The AFL Almost Gets It Right (In NSW & Qld, At Least ...)

But I wouldn't be too pleased if I lived in Melbourne.

The AFL has been determined to get all games televised in NSW and Queensland, particularly on Friday nights after Channel Nine duped them last time round. So determined, in fact, that one of the conditions of the new broadcasting rights agreement was that all games played would be televised, near live, in the 'non football' states.

Of course, Seven and Ten had no intent of showing all games on their channels, and probably signed up thinking that Fox would gladly take up the slack. But Fox, knowing that the free to air networks would have trouble offloading the games to other networks, and that the AFL could veto any deal that wasn't to their satisfaction, played tough.

And It paid off, as Fox ended up with a game that used to be shown 'free to air' in Melbourne.

If I were a Victorian footy fan, I'd be spewing!

For this AFL fan in Sydney, it's not ideal. All I was really hoping for was a delayed telecast of the Friday night game on 'free to air' at a reasonable hour. Say, starting at 9.30pm. But, as it happens, nothing's going to change. Friday night games that don't involve the Swans will be replayed on Seven or Ten at 11.30pm, just like they were on Nine last year.

What is good, though, and unlike last year, is that the Friday night game will be live on Fox. Looks like this Foxless footyfan will be spending Friday nights at the local or wearing out his welcome with Fox equipped friends.