The A-League's free-to-air TV rights looked set to be taken up by Network Ten for the upcoming season until a seemingly agreed-upon deal fell apart at the 11th hour.

The blueprint included two games televised each weekend on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with the scope to add a W-League match either on Thursday or Friday nights. It would have dramatically boosted the exposure of the competitions and saved the financially-strapped Foxtel millions in production costs alone. A win-win, it seemed.

The A-League's new season will be broadcast on the ABC - not Network Ten, as was originally the plan. Credit:Getty Images

However, FFA failed to broker the deal with Ten and Fox and sources close to the negotiations have blamed journalists for their failure to reach an agreement.

The owners of Network Ten, US company CBS, were said to be sensitive to reports in The Sydney Morning Herald in March and July of the proposed deal while finalising a merger with media outlet Viacom. Meanwhile, Fox were understood to have been aggrieved at being left out of preliminary negotiations as reported by News Limited in August.