Foxtel is expected to announce a deal with Channels Seven and Ten to exclusive live broadcasts of half the AFL competition’s home-and-away AFL games.
The announcement was scheduled to happen at 11am but was postponed due to last-minute contractual hiccups.
The pay TV provider will pay the free-to-air channels $50 million this season and an indexed amount each year until 2011 to secure the deal. Experts estimate that Foxtel could end up paying as much as $270 million over the course of five years.
The move means that outside of attending the games in person, AFL supporters will have to subscribe to Foxtel to see every game played live or else wait several hours to watch the replay.
Foxtel will be able to name which games it wants to broadcast exclusively. The schedule is expected to see four live home games for Adelaide and Perth teams move to Foxtel, a move which has upset supporters in those states.
Today has been a busy day for Foxtel, which also officially launched its iQ On Demand service.
Up to 120,000 Foxtel subscribers who use iQ through their HDD recorder will have up to 30 hours of content per week delivered to their box.
