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Report: Seven, Foxtel set to announce AFL deal.

Speculation an announcement is imminent for a 7 year AFL deal with Seven / Foxtel.

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The Seven Network and Foxtel will announce that they have retained the AFL broadcast rights beyond 2024, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

A senior media industry source confirmed to the newspaper that the deal would run for seven years and was a significant increase on the previous deal, which was worth $946 million over two years.

It speculates an official announcement is expected on this afternoon.

Seven and Foxtel were considered the front-runners despite Nine Entertainment Co making an offer on Monday worth roughly $500 million a year.

A two-year $946 million extension was secured in 2020, which ensured the rights stayed with Seven and Foxtel until the end of the 2024 at a cost of $473 million a year.

This post updates.

  • Tagged with AFL

8 Responses

  1. Good to see streaming on 7+, but not very good for fans.
    7’s AFL was bad since gaining the rights in 2007 & their product was like 1960s product. They have bad camera angles + none tweaks. But since 7 became sole FTA AFL telecaster in late 2011, their coverage went downhill. Why having BT on 7’s AFL coverage was way beyond me. He didn’t have any clue, instead he mouths off with his own self-indulgent jokes for about 10 years now. His banter towards Darce, Richo, Ling was just so bad and asked so many questions and stating the obvious points. Throw in JB & the commentary became very dreadful. Even when JB was on 9 back in 2009, his cricket calls were notoriously bad & went off with his own reflections like pizza, grandma’s reflections, and his calls were bad. We want to see a fresh telecaster, however the AFL only cares about making money and has obsession with 7/Fox. The issue is that the AFL has too much control on the fans for years now. So bad we had to suffer through 7’s…

  2. What a sad day for footy fans. 7’s coverage with poor commentating, crappy camera shots, barely great HD. The coverage needed a refresh. A 9 year deal we can only hope they improve. Foxtel getting exclusive Saturday games is not right for consumers who can’t afford foxtel (for the record I’ve had foxtel for 30 years) but putting a whole day behind a paywall isn’t consumer friendly. The only saving grace is foxtel will have their own commentary team of all games from 2025.

    1. But on the other point, fans can stream the match for free via 7+ – there’s live and replays on the 7 platform. With the replays, I think they will only have the full match and not the pre-match, intro video and the post-match.

    2. The deal is for seven seasons from 2025 to 2031. They have targeted the Saturday Foxel exclusive games to the first 8 rounds, in Melbourne, which won’t interfere with attempts to grow the game. People can subscribe to Kayo for 2 months (which they will be hoping for), go to the game, watch it in pub with Fox Sports or watch it on delay, or not follow their team (which they hope won’t happen). The AFL is raking in an extra $180m p.a. and viewers will have to pay for that somehow. There won’t be extra games to help with that until the Tasmanian team is added.

      1. Foxtel or more so their subsidiary Streamotion with Kayo, would be wise I think to offer up a special package that lasts the 6 months(ish) of the AFL Season including the Finals. Even if it was similar to the 12 month ones Telstra Plus customers can get (at $12.50 and $17.50) but split the middle of the two offers and have it at $15 per month (on the $27.50 Basic package), could do it a s $90 one-off payment or monthly (but you’re locked in).

    3. Sounds like 7 wanted Thursday nights instead so sacrificed Saturdays, going to be a lot of disappointed people on a Saturday night once they can’t watch a game for free, I suppose steaming is the way ahead and at those billions have to pay for it somehow.

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