The AFL has again hit the jackpot with its new rights deal - have the fans? Credit:Phil Smith All games featuring Fremantle, West Coast, Sydney Swans, Greater Western Sydney, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast, Adelaide and Port Adelaide will be telecast live into the local markets of each club. All finals will be broadcast live on free to air TV in all states. For the first time, all games will also be available on mobile phones and tablets via Telstra. Channel Seven will broadcast a minimum of four games per weekend in a standard round, but may still on-sell matches to former broadcast partner Network Ten or the Nine Network.



In NSW, the ACT and Queensland, there will be four games of live football on free to air television every week, broadcast on Seven Mate, Channel Seven's second high definition platform.



In Victoria, Friday night football will now be live, with a reduced delay to be near live at 30 minutes in South Australia and a reduced delay in WA.



In Victoria, Saturday night football and Sunday afternoon football will be live on free to air TV.

The Saturday afternoon game will be delayed by 90 minutes, and begin earlier, at 1.45pm. In SA and WA, the majority of Saturday night and Sunday games will be live. Foxtel will televise all nine games live "uninterrupted siren to siren", said Foxtel chairman Kim Williams, a surprising element of the deal, considering the fact it was expected Foxtel would have to simulcast Channel Seven's ads when showing the same games as the free-to-air channel. He said the AFL coverage will be included in Foxtel's standard sports package. He would not discuss pricing specifics but promised there would be "no major uplift in price". He announced that a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day AFL channel would return to Fox Sports, "delivering big time" for fans.

"Live coverage, HD, every game, for the first time in history." AFL commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick thanked all parties involved. "It's been a hard-fought transaction, but I'm glad we got there." He said the "overwhelming guiding principle" of the negotiations was to deliver supporters a better TV deal wherever they are around Australia. He said this was a "landmark agreement" for fans "wherever they are" in Australia, and the AFL, as a not-for-profit community organisation, was doing the deal for the good of clubs, players, volunteers, and supporters.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said "this agreement for the next five years is an important result for the supporters who love and own our game, our clubs, our players, our state and territory bodies, our volunteers and participants at every level." He said the league had always insisted games be broadcast live under the new deal. Demetriou and Fitzpatrick indicated the deal would enable admission prices and club memberships to remain affordable. Channel Seven boss David Leckie hailed the deal as a "great deal for the AFL and a great deal for us." He indicated that negotiations may continue with Channel Ten over selling one or two of its four matches.

The AFL fixture remains under the control of the AFL, but there will be minor changes to the starting times of matches. Friday night matches will begin at 7.50pm, Saturday night games will begin at 7.15, instead of 7.10pm, and one Saturday afternoon game will start at 1.45pm instead of 2.10pm, and be broadcast on a 90-minute delay into Victoria. The agreement will deliver $1.253 billion to the game, as a combination of cash ($1.118 billion) and contra support. The announcement was scheduled for 2.30pm on Thursday, but began at 3.30pm. A huge media contingent gathered at AFL House to probe what the deal means for the code and its fans.

For the average free-to-air viewer, there could be less change than expected. All Friday night and Saturday night games are expected to be live on free-to-air TV, rather than delayed. The last AFL rights deal was worth $780 million.

Less than 35% of Australian households currently utilise pay-TV. AFL players have been keen to reap 27% of AFL revenue in their next pay deal, and will be encouraged by the larger-than-expected windfall. And their boss, a former leader of the AFL Players' Association, made such an outcome sound possible. "This agreement provides an opportunity to provide rewards for our players, who are the stars of our game, our clubs, who are the lifeblood of our game, and for our fans, who are the heart and soul of the game," Demetriou said. Loading

"The AFL will continue to develop pathways for the next generation of our stars, will continue to invest in communities across the country and will continue to play a leadership role across all parts of society." - with Caroline Wilson