Telstra won't stream live AFL matches to its 'Telstra TV' Roku box, only to smartphones and tablets, as part of the new AFL broadcast rights deal.

Sport has always been the golden goose of Australian television and no-one knows that better than Foxtel. Even with this year's Netflix-led streaming video explosion, Foxtel hasn't actually lost any customers, according to Roy Morgan Research. It's not that hard to watch Game of Thrones elsewhere, it's live sport which keeps people coming back.

It's all smiles as the new AFL broadcast rights deal retains many of the same-old restrictions for footy fans wanting to watch their team every week. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

"If you love AFL you need to be a Foxtel subscriber," was the line from Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein at the unveiling of the new rights deal – set to run from 2017 to 2021. What many footy fans heard was "If you hate Foxtel but you love AFL you need to be a Foxtel subscriber".

Australian AFL fans are stuck with Foxtel until at least 2022. It's a different story in the United States, where the major football, baseball and ice hockey leagues are cutting out the middleman and going direct to the public with subscription streaming services. It will be interesting to see if, by the next rights deal, Australia has reached a tipping point where the AFL can afford to thumb its nose at Foxtel and offer a direct subscription service to locals like it already does for ex-pats living overseas.