MHz Networks

AFANA was advised this afternoon (6/22/12) that following the July 7th telecast, MHz Networks will drop Australian football.  The announcement suggests financial costs are the reason however we have no detailed explanation.  We will post further information as it becomes available.  Coverage will continue on Fox Soccer Plus. AFANA is deeply disappointed at this unexpected news.  [Ed. note (07/09/12):  Please see the comment below regarding the AFL response.]

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.)

(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. 

Pay TV provider Foxtel and its half-owner Telstra have emerged as the biggest winners of the new AFL domestic broadcast deal, as Channel Seven retains the free-to-air rights to the competition. For the first time since 1997, the primary broadcaster will not change. In the biggest media deal in Australian sporting history, Foxtel and country Pay-TV provider Austar have won the right to televise every game (except the Grand Final) live, while Seven has the right to broadcast a minimum of four matches each round during the regular season and the Grand Final live.

Major changes have been announced to the AFL weekly highlights programs and online coverage by the AFL.  Details were made available to AFANA in the past 24 hours.  (There are no other changes we are aware of besides what is reported here.)  The traditional AFL highlights programs have been replaced by a FOX Sports produced program called "AFL Winners" and the the online service previously provided by Aussie Sport TV (ASTV) has been replaced by LiveAFL.TV.  The new service is supposed to support platforms other than the Windows based PC's including Apple Mac's.  (We have not tested this as yet but there are at least two reports that it does work on Macs.)

The new weekly

The 2010 season TV coverage for North America is finally becoming clear. For the most part, coverage will not be different than what was the case in August and September of last season. The primary US coverage will be via internet broadband on ESPN360.com. This is free if your ISP has a deal with ESPN [about 50% of US homes including internet providers Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Insight, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications, etc. It is also available at no cost to U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks].  We will be posting round by round schedules for virtually the entire AFL season shortly. Round 1 will have

This article is out of date.  For info good in 2018 go to TV Info.

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