Pay TV Audience for Melbourne Victory v Brisbane Roar was a record for a regular season A-League game. 155k.
Presumably if it was on FTA we'd triple the audience, (plus nursing homes where the TV's are always on) given Fox has a penetration rate of around 30%.
We just won't go away will we!
All the Socceroos World Cup qualifiers will be on FTA TV from 2013.
That's the outcome of the Aussie Governments latest unique anti-siphoning tv deal.
Finally Australians will get to see some Australian football on fta tv - maybe then the game can start to develop a larger, rusted on interest with our grassroots.
Aussie kids and parents can watch the game they actually play - finally!
But what will it do to the crucial FFA revenue.
Currently FFA get $17 million per year from Fox for all Socceroos and A-League games but most of that money is said to be from the Socceroos component.
Will this money, in total, be matched or increased by splitting the Socceroos and A-League games? Football for survival must increase it's revenue or further struggle.
With the A-League appearing in the top ten programs on Fox regularly throughout the Summer season hopes of the league standing on it's own two feet financially and bringing in further revenues from TV might not be totally unrealistic.
Competition from a FTA company would, of course, secure an increase.
FTA coverage of football will be hopeless if coverage of other sports codes in Australia is anything to go by but that's a different issue.
Of course the Socceroos have more than just World Cup qualifiers to sell.
Add in the Asian Cup Qualifiers and Socceroo friendlies and there is still a worthy product for Fox to pay for and increase their spend.
Additionally which FTA station actually take the Socceroos qualifiers will be interesting to see. Could there be competition from more that one station?
If so, and you'd think so, Australian football will have really, truly entered the mainstream. Until now FTA stations have run from football indeed in Channel 7 they actually bought the rights for $1 million per year in 1997; with the sole intention of ensuring the game was never shown on FTA.
How such a Station 7,9 or 10 will promote and run the Socceroos games and indeed what they will do for football in terms of promotion around these games will be interesting and crucial for the future of the game.
FTA channels pump their news full of whatever sports they are showing. Finally some channel will be talking up football to millions of their viewers over and over. And mostly it will be positive football talk.
What impact will that have on the next generations?
Who knows how much the Socceroos alone are worth?
Football has never had a mainstream FTA bidding for and promoting the game.
The interest in the Socceroos will be as high as State of Origin or the Ashes overtime and of course there are many more World Cup qualifiers than State of Origin games.
And you can expect some huge viewing figures particularly when Australia play China, India, Japan etc.
Wonder if the FFA or the FTA TV station get to sell those rights to Foreign Countries as part of the deal - if so they could add significant revenues to the FFA coffers.
Interesting times ahead for football but it's worth noting that FFA CEO Ben Buckley was lobbying hard to keep all football and paytv or so we are told.
That suggests despite Australians finally getting to see football the FFA may not actually achieve the increased revenues the rest of the game so desperately needs.
If this is true, football might just be the loser from the anti-siphoning rules once again.
This is a blog, full of the blarney and here's the latest.
FFA are to renegotiate the Fox TV deal at Christmas. That's it no more no less. That's what I heard from those who know or think they do.
A new deal, including FTA, maybe with the league expanding a new deal is possible.
That said would any FTA station touch the A-League?
They won't show NRL or AFL live across the country and these codes are pumped across all media all the time, so why would they take A-League games which would not get big ratings on a Friday night across Australia in my opinion.
We need FTA, we also need better match commentators because in my view only Simon Hill fits the bit as a commentator of the required standard. Andy Harper and Paul Trimboli are great as the offsiders but we need quality commentators...or else FTA or not it's hard to stomach.
So come on you young Aussies get commentating on the games and entertain us. We football fans deserve the best, and we ain't getting it yet are we?
The Sydney Morning Herald are reporting Women's basketball is to be given the bounce from FTA live games on Saturday afternoons. And the suggestion is Women's live football will fill the spot! See your Canberra daughter play live on TV. That would be nice!
http://www.smh.com.au/news/basketball/abc-plans-to-give-wnbl-the-bounce/2008/07/03/1214950952192.html
ABC plans to give WNBL the bounce
Jacquelin Magnay
July 4, 2008
THE ABC has slam-dunked its live coverage of the Women's National Basketball League for the coming season and plans to replace the prime 4pm Saturday afternoon highlights with a sport more politically in favour - women's football.
