The Australian Football League's rich new broadcasting deal "looks likely to come at a further cost to supporters without Foxtel with the prospect of just three games in half of the home-and-away rounds next season being televised on free-to-air," according to Caroline Wilson of THE AGE. Talks between the Ten Network and Foxtel "have stalled over the prospect of the former rights holder Ten buying the 11 available Saturday mid-afternoon games from the AFL's pay TV provider in a development that will hurt fans of less popular Victorian clubs." While AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has said that "he was confident Foxtel would sub-licence one game a week on 11 of the 22 rounds in the new deal that now looks in doubt with Foxtel unwilling to give up those exclusive games as it fights for more subscriptions." Should no deal be achieved, AFL supporters "would be handed an average 3.5 free-to-air games on the Seven Network of nine fixtures games each weekend." This represents yet another fall in free-to-air, an allotment that has fallen over each of the last four broadcast rights deals. Talks between Foxtel and Ten "saw the pay provider looking for an annual fee" of about A$13M ($9.7M) for the 11 available games with Network Ten offering an estimated A$7M ($5.2M). Foxtel "had attempted to gain the rights to some Big Bash games in exchange for less money but Ten refused." Both parties believe a deal could have been achieved for around A$10M ($7.4M) a season with Foxtel in the end unwilling to sell its exclusive games (THE AGE, 6/8).
