No Aussie Rules Games on FSC this year..

[SirFozzie]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...............

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/1641070

NO RUGBY, RUGBY LEAGUE OR AUSSIE RULES BROADCASTS ARE SCHEDULED FOR 2006

I don't want to spend $30/mo on the Big Pond Aussie Rules video package, but if I have to.. hopefully Setanta or someone picks it up

[RPI-Fan]

Well I never watch that stuff, so if it means more soccer I'm all for it!

[SirFozzie]

Well I never watch that stuff, so if it means more soccer I'm all for it!

Phillistine.

[finkenst]

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!1

[Groundhog]

A Yankee Aussie Rules fan... wow! I used to play it back in high school despite coming from a region where it's not a major sport amongst kids. Our coach was from Melbourne, the Aussie Rules hotbed, and he combined our Rugby League team (one of the best in the country) and our basketball team (one of the best in the state) together, despite none of us ever having played before. It was a lot of fun and we played surprisingly well, finishing 3rd in the state. We had strong tacklers with our Rugby guys while us basketballers had height and speed - even if we couldn't kick to save our lives! I've followed it pretty closely on TV ever since, but last season I went to my first live games and it was an amazing atmosphere. It's a great sport and I'm a little surprised it's taken it so long to pick up a following.

[SirFozzie]

Several of us here used to watch the footie weekly, FSC had the game of the week, as well as the hour long recap show.

Oh well, that's $60 Australian down the drain, but I got the AFL video package through the website.

[Mac Howard]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...............

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/1641070

NO RUGBY, RUGBY LEAGUE OR AUSSIE RULES BROADCASTS ARE SCHEDULED FOR 2006

I don't want to spend $30/mo on the Big Pond Aussie Rules video package, but if I have to.. hopefully Setanta or someone picks it up

Is that right? What rip off merchants BigPond - Telstra, Australia's monopoly telecoms provider - are.

Fos Sports provide all Super 14 rugby union games, all rugby league games, all Aussie Rules games (there's a 24/7 AFL channel) and 5/6 Premiership soccer games every week for that price along with 100 or more entertainment etc channels. Makes me feel good though - I'm sick of seeing how cheap so many services are in the USA compared with here :)

[SirFozzie]

I remembered wrong thankfully, it was $60/year

[terpkristin]

Damn, damn, damn.

That just blows.

And sucks.

It's kind of like a broken vacuum.

/tk

[SirFozzie]

Interesting, found this over on another board I mentioned the AUssie Rules thing to..

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The same executive who first brought Aussie Rules to the old FOX Sports World now runs Setanta Sports North America.

FOX Sports Int'l is looking to swap the US and Canadian TV rights to the 2006 Aussie Rules season, among other properties, for a handful of Euro 2008 qualifiers from Setanta.

I expect Aussie Rules to air on Setanta Sports USA and eventually Setanta Sports Canada in 2006, as long as Setanta Sports North America can get Aussie Rules without paying more than USD$1 in rights fee.

[finkenst]

what the hell is sentanta sports usa?

[SirFozzie]

Setanta Sports USA=Channel 615 on DirecTV. Do a search for Setanta. It's got a lot of soccer (English Championship/and League One Soccer, German Bundesliga, Champions League, Man Yoo/Chelsea games on delay) and rugby (Super 14, English Premiership, Celtic League, PowerGen Cup, Six Nations, etcetera (admittedly, some where same-day or next-day)

It also has Gaelic sports like Hurling (a combination of baseball, fieldhockey and lacrosse) and Gaelic Football (round ball combination of place kicking and rugby)

[cuervo72]

what the hell is sentanta sports usa?

Wow, posted my thought verbatim (ok, verbatim but without caps).

[SirFozzie]

www.setanta.com/usa

[SirFozzie]

And just an update on this, from the US Aussie Rules Football Association:

Setanta Sports
STS is a satellite only channel on DirecTV (ch. 615) and Globecast World TV. It is not available on any other cable or satellite system at this time. It is also subscription only, costing $11.99 per month. If you have DirecTV you must separately subscribe to this channel as it is NOT part of any package or bundle including the Sports pack. Though we do not have official confirmation from the AFL at this time, based on statements from Setanta, we expect STS to carry footy LIVE this season. For the first time ever, footy fans in the USA may get season long live coverage of the sport. For Setanta, this is likely to be "trial" season. If they net enough additional subscribers as a result of adding footy to justify the cost, then coverage may continue in future seasons. For info on STS see: http://www.setanta.com/content/setanta/na/cms.nsf

AFANA recognizes that for many fans this is going to be difficult as they don't get DirecTV or cannot switch to it because of where they live. We sympathize as many of our officers and members are in that same situation. However, we don't believe there is a better alternative available and not likely a "free" one at that. Complaints to the AFL or Setanta aren't likely to help however letting them know you would subscribe if it were available to you is always helpful. STS is available in many Irish or soccer pubs so you might check out your local one to see they will screen the matches for you.

As soon as confirmed schedules are released we will distribute them in this newsletter and post them on our web site. We expect the coverage to begin approximately mid-April.

MHz Networks
As reported on some other web sites, a press release was issued by MHz Networks this week indicating that their satellite distributed channel (separate from the local coverage in Washington DC available in recent seasons) will also be carrying the AFL Highlights show. We believe their distribution of the highlights show is exclusive but contrary to reports in other media, their coverage of Aussie rules is not. We have conflicting information on whether the local coverage in Washington DC will continue, but we anticipate that it will.

The MHz release read, in part: "MHz NETWORKS announces the addition of the Australian Football League (AFL) .Match of the Week,. and an hour-long highlights show, on its new national program service MHz WORLDVIEW. The first match will be available mid-April with the beginning of the AFL season and conclude with the Grand Final in September. The matches will air on Saturday nights @ 8PM EST with replay Sundays @ Noon EST. ... The WORLDVIEW program stream is sponsored in part by the GlobeCast World TV service and is available on Intelsat America 5. "

It is unclear what the full schedule for the programs on MHz Worldview is as the press release implies a schedule only for the Highlights program. MHz Worldview is on the Globecast satellite system. In addition to the better known DirecTV and DISH Network satellite systems, Globecast also offers a satellite TV service which is heavily loaded with ethnic and foreign channels not of interest to the bigger players. You can purchase the necessary equipment for this service and find out about installation and subscriptions by visiting these web sites:
Globecast TV: http://www.globecastwtv.com/
Sadoun Sales (installer and hardware provider): http://www.sadoun.com/
Other hardware providers are available around the country. Purchase of a Globecast system would allow you to see both the STS and MHz coverage. Usable systems can be found for about $200 and up. MHz Worldview programming is available to local public televisions stations which provides an opportunity for fans to lobby their local outlet to pick it up for rebroadcast.

We will have the MHz schedules as soon as they are available.

Canadian Coverage to Remain on FSWC
AFANA has learned that Fox Sports World Canada will continue to carry Aussie rules this season. The AFL Highlights program is expected to begin with Round 1 coverage on Sun April 2nd at 12:00MN (i.e. Sat night). They are also looking at offering live or tape delayed match coverage beginning approximately Sun April 16th. They told AFANA the following, in part: "As you are very aware, Fox Soccer Channel has dropped [...] coverage.This caused us many problems, since they are our primary source of programming. We are still committed to rugby and Aussie Rules coverage, however, ... we should be able to resume coverage of Aussie Rules. It has not yet been confirmed if the matches will be live or tape delayed, and this is likely what is causing them to pause on giving 100% confirmation. " The AFL has also confirmed that FSWC will carry footy.