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New Radio Deal with ABC Imminent

by johnson — Sun, 2006-08-20 00:49 — Last Updated: Tue, 2006-08-22 00:41

Report by Johnson Leung for AFANA in Melbourne

Stations Inundated with Listener Support

The AFL has assured the Australian Broadcasting Corporation it will continue to cover football on radio for the next three years, following a public outcry over moves to relegate the government-funded broadcaster to coverage of inferior games.  (Ed. note:  the international shortwave coverage of Aussie rules on Radio Australia is taken from ABC's Melbourne coverage so this development is very important to overseas fans.)

Speaking outside 3AW after appearing on the morning program on Friday, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said a new deal with the ABC was imminent, and fans would be able to continue to listen to matches on ABC Radio in the future.

The AFL is tendering the radio rights packages for 2007-09 seasons into two streams. The A package involves the Friday night and premium weekend games and is worth up to $1 million. The B package has mostly interstate games on Saturdays and the early and twilight Sunday games, and is worth about $300,000.

During a meeting with league officials in Melbourne on Thursday, the ABC made an increased financial offer to the AFL in exchange for a share of Saturday afternoon's match of the round, the only game broadcast nationally and around the world on Radio Australia.

The ABC, which paid only $80,000 for this year's radio rights, had originally increased its 2007 bid to just above $100,000. However, the ABC's board is believed to have approved a six-figure increase over the original offer.

Longman is understood to have put forward a compromise proposal that stipulated that the ABC:

  • Would agree to call every 1pm Sunday game involving a Victorian team.
  • Have exclusive access to interstate Saturday night games involving Victorian teams.
  • Would call every Sunday game in the new regular twilight timeslot.
  • Wanted to remain in the rotation for the best game each Saturday afternoon when there was more than one game scheduled.
The AFL is expected to also guarantee ABC Radio Melbourne access to every Saturday afternoon and Monday afternoon game on public holiday weekends, when only one game has been fixtured in each of those timeslots.

Editor of ABC Radio Sport Peter Longman said post-meeting that progress had been made and he was hopeful an agreement would be reached. He said that listener pressure in the past two weeks, and not the extra money offered by the ABC, had helped resolve differences between the two parties.

Last weekend, when ABC Radio it asked for a show of support for the broadcaster's bid for a new broadcast license, it received more than 2000 text messages from football fans in outback towns, on fishing boats, and overseas locations such as Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Beijing, Riyadh, Moscow and Papua New Guinea.

The AFL also received hundreds of emails from ABC listeners after reports of plans to marginalize the broadcaster's football coverage. The ABC had planned to take its case to the AFL Commission had the league executive continued to insist on scheduling it inferior games.

In the wake of the AFL's criticism of game commentary and its tentative proposal to regulate game calling, Longman also said the ABC would reject any attempt to control its coverage of the game, stating the broadcaster's editorial guidelines did not allow any outside influence on its sporting coverage.

The ABC has initially feared its tight budget will restrict it to accept the B package or missing out completely, creating the type of interstate black holes in radio the AFL says it has eliminated in the new TV rights deal.

ABC currently covers five matches per week through its nine metropolitan and 51 regional stations, with three matches broadcast into Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra via 24-hour news station NewsRadio while the metropolitan stations are on other commitments.

Using Round 19 as an example, the ABC would next year be forced to cover games such as last Saturday's West Coast-North Melbourne match, which kicked off at 4.10pm. Interstate ABC stations would be unlikely to take that game due to later commitments (such as rugby), so would likely cover no AFL football on Saturdays.

This year's Federal Budget included the renewal of the ABC's triennial funding of $1.6 billion for the 2006-07 to 2008-09 financial years (ending June 30), plus an additional $88.2 million over the same period.

This measure involves funding of $530.8 million in 2006-07, $543.5 million in 2007-08 and $555.0 million in 2008-09. This will maintain current base funding and includes $9.7 million over three years (comprising $3.2 million in 2006-07, $3.2 million in 2007-08 and $3.3 million in 2008-09) for Radio Australia.

However, the funding is spread through the broadcaster's various divisions, and it is believed that the annual budget for the ABC's sport department is only $1 million.

The pressure on the AFL to relax its new radio broadcasting plans to accommodate the ABC has come from influential circles including Senator Robert Ray (former Federal Immigration Minister), who strongly criticized the prospect of the ABC being forced to play second fiddle to the commercial networks.

Jon Faine, the morning host on ABC Radio Melbourne, has also pushed the station's cause on his program, and the ABC's senior No.1 caller, Gerard Whateley, is believed to have passionately argued the station's cause in a long conversation with Buckley more than a week ago.

The AFL has previously hinted that the ABC would cover football next year.  Two weeks ago, responding to a fan's question regarding lack of radio coverage of Essendon-Carlton round 16 clash in country Victoria, Demetriou writes: "(The AFL has) made the public commitment that all matches involving Victorian teams will be available on radio, regardless of where those teams play. The AFL expects to finalize arrangements with a national broadcaster, an AM rights holder and an FM rights holder within the coming 6-8 weeks, and would fully expect the amount of radio coverage to be expanded."

Last week, AFL general manager of broadcasting, strategy and major projects, Ben Buckley, said the league recognized the unique value of the ABC and the enormous role they play covering the game throughout Australia.

Discussions between the AFL and a number of Melbourne radio stations, including 3AW and Triple M, are continuing.

Story sources: The Age, Herald Sun, ABC Sport online, budget.gov.au

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