Football Federation Australia received a $32 million Federal Government grant in the last budget, some of which was to pay for the broadcast costs of a women's football league. Rugby league and rugby union officials were furious, having lost $35m in collective grants at the same time.
But now it appears the most successful women's sport - the Opals are world champions - will lose out.
A spokesman for the Federal Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis, said she was unaware of the changes but would be disappointed if programming changes led to a reduction in women's sport on free-to-air TV.
ABC's head of sport and events, Iain Knight, said the ABC would not take money off women's football - the same stance as its deal with basketball and previously with netball.
He confirmed the changes to the basketball coverage, but said no decision had been made on which sport would get the 4pm timeslot.
The ABC has cut its coverage of women's basketball from its digital channel, ABC2, which broadcast games live on Friday night. ABC1 also used to show a women's basketball highlights package at 4pm on Saturday afternoon. Under the new plans, the basketball will lose its live coverage and have a 90-minute highlights package at the less favourable Saturday time of 2pm.
The decision has crushed basketball officials, who are reeling from the turmoil in the men's code following the demise of the Sydney Kings and Brisbane Bullets.
"This is a slap in the face for women's basketball, and to find that the coverage of women's sport can't even be maintained is very, very disappointing," Sydney Flames board member Michelle Nancarrow said.
Basketball Australia chief executive Scott Derwin said women's basketball would come off what was expected to be a successful Olympics campaign with a dramatic reduction in what was being broadcast.
"This will have a dramatic effect and potentially be very, very costly in terms of the profile of the league and its ability to attract sponsors," he said.
This season, the WNBL will feature 11 teams following the inclusion of Logan from South-East Queensland. The season runs from October to March.
July 9, 2007
FOX SPORTS KICKS A GOAL WITH SOCCEROOS
The Australia v Oman AFC Asian Cup match gave FOX SPORTS a significant win on Sunday night with the game attracting an average audience of 345,000 – one of the highest audiences to watch a sporting event in Subscription TV history.
The Australia v Oman game also attracted a reach (total viewers) of 707,000 according to ratings recorded by OzTAM Data.
These figures do not include people who watched the match at one of 2,200 registered FOX SPORTS venues around Australia.
FOX SPORTS has been inundated with interest from venues across the country, including 400 that have been classified as “family friendly”, all of whom will be showing the 32 AFC Asian Cup matches.
To help Qantas Socceroo fans locate their nearest “live site”, FOX SPORTS has set up a venue finder at http://www.foxsports.com.au/.
Simply log onto http://www.foxsports.com.au/, click through the following links: football/Asian Cup/venue finder, insert your postcode and a map will outline the nearest options.
Venues that have been declared “family friendly” will be marked to allow families to watch the Asia Cup during prime time.
To be classified as “family friendly”, venues meet criteria that includes having screens in areas where children under the age of 18 can watch the matches, having children’s facilities and food available.
Note:
I would like to see the list of unfamily friendly places....just appealed to my sense of humour:)
LA Galaxy to Face Sydney FC at Telstra Stadium
Football Federation Australia (FFA) today announced that the US Major League Soccer (MLS) Team LA Galaxy will play a one-off match against the Hyundai A-League's Sydney FC in Australia later this year.
“It is my pleasure to announce that Football Federation Australia has negotiated for the LA Galaxy, including their new star recruit David Beckham, to play a one-off match against Sydney FC at Telstra Stadium (Sydney) on Tuesday the 27th of November,” said FFA Chief Executive Officer Ben Buckley.
“This historic event will be Beckham’s first appearance outside of North America for LA Galaxy, and his first visit to Australia.
“I am also very pleased to announce that Network Ten will broadcast this major event live nationally in a three hour special presentation.
Comment:
Great to see the game live on Free To Air.
Also interesting the channel which picked it up. The one with the highest profile in the 15-30 age group.
We live in interesting times for football in Australia.
Saw Steve Waugh on the Aussie bench for the recent game against Singapore. Why didn't they bring him on!
