AFL

2:00pm – Sunday, July 4 on Seven

The Swans have the wood on the Tigers of recent times winning the last eight encounters. But the Tigers young midfielders are a shining light as Richmond looks to climb the table.

PLEASE NOTE: Airs at this time in Sydney and Brisbane only. Check local guides for details.

Begins Sat 3 Jul, LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on FOX SPORTS 1HD & FOX SPORTS 1
 
Fremantle v Port Adelaide, Sat 3 Jul, 3pm AEST
Collingwood v West Coast, Sat 3 Jul, 7pm AEST
Geelong v Nth Melbourne, Sun 4 Jul, 1pm AEST
St.Kilda v Melbourne, Sun 4 Jul, 4.30pm AEST

11:25pm – Friday, July 2 on Seven

The Bulldogs have had two convincing wins over the Hawks in their last two clashes. While the Hawks are still battling for a final eight berth, the Doggies are laying their own claims on a top four finish. It shapes as another Friday Night Football blockbuster.

Yet another change to Tuesday night programming on Nine.

Next Tuesday – July 6 – the night of the EJ Whitten AFL Legends Game will see Top Gear move back to 7.30pm everywhere except Melbourne, who get the AFL game live.

In Sydney and Brisbane, Top Gear will play at 7.30pm, followed by (here we go again…) two so-called adults only episodes of Two and a Half Men, which in turn will be followed by 20 To 1 at 10pm “Movies Greatest Look-Alikes”.

Confused? Here’s the summary:

Sydney and Brisbane:
7.30 Top Gear
9.00 Two and a Half Men
10.00 20 To 1

Melbourne:
7.30 EJ Whitten AFL Legends Game – live
9.45 Australian Families of Crime (at this stage)

Adelaide and Perth:
7.30 Top Gear
9.00 EJ Whitten AFL Legends Game – delayed

No word yet on the following Tuesday July 13.

Continues Sun 27 Jun, LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on FOX SPORTS 1HD & FOX SPORTS 1
 
Adelaide v Melbourne, Sun 27 June, 3pm

With Wimbledon occupying late nights on Nine for the next two weeks, the network have chosen to air the AFL Footy Show on GO at 12 midnight for the next two weeks so that AFL fans in Sydney and Brisbane can still see the AFL Footy Show as it will not be on Nine during this time.

This week, the AFL Footy Show will air on GO at midnight Thursday night (June 24) and next week at midnight Wednesday night (June 30). The AFL Footy Show is on Wednesday night that week, thanks to an AFL game being held on the Thursday night (which will be aired live on Ten).

Because GO programming is national, the late night replays of the AFL Footy Show will play for all markets, including those in Victoria, SA and WA who would have been able to watch it on Nine earlier in the night. There is no plan at this stage to do the same with the NRL Footy Show – although – my thought on this would be to put it on at 2am instead of Home Shopping – so NRL fans outside of the NRL market at least have the option to record or watch it.

Midnight repeats on GO of ER and Gossip Girl for June 24 will not be on, and the same will happen the following week with the Wednesday night repeats.

Now would have been the best time for Nine to have either launched their third channel or start at least trialling for the third channel – which would have to be on Nine High Def. The third channel would have allowed greater flexibility with sporting commitments without impacting on GO, and, subject to anti-siphoning rules, could have meant that the nights where Wimbledon and cricket clash, both could have been aired on different channels.

The third channel would also mean the two Footy shows can air at the same time – with AFL on the main channel in AFL markets and NRL on a secondary channel, and visa versa in NRL markets. It would also mean they could do the same with other Football shows like Football Classified which is not seen at any time outside of the AFL market.

Still on AFL, the annual fund raising EJ Whitten Legends AFL Game will air live on Nine Melbourne from 7.30pm Tuesday July 6. In Adelaide and Perth, the game will screen from 9pm after Top gear, while Sydney and Brisbane (although not yet confirmed) should be able to see the game on Nine late night.

Again – here would be another opportunity to make use of digital channels to show the EJ Whitten Legends Game live into all markets. Maybe we’ll see this happen in 2011 – when possible changes to anti-siphoning laws should affect how sport is shown on free to air TV.

