7 comfirmed as a bidder for League

[Stormwarning[c]]

Channel 7 has been confirmed as a bidder for Rugby League when the Television rights com up next year.

Robert Fidgeon (Herald Sun & 3AW) confirmed on Southern Cross broadcasting that with the change in management at Seven recently and that new management all being League fans they are keen to see if not all, at least some parts of League head to Seven.

Representative games are high on their list to be shown Australia wide (and live).

Now all we need is for the negotiations to begin.

Also of note is the fact the Seven News of a Sunday (Melbourne) now promote the Storms results from that weekend as a seperate story on its own and not part of the sports round up. Lets see if Nine Melbourne follow suit?

[endike]

Seven appear to be giving Storm a fair go, Craig Bellamy was interviewed on their Sunday Sports show this morn.15 may. oh dear ,Tim wont like this

[Thunderstruck]

Interesting development SW, a few weeks ago you said 7 will not be bidding for league, I wonder what changed.

[simo]

I would love to see seven get the tv rights, we will see better profesionalism in there telecast then what nine give.

[Thunderstruck]

The same kind of professionalism 7 gave soccer and union?

[Stormwarning[c]]

It seems that with most of the upper management at 7 coming from Nine and some of them are after pay back to their former employer that 7 are keen to show they showcase League a lot better.

The big push for Seven will be the Representative games and a partnership with Pay TV.

Although Roy and HG are back at the ABC, they still have a contract with 7 and 7 are keen for them to do SoO like they do on radio.

I spoke to Fidgeon after his comments and he believed that a number of changes at 7 will see them tackle that 'traditional sports' that Nine have had a strong hold on for years.

Also expect a better deal on the radio front as things start to heat up in providing better coverage.

[Lord Reynoldson]

7 Getting the right could be a big boost for Melbourne as far as fair media coverage goes. They are appearing to be a lot more Melbourne friendly. And hopefully Ray Warren will stay contracted to 9 with hisd swmming duties and we will have people calling the games by the correct names. And hopefully Joey won't be picked up by 7 like he has by channel 9 to do commentary crap for them.

[riccardo]

I honestly think alot depends on whether the 7/10 alliance wins the AFL rights. I just have it in my head that if 9 lose the AFL, but win the NRL, there is a slightly better chance they will be a bit more gracious to us here in Melbourne to possibly show the game of the round and/or the Storm fixture at a reasonable hour.

On the other hand, if 7 lose out on thier half the AFL rights, but win the NRL, I can see the same thing happening, particularly as there is very little worth watching on 7 these days, anyway. Even a 1 hour wrap up show on a Sunday night will do me.

Some interesting developments here. Lets just hope the fans are the real winners, whoever wins the broadcast rights.

[AAS]

I honestly think alot depends on whether the 7/10 alliance wins the AFL rights. I just have it in my head that if 9 lose the AFL, but win the NRL, there is a slightly better chance they will be a bit more gracious to us here in Melbourne to possibly show the game of the round and/or the Storm fixture at a reasonable hour.

On the other hand, if 7 lose out on thier half the AFL rights, but win the NRL, I can see the same thing happening, particularly as there is very little worth watching on 7 these days, anyway. Even a 1 hour wrap up show on a Sunday night will do me.

Some interesting developments here. Lets just hope the fans are the real winners, whoever wins the broadcast rights.

True!!!


think about it from 1998-2000. We got the Storm games replayed or live on a Sunday arvo.


This was before 9 had the AFL rights

[thinga87]

I think the minimum requirement for Nein in Melbourne (should they keep the NRL TV rights) would be similar to what Brisbane viewers get with replays of Broncos games that are Fox Live games.

Also given the NRL should have 8 games to play with in a few years, a 3-5 free-to-air vs pay split would also be a minimum.

Nein potentially losing AFL has both positives and negatives for the NRL bidding process... as long as the league generates more money with better coverage around the country they'll have done OK. Not good, just OK.

[JAMIE]

Maybe sometime can tell me - How come Channel 9 does 3 AFL games a week, and only 2 NRL ones? I hope it's a "one or the other situation" That means I hope different networks have the NRL and the AFL, and not both on the same network, because as we are experiencing, we get no footy down here beacuse of the AFL. Mind you, we didn't get Friday Night or Sunday football, even when Nine didn't have the AFL. I hope Seven wins the rights to footy, we may actually see some coverage here in Melbourne.

[Stormwarning[c]]

I say, give it back to the ABC.

Growing up I use to love sitting in front of the TV on the weekend knowing that I'd get my league fix thanks to the ABC

[Thunderstruck]

Except the ABC don't have much money to throw around. If 9 gets it, and ABC wants a slice... not gonna happen.

[Stormwarning[c]]

I know, but we can live in hope

[Insomniac]

[quote=""Stormwarning[c"]"]I know, but we can live in hope[/quote]
"dream" perhaps...

I can't believe that the ABC broadcasts the QLD cup games in digital widescreen, but NZ broadcasts NRL games in normal 4:3 ratio... how amateurish!