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AFL Coverage on Fox Soccer Plus for Next 3 Years

by admincms — Tue, 2012-03-13 21:52 — Last Updated: Sun, 2012-04-22 11:44

The AFL announced today that it had reached a three year deal (2012-2014) with Fox Sports for weekly AFL coverage on FOX Soccer Plus (FSP).  FSP is the subscription channel counterpart to Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel and before that Fox Sports World).  The cost will be $14.99 a month and FSP is available to customers of DirecTV, DISH, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, most Time-Warner and Brighthouse cable systems, Cablevision, Cox, BlueRidge, Bendbroadband, SureWest, FullChannel, Frontier, and RCN cable.  The AFL was unable to come to a deal with ESPN for continued coverage on their outlets.  Coverage will be two live matches per week typically (will vary occasionally) plus all finals live. The AFL Winners weekly highlight show will be available on FSP also. AFANA will post more detailed schedules in the next few days and update all of our TV pages to reflect this change in coverage. (TV pages have been updated)  Canadian TV coverage will remain on TSN2 with one live match per week.  (Addendum: 03/23/12: MHz has confirmed they will continue coverage this season with games on Monday nights at 10:00 PM EDT, repeated on Saturdays at 4:00 AM EDT.  Matches will be edited to 2 hrs and they will not carry the highlights programs ("AFL Winners") this season on Saturdays. Also, FSP on some Time Warner systems which offer the Sports Pass package of channels,  FSP will be just $5.99 -- price may vary slightly in some areas.)  read more »

Editorial: Did The AFL Fail Footy In The USA?

by admincms — Mon, 2012-04-23 10:50 — Last Updated: Sun, 2012-04-29 15:58

(This editorial is in response to the following post on the site of usfootynews.com: AFL Decision Fails Sport in USA.)

Our friend Wayne Kraska at usfootynews.com recently posted an editorial on why he feels the AFL has failed the sport of Australian football in the USA with it's latest TV contract with Fox Sports Plus (announcement here).  Considering his arguments and those of the many fans who commented here on this site, on our Facebook page, and in e-mails to us, I felt it was appropriate to respond. 

At the outset, I want every reader to know that I am sympathetic to the fans who feel the sport took a backward step with this new deal.  In some ways, that may be true.  I understand the frustration of fans who cannot get or afford to subscribe to Fox Sports Plus (FSP).  I also believe that there is a lack of understanding by many of the realities the AFL faced, the alternatives available, and the history of both recent events and those since 1980 when the AFL first appeared on the then nascent network ESPN.  

I want to address Wayne's key points because he raises some that many other fans have expressed.  read more »

Brief Update on 2012 TV Coverage

by admincms — Sun, 2012-01-29 20:02 — Last Updated: Fri, 2012-03-09 01:29

(Update: 3/8/12: We have schedules now for TSN in Canada on our TV page.  In Round 1 TSN2 will have Hawthorn v Collingwood and 3 more on TSN.ca:  GWS v Syd, Rich v Coll, NMel v Ess.  We don't have US scheds or network yet but you can assume the matches will be the same and you can guess the network.  We will have more shortly.)  (Further info as of 2/28/12:  AFANA's sources suggest that a TV deal for both the USA and Canada is very close. We're waiting for an announcement or details from the AFL. That's all we can say at this stage since it is not possible to confirm any additional information. We don't want to jeopardize any deal or put out unconfirmed info so that's all we tell you at this time. [In other words, asking for more will not get you anything, OK?].)  Original article: This is a brief update on the expected TV coverage of the AFL in North America in 2012.  For US viewers, we can advise that at this time we do not expect any coverage on ESPN affiliated networks in 2012 based on information from ESPN.  However negotiations are on-going according to the AFL. (This has no bearing on whether ESPN covers the sport in other parts of the world.) Coverage on MHz Networks will likely continue however, no agreement has been concluded.  We understand negotiations are continuing but beyond that we do not have further information at this time.   read more »

One Million Ex-Pat Aussies Wanted

by admincms — Mon, 2006-08-14 15:21 — Last Updated: Sun, 2012-04-22 03:30

As a service to the Aussie ex-pat community we wanted to pass on the following announcement from "Advance" and the "Southern Cross Group" regarding the effort to count Aussie ex-pats around the world: 

Here it is. Your chance to stand up and be one in a million!
 read more »

TV Coverage Returns to ESPN and TSN

by admincms — Fri, 2009-08-07 22:57 — Last Updated: Tue, 2011-09-13 15:00

Begins with Round 19 for USA and Canada

For the first time since 1997, the Australian Football League will be on an ESPN network in North America.  Following the demise of the sport on Setanta, the AFL has struck a deal for live coverage on ESPN360, limited coverage on ESPN2, and for Canada, on TSN and TSN2.  AFANA worked closely  read more »

Setanta Faces Receivership Within Hours

by admincms — Sun, 2009-06-21 20:08 — Last Updated: Sat, 2012-03-10 13:08

(See our earlier stories and comments for more background on this story:  Setanta's Circumstances Worsen and Setanta Looks For Survival Formula.  Ed. Note: as of 23 June, Setanta remains on the air for now.  See the comments for a public statement from Setanta.)

