Comments on: Socceroos: Does anyone care about the Asian Cup?

By: Conor

Conor — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:03:36 +0000

So all the FFA has to do is draw a line in the sand in the next broadcast negotiations? Er, hello? Last time out, none of the Free To Air channels were interested in the A-League and Socceroos with the exception of SBS – and they offered a paltry amount. Without Foxtel there would be no A-League and the reality is that most of the value that came from that deal was for the Socceroos. Now that the Socceroos are forced onto FTA and the FFA will be forced to except a tiny amount for the rights (which will happen) there simply won’t be enough money to fund the A-League. Anti-siphoning for the Socceroos is the death knell for the A-League.

By: Neil Sherwin

Neil Sherwin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 03:45:06 +0000

With regard to FTA, surely the likes of One HD could stump up a few quid for a weekly highlights package to at least give people access to the A-League.

It works that way in the UK – Sky Sports have a monopoly on live games but BBC’s Match of the Day is still incredibly popular.

All it would take is an hour round up show at a decent hour to keep people involved.

By: Charles

Charles — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:33:45 +0000

I can’t see an alternative with A-League Paul. Asian Cup, WC and WC Qualifiers on a different level but not sure their inclusion on anti-siphoning is the answer. FTA networks then know the ceiling on any rights deal is a lot lower, resulting in a lot less money being injected into the league, coverage at odd times such as delayed or middle of the night in some states. Govt role should be minimised so their intervention to ensure historic games’ live broadcast is not the answer long term. For the time being, I think the FFA have got it right and we’ll have to be satisfied with being a little frustrated and not adverse toperhaps being creative in the name of following our truly national team.

By: Paul J Laverty

Paul J Laverty — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:25:56 +0000

Fair point Charles, and we’ve all done it, but isn’t it technically illegal? It’s a sad state of affairs when minors have to resort to questionable means to see one of the most important matches in their nation’s history.

By: Paul J Laverty

Paul J Laverty — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:23:24 +0000

Let’s hope the nation can get charged for this Sunday morning!

By: Charles

Charles — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 03:00:22 +0000

I’m sure the FFA is aware of the limitations of their deal with Foxtel in relation to market penetration. They had little choice at the A-League’s inception as no FTA broadcaster would have given them what they needed to get up and going. Doubtless the FFA is trying to build the HAL brand to a point where a FTA broadcaster will see the benefits of live coverage when the time comes for the broadcast rights to be renewed.

In relation to under 18s not being able to see the game if they don’t have Foxtel, I don’t have Pay TV and I watched last night’s semi-final demolition from the comfort of my lounge room. All a teenager needs is a PC and a decent internet connection. The ability to input a few choice words into a google search also is required. I’m sure most teenagers could manage this task.

By: Varun

Varun — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:33:58 +0000

The next Asian Cup is in Australia, maybe they’ll get charged up for that one.

By: Gweeds

Gweeds — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 06:21:49 +0000

I agree with you. However there is an alternative view that removing the National team from the anti-siphoning list would hurt football. Bernard Keane wrote an article about this on Crikey.com titled: "Conroy confirms: soccer punished with a return to anti-siphoning" where he argued that placing the World Qualifiers on free to air will mean that the FFA now faces the probability of a substantially-diminished return from the sale of its post-2014 rights.