially – this is where the AFL falls behind NRL which have this side of things sorted with Nine and 9now. Some media were suggesting to dig up your old rabbit ears to pick up 7 or 7HD via aerial – anyone who has ever tried using rabbit ears to pick up digital TV would know that it is near impossible to get decent reception unless you are very close to a transmitter and ideally line of site to it.
Got caught out with this trying to check in on the Brownlow which also only showed Border Security on 7Plus, how lame, checked Kayo and they weren’t carrying it either, tried the afl app finally and it was on there carrying the ch7 feed, doesn’t seem to make any sense why the AFL would stream that themselves on certain devices and not also have the network themselves stream it as well, the AFL etc should really renegotiate these sections of contracts rather than waiting 5 years between contracts when technology is changing so rapidly especially when such large amounts of money involved.
Pretty poor effort on Seven’s behalf, given a lot of people no longer watch traditional “free to air” terrestrial TV now that you can stream virtually every channel in many cases much easier than having to set up an aerial and tune a TV in. I’ve relied on streams of free-to-air channels (when I bother watching FTA) for years now. It’s their own fault for setting the expectation that the GF would be broadcast on 7plus, given all their branding and advertising for just about everything states “catch it on Seven (or their other channels) or on 7plus”. Be it a lesson on ensuring if you’re going to get the FTA rights to something, make sure it includes the ability to stream it online too – or be absolutely clear from the get-go that viewers won’t be able to watch it on your streaming services.
When the rights were last negotiated, 7plus did not exist. The new rights agreement (which starts in 2025), 7plus will have full rights to match their broadcast schedule.
Guess they could have directed people to the Website explanation about it: 7plus.com.au/where-to-watch-the-afl-grand-final Though the problem here is people had hassles with the allowed devices for the streaming, so most knew it wasn’t on 7Plus proper already and it wouldn’t have helped.
As below, 7Plus started in November 2017 replacing their Plus7 site which was mainly catch-up and no live TV (started 2010), the rights were negotiated in June of 2017 at which point Telstra Live Pass had the streaming rights (from 2012).
Due to covid-19 the TV Rights were extended for 2 years until 2024, at that point Seven couldn’t renegotiate as it was just an extension of the existing deal, even though Telstra had pulled out of AFL Live Pass Streaming (last was 2019) and Kayo got it all. The AFL and Seven came to agreement on that in June 2020, while it took until Dec 2020 for the AFL and Foxtel to come to agreement, Seven actually getting streaming on selected devices is a bonus.
Sorry for the people who suffered technical difficulties but oh my how good was Robbie Williams and all the Aussies support performers?? Wow wow wow ! I bet John Farnham had a big smile on his face watching Your Voice.
This is why one channel shoudn’t have exclusive rights to major events! Yes they need to be on Free to Air tv but Let other streaming services like Foxtel and Kayo show them live as well! Many people are not able to watch on a tv – at work, remote areas, travelling etc. Give people choice in how they watch!!!