On Friday 19 June, Setanta failed to make a required progress payment of £10 million (US$16.5 million ) to the English Premier League.  Despite Setanta having reached agreements with most other rights holders and creditors, the EPL then invoked its legal option to reclaim the current broadcasting rights and thus crippled the UK channel.  This almost certainly means the company will now enter administrative receivership Monday, UK time.  Deloitte are expected to be named administrators.   Previous potential "white knights" have all backed away.  The fate of the US operations are unclear at this hour but it may not survive if the parent does not (barring a last minute sale).   AFL broadcasts in the US and Canada may end at any time. 

The story is extensively covered in the Financial Times, the BBC, Daily Mail Online, Examiner, Irish Times, Rapid TV News. 

AFANA will be consulting with the AFL and seek ways to save US coverage however fans should now be prepared for the channel to suspend operations at any time and for AFL coverage to end.  We hope it won't but hope is thin at this stage. 

Setanta's Circumstances Worsen

by admincms — Tue, 2009-06-02 14:26 — Last Updated: Sun, 2012-03-11 12:56

(Update 4-June:  Legal action looms closer:  See the Daily Record and Evening Times and Scottish Sun and The Independent.  Update 12-June and 15-June:  see comments by clicking read more.)

The British newspaper the Guardian reported today that Setanta failed to make a scheduled progress payment to the Scottish Premier League (SPL). (See our earlier reports on Setanta's financial problems here.)  It's not clear what impact this will have to on-going operations including those in the USA and Canada or for AFL coverage.  At this time, programming seems to be continuing on all of their networks and AFL coverage does not appear to be affected.  However, since this failure  read more »

Web Site Maintenance and Upgrades This Weekend

by admincms — Wed, 2012-03-07 23:01 — Last Updated: Sat, 2012-03-10 11:28

(Maintenance is complete as of 11:25 AM EST Saturday.  The site should be fully operational.  We are resolving some minor problems that should not affect users.) Due to a server change and some planned updates, AFANA.com will be unavailable for an extended period beginning Friday morning, March 9th, US time. The service interruption will last up to 60 hours. After the server change is complete it may take several hours for the new "location" of the site (IP address to techies) to be spread around to your ISP. Updates to the status of the site will be posted on Facebook if necessary. We anticipate the site being fully operational by sometime on Sunday, March 11th.  During the downtime, you may periodically see a maintenance message instead of the normal site. Thanks for your understanding.

The Wrong Way to Get Attention for Footy

by admincms — Sat, 2008-04-19 21:21 — Last Updated: Sun, 2012-01-15 14:40

As this article in the Courier Mail (and other newspapers) notes ESPN recently had fun with the Barry Hall incident in the AFL. Sadly, this is not the kind of attention that really helps the sport here in North America. It simply reinforces the stereotypical image of footy that we need to move beyond.

   read more »

AFL Online Video Becomes 'Aussie Sport TV'

by admincms — Mon, 2008-06-23 23:26 — Last Updated: Thu, 2008-06-26 11:28

After years of frustration, things are about to get a lot better Watch AFL Video on Aussie Sport TV and Support AFANA! for viewers of AFL video online beginning July 3rd.   A new service called Aussie Sport TV is coming online and will offer AFL video in flash format (similar to YouTube and other sites).   This will replace the existing video offerings of Telstra's Bigpond service, including for afl.com.au subscribers.   Even better, some of that video will be available here on AFANA.com.   We will have more details on AFANA's part of this very shortly.   Please note:  the service will not be live until July 3rd.   If you are not already a subscriber to afl.com.au you can subscribe to this new service at this link:  Aussie Sport TV.  (Please use this link only as subscriptions through this link generate commissions for AFANA!).  If you already are a subscriber to afl.com.au, you are subscribed to this new service automatically at no additional charge!   Today AFL web site subscribers may have received the following notice:  read more »

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