Channel 9 is reportedly livid after media mogul Craig Hutchison successfully stopped the community’s radio broadcasts of video games from being heard on the official AFL app.
The Herald Sun studies Nine has complained to the AFL after realising their commentary from Melbourne station 3AW was now not out there on the AFL Live app — the league’s major matchday platform.
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Fans beforehand had the selection of listening to commentary from Triple M, the ABC, SEN and 3AW by way of the AFL app, however that has modified this yr.
Under a brand new radio rights deal negotiated by Hutchison late final yr, the SEN boss paid a premium for his station to be solely industrial AM community out there on the app.
According to the Herald Sun, the AFL didn’t hesitate to just accept the supply from Hutchison’s Sports and Entertainment Network (SEN) for unique app rights, given the league believed Nine’s curiosity in AFL was declining.
One trade supply mentioned: “Nine were asleep at the wheel”.
The AFL and several other of 3AW’s high-profile expertise have reportedly been pissed off on the station’s determination to not cowl Thursday night time video games, selecting to broadcast its common programming of Nights with Denis Walter as a substitute.
3AW now broadcasts simply 4 video games per spherical, whereas SEN’s AFL Nation covers all 9 video games each weekend.
There isn’t a lot 3AW can do for now, given SEN’s unique cope with the AFL app is locked in for 2 years.
Interestingly, Hutchison has been the longtime host of Channel 9’s major AFL present Footy Classified and is a earlier host of the Footy Show.
Hutchison isn’t any stranger to controversial media strikes.
He just lately employed Tom Morris to co-host the pre-game program Sunday Crunchtime on SEN a yr after he was sacked by Fox Footy, declaring Morris “absolutely deserves a second chance”.
Originally revealed as Channel 9 livid after being frozen out by Craig Hutchison’s sneaky AFL deal
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
