Possible changes to the Anti-Siphoning Laws.

[wamberal]

There has been some speculation that Uncle Rupert, having earned his pound of flesh during the last three years of unrelenting criticism of the Labor Government, might be very interested in being the grateful recipient of changes to the Anti-Siphoning Legislation.


As with most aspects of life, I am certainly no expert. But a casual observer might imagine that this could have a pretty major effect on the sporting landscape, particularly for fringe sports like rugby.



We could lose FTA coverage. We would earn more dollars, maybe that would be attractive in the short term. Any experts out there care to speculate?

 

[p.Tah]

It could help rugby. Cable has less than 24% penetration in Australia. If more top line sport was moved to Foxtel, one would imagine that subscriptions would increase (or pubs takings would increase). An increase in subscriptions would allow more to be exposed to Super Rugby etc.

It was hoped that when more AFL games were moved to Fox and a dedicated channel was set up there would be more subscriptions in the Southern and Western states. From my understanding is that the uptake wasn't as great as hoped, primarily because there were still games on FTA TV.

Uncle Rupert would probably have to siphon up all sport to move subscriptions.

 

[wamberal]

According to an article in today's Sydney Morning Hurled, FTA advertising is moving to other forms of media, particularly on-line media.

I know that the AFL is positioning itself to produce its own product which will be available by subscription only. That will leave both FTA and Fox Sports out in the cold.

Presumably this is Pulver's area of expertise, at least I hope it is. If we are smart, we might be able to position ourselves cleverly for the marketplace, or marketplaces, of the future.

 

[Badger]

I would love to see rugby head the way of the AFL and produce its own rugby content on a global scale. With all the rugby being played internationally, there would be more than enough content for at least one dedicated channel. I would happily pay to have a rugby channel subscription which I could access on whatever platform I wanted rather than a Foxtel subscription.

Hope the iRB is looking into it.

 

[wamberal]

I would love to see rugby head the way of the AFL and produce its own rugby content on a global scale. With all the rugby being played internationally, there would be more than enough content for at least one dedicated channel. I would happily pay to have a rugby channel subscription which I could access on whatever platform I wanted rather than a Foxtel subscription.

Hope the iRB is looking into it.

I am absolutely certain that they would be. I hope. However, they will need to ensure that the product is actually attractive to the widest possible viewing audience. That might concentrate a few minds, for a change.