Great move by Graham Arnold to get Waugh involved.
No I'm not a big cricket fan but Steve reckons the cricket team is the number one team in Australia in terms of support and affection. But it could soon become the Socceroos, especially if we win in Asia.
Wallabies and Kangaroos and AFL international sides are already way behind the Socceroos according to Steve.
Socceroos and cricket as number one teams, seems a good natural balance to me
Now let's get the footy on FTA and see the sport go through the roof..watch the bidding wars begin.
Viewing figures of Socceroos tournaments would easily out rate League internationals, Wallabies games and even State of Origin across the country.
Our TV deal doesn't currently reflect the interest.
Time to renegotiate.
Take the A-League, Olyroos, Matildas and Asian Chamipions League away from the Socceroos
Two packages are required and Senator Coonan needs to listen to Steve Waugh
The two biggest national teams should be on FTA.
Wake up Australia, or get voted out :)
Aussie Prime Minister will be able to watch the Socceroos on Fox at the Asia Cup
If the Aussies get to the last four of the Asia Cup, and they probably will, do you want to see pictures of John Howard in his new Socceroo tracksuit jumping up and down in front of his FoxSports channel.
All the kids and parents who would be watching in PRIMETIME if the game was on Free-to-air will not want to see it either. This is wrong and the FFA need to get Fox to the table and renegotiate a one-off deal.
How does it help Fox if 70% of Aussies can't watch what would be the biggest sporting viewer figures of the year.
Australia v Japan Final of the Asia Cup at 7.30pm.
Which Aussie wouldn't tune in if this happened?
A recent study scientifically observed by Lamprecht & Stamm SFB AG, a social research company based in Zurich showed that some 265 million male and female players and a further five million referees, coaches and other officials are involved in football, giving a grand total of 270 million people, or four percent of the world’s population.
Mr Blatter was happy. I wonder why?
“Football’s popularity remains undiminished and is actually increasing,” reflected FIFA President Joseph S Blatter. “If you count the relatives and close friends of active participants in football, who share in their passion for the game as fans and support them in other ways, the total number is even more impressive: well over a billion people worldwide are involved in football – at all levels of society and across all borders.”
Here are some of the most important findings of the Big Count 2006:The overall total of 265 million male and female players is almost ten per cent higher than the number recorded six years ago (242 million). Of the 265 million, 26 million or around ten percent are women;Since 2000, the number of registered male and female footballers has increased by around 23 percent to over 38 million;The growth in women's football is particularly striking, with the number of registered players up 54 percent to 4.1 million, while the number of registered players in the men's game has likewise seen an increase of 21 percent to 34.2 million.
That measures with about 500,000 Union players, 50,000 AFL and 10,000 League. Alright, alright I made those figures up.
And yet in Australia we can't get the Socceroos team on Free To Air. Good one Johnny.
In view of recent trends with Environment and IR, I'm expecting a committee to be formed by our Prime Minister, and then before the election an appropriate vote winning decsion to be announced.
If he can go all green on us now, why not backflip on FTA. Don't hold your breath......it's probably polluted anyway:)
Talking to Parents at the local football oval this morning and the mood is not good!
"Ben wants to be a Socceroo."
"Yeah I'm gonna play for Australia,"says Ben in his Socceroo top.
He moves away and does a few step overs and such.
"Hey the Socceroos aren't on telly tonight. They are on Fox. As if I'm gonna take him to the pub, besides we have to leave at 9pm as he's too young."
"Who do I write to? It's just wrong."
And the Asia Cup?
"Is that on Fox as well?"
Four different parents in a matter of moments. All with kids, all football players, and passionate Australian fans.Helen Coonan might think she's sorted it, but the mum's and dad's of Australia, the battlers are not happy John.
You just don't get it do you. This is the the most popular national team bar maybe and only a maybe, the cricket team.Would you see them taken off Free-To-Air?
John, you better fix it as last time I looked you had a few problems in the polls. Imagine if Australia win the Asian Cup. You thought your ratings were bad now!
What are you going to do for the battlers John Howard?
Tell us what you think about the Australian team playing Asia Cup games at 7;30 at night AEST only on Fox?
