The executive who ran the football and cricket coverage at Channel Ten and Seven's cricket has called for the AFL broadcasters to bring women into the front line of their television commentary as callers and special comments analysts.

Former head of Seven's cricket's coverage David Barham has told a women's sports conference in Melbourne that both the AFL and NRL needed to promote women from secondary hosting and boundary-riding roles to the prime positions of caller and special comments.

Barham, who made Kelli Underwood the first female caller when he ran Ten's AFL coverage and gave prime roles to Mel McLaughlin and Alison Mitchell in Ten's Big Bash League and Seven's cricket broadcasts, said women had to be given the key roles in special comments and calling in the AFL for the sport to move with the times.

"It's about being in the main roles," said Barham, who also broke new ground by bringing decorated journalist Caroline Wilson to the panel in Seven's Talking Footy in the early 2000s.