Good
The sooner AFL football is removed from free to air television the better.
It’s probably an ambit claim, a negotiating position, but remarks about selling direct to viewers from Australian Football League boss Andrew Demetriou are, to the country’s broadcasters, a shiver looking for a spine to run up. In an interview with indy commentary site TheConversation, the Aussie Rules head-kicker says the …
if I actually watched teevee at all I would wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment.
As things stand however I have to say that the overwhelming crapness of TV network programming over the last decade has turned me away for good.
Not that it was all that good before then mind you.
On the subject at hand, and on a purely intellectual level, I can't help but think that if the TV stations stopped being such dicks with their scheduling they could still weather this storm.
That would mean giving punters what they want of course, namely *actual* live broadcasts instead of all this delayed crap they currently foist on fans just so they can fit games around the mindless reality TV crapfest that they relentlessly shovel in their hapless viewers faces these days.
Given a choice of 5 dollars a game versus "free" most punters will take the free option if the "free" is not too encumbered with crapness.
Besides, if FTA TV viewer numbers are down because the AFL are now netcasting games then I'm sure the going price for the TV rights would drop accordingly.
If not, then find something else to show.
Maybe another fucking home renovation challenge could be squeezed in somewhere.
the cricket, tennis, NRL, and RU, womens netball, soccer, the tour de france etc etc
Taking the idea one step further the creators of the Block, Masterchef, Australian Idol, Australia's Got Talent etc etc could do the same leaving lots more time for good programming such as (...crickets chirp...)
The AFL need to be a bit careful here, as they might wind up in the same boat as the NZ Rugby Union, who have served us more and more All Blacks to the point where the games are not very special any more, and people are starting to turn off to them. If faced with a $5 charge every time a game comes on, the average sports fan might just go outside and kick a ball around. The hard core fan will probably pay, as it's not a huge amount, but that's not exactly growing market share now is it?