Saturday, 26 August 2006

Fox Footy Finished

This bit of news coming out of Melbourne has been quite sad for me, as an AFL fan based in Sydney.

Kevin Taylor over at Footystats Diary says it all ;

AFL is out of touch, and out of step

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou is quoted in an AAP report today in The Age and confirms just how out of touch he is with reality – "Everyone has got a free-to-air television set, and for us to be going into NSW and Queensland on a Friday night will be fantastic and we're looking forward to it."

Demetriou and his team may have gathered $780 million from the Seven-Ten consortium for a new TV broadcasting deal but are guilty of overseeing the death of the most important innovation for football – the Fox Footy channel.

The impact from the disappearance of the Fox Footy channel is incalculable and people in the south are simply not aware of what Fox has meant to the game and those who live north of the River Murray.

We were able to turn on at any time of any 24 hours and see our game being telecast, talked about, its history retold from vintage clips, but most of all it was its presence – which was not on the local radio, not in the local newspaper and not in the local TV newscast.

The AFL are guilty of lacking commercial savvy to have been party to all of this going under their noses.

And, to now come along with a proclamation befitting the great messiah of how wonderful it will be to see all eight games on free-to-air –
WHEN ...

When will the shift workers in the early hours of the morning, or those in the rural areas – when will we see the replay of the Hawks-Kangaroo match?

Not bloody likely Mr Demetriou, ever again.

Farewell to Fox Footy and the dream that our game will ever be more than a curiosity piece outside of Melbourne.

More news on this story...


Border Mail
Fox Footy's demise is irrelevant: Ten
The Age, Australia - 4 hours ago
... all eight AFL games next year in a deal with Seven, but Ten was continuing to negotiate with Foxtel despite the imminent demise of the Fox Footy channel. ...
Footy channel axing piles pressure on broadcasters ABC Online
Fans left howling after Foxtel pulls plug The Age
Footy fans furious at Foxtel The Age
Sydney Morning Herald - The Australian
all 35 news articles »
Fox Footy channel set to be switched off
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - 22 Aug 2006
While Foxtel is still trying to secure subscription rights beyond this year, it announced the Fox Footy channel would cease to exist. ...
Siren blows for Foxtel Footy
The Age, Australia - 23 Aug 2006
... Oh yeah, and go EAGLES for the '06 Flag!! We should not forget why Foxtel is closing the Fox footy channel. ... We need a channel like Fox Footy. ...
Ten and Seven shut Foxtel out of footy
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - 23 Aug 2006
... new rights partners Seven and Ten and its pay TV provider reached a new low yesterday when Foxtel announced the closure of the Fox Footy Channel and partially ...
No more Fox Footy
sportal.com.au, Australia - 23 Aug 2006
Foxtel will close the its AFL-only Fox Footy Channel at the end of the season because of the uncertainty over pay-TV rights to televise AFL football from next ...
Our man at headquarters
RealFooty, Australia - 20 hours ago
Settled in for a quality night of television, with Channel Seven showing all these ... exasperated, then asked: "Do you realise the whole future of Fox Footy is at ...
Broadcasters brawl as Foxtel axes AFL
The Age, Australia - 23 Aug 2006
... The big initial losers were about 50 staff at the Fox Footy channel, whose working futures are now uncertain, and AFL fans, who will lose their 24-hour service ...
Coaches concerned over Fox demise
AFL, Australia - 23 Aug 2006
Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade and St Kilda coach Grant Thomas have both expressed their disappointment over the demise of Fox Footy Channel – Eade going ...

[listening to: Zombie - The Cranberries ]
8:52:50 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My HobbiesTV
On This Day : Aug 26

August 26:

An early 19th century image of Krakatoa.

[listening to: Zombie - The Cranberries ]
8:46:17 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Geek
flickr toy : cool!

Found a link to fd's FlickrToys

I like the profile widget

frankarr. Get yours at flagrantdisregard.com/flickr

[listening to: Mike Teavee - Original Soundtrack ]
2:23:34 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Geek
Saints dominate the Dogs 142-92

Outstanding win by the Saints on Friday night. They dominated the dogs. It was the most complete team effort for the season. And it was great to see Hamill, and Kosi up front with Reiwoldt and Gehrig.

Are the boys peaking at the right time of the year? A top 4 spot is looming.

  Qtr Time Half Time 3 Qtr Time Final
St Kilda 3. 4 (22) 13. 5 (83) 18.08 (116) 22.10.   142
Western Bulldogs 6. 3 (39) 9. 5 (59) 12.10   (82) 13.14.   092

St Kilda:
Goals: - F.Gehrig 8, N.Riewoldt 5, B.Voss 2, S.Milne 2, R.Harvey 2, N.Dal Santo, J.Koschitzke, C.Ackland.
Best: - F.Gehrig, N.Dal Santo, N.Riewoldt, L.Ball, R.Harvey, L.Montagna.

Western Bulldogs:
Goals: - B.Johnson 6, C.Grant, B.Montgomery, S.West, P.Street, M.Robbins, L.Gilbee, W.Minson.
Best: - B.Johnson, D.Cross, S.West, C.Grant, M.Boyd.

Injuries - St Kilda: nil. Western Bulldogs: L.Gilbee (knee).
Reports - St Kilda: nil. Western Bulldogs: nil.

Umpires - H.Kennedy, B.Allen, S.Jeffery.
@ the Telstra Dome, Melbourne. Crowd: 47,120.


Advertiser Adelaide
St Kilda flogs Western Bulldogs 142-92
The Age, Australia - 15 hours ago
St Kilda key forwards Fraser Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt kicked 13 goals between them as the Saints roared back into form with a 22.10 (142) to 13.14 (92) AFL win over the Western Bulldogs to keep their top four hopes alive.
Twin peaks dominate Dogs The Age
Saints burn Dogs at Dome sportal.com.au
Saints confirm finals spot ABC Regional Online
SportsAustralia.com - ABC Online
all 44 news articles »
Umpires cop Eade rocket
The Australian, Australia - 12 hours ago
WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade will approach AFL umpires' coach Rowan Sawers about the lack of protection star centreman Scott West received in the 50-point loss to St Kilda last night.

[listening to: Better the Devil You Know - Kylie Minogue ]
2:03:26 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My HobbiesMy Interests
Been Busy.

The past week has been hectic and personal took a back seat to work, due to TechEd.

Normal programming returns now.


1:58:29 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Geek