I cannot understand why anti-siphoning laws affect the ability to show sport on a free to air digital channel now in this day and age? We all have to have digital TV within the next few years anyway – by allowing sport to be shown on these channels will simply help the digital uptake. It is free to air afterall.

Channel 7 will show Round 13’s Friday night top-of-the-table blockbuster clash St Kilda versus Geelong live into Melbourne as a special event from 7.30pm.

“This game is the only Grand Final re-match in 2010 and will be played in front of an enormous MCG crowd. It will be another first versus second clash with the reigning premier taking on the number one challenger, so it presents us with another big TV event,” said Channel 7 Melbourne General Manager Lewis Martin.

Seven Sport brings Melbourne viewers all the action LIVE from the MCG with host Bruce McAvaney, and expert commentary from Dennis Cometti, Leigh Matthews, Tom Harley, and Tim Watson.

Melbourne broadcast details:

Friday June 25

St Kilda v Geelong

LIVE from MCG

Melbourne     7.30pm – 10.45pm LIVE

Thursday June 24

Better Homes & Gardens

Melbourne     7.30pm

Friday night AFL will be live in to Melbourne this week with the 2009 Grand Final rematch between St Kilda and Geelong to be screened live into Melbourne on Seven from 7.30pm. The game will also see the top two teams on the AFL ladder head to head and promises to be huge in terms of both crowd and ratings.

As a result, Better Home and Gardens will be seen at 7.30 on Thursday June 24 in Melbourne – an idea that has been suggested here at Throng as a solution to help both Thursday night ratings and give AFL fans live AFL in at least Melbourne. Better Homes and Gardens remains on Friday night in all other markets.

Thursday June 24 at 7.30 in Adelaide and Perth remains The Vicar of Dibley while Sydney and Brisbane will see the Matty Johns Show at that time. That means that, at 7.30 Thursday, there will be three different shows on Seven across different markets. The AFL on Friday night remains at 8.30pm in Perth and Adelaide while Sydney and Brisbane can see it on Seven later that night (or live on Fox Sports NSW, QLD and ACT only).

As Seven have been struggling in ratings lately, we could see more live AFL on Friday nights as the last live game was watched by 666,000 in Melbourne alone and helped the Seven network to a big Friday night win and a win for the week the match was in.

Seven have just announced, and began promoting, the return of Packed to the Rafters on June 29 despite the fact the return for Rafters was originally planned as some time in July. The show rates close to two million usually, and will help Seven’s overall performance much the same way that Underbelly and Masterchef help Nine and Ten respectively.

Begins Sat 19 Jun, LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on FOX SPORTS 1HD & FOX SPORTS 1

Brisbane v Richmond, Sat 19 June, 7pm

Nth Melbourne v Port Adelaide, Sun 20 June, 1pm

West Coast v Western Bulldogs, Sun 20 June, 4.30pm

Saturday, June 19 on Ten

round 13aMELBOURNE6.30pmBefore the Game7.30pmCarlton v Fremantle (30 minute delay)BRISBANE7.30pmBrisbane v Richmond (30 minute delay)ADELAIDE5.30pmBefore the Game LIVE6.30pmCarlton v Fremantle LIVEPERTH4.00pmBefore the Game LIVE5.00pmCarlton v Fremantle LIVEThe expert commentary panel includes Stephen Quartermain, Anthony Hudson, Robert Walls and Mark Howards.TRIVIA: Mark “Howie” HowardUsually the man in the midst of the action at ground level, he has reported and commentated on a huge variety of TENevents. These include AFL, Formula One, Moto GP, Golf, Beach Cricket, Soccer, Cycling, Red Bull Air Races, BrownlowMedal Red Carpet and more. He has also covered the Australian Open (Tennis) and Melbourne Cup several times, aswell as the Sydney and Athens Olympics.In the line of duty Mark has been knocked to the canvas in a bout with a 150kg cage fighter, been hit in the head byan Allan Donald bouncer, taken the controls of a Red Bull stunt plane, been chased by a bull across Rod Laver arena,had his leg spin bowling destroyed by the current South African cricket team, been humiliated in a wood choppingcompetition against multiple world champion David Foster and smashed to bits in a tackling drill with the Gold CoastTitans. On the positive….there was a win in a putting competition with Aaron Baddeley, which Baddeley still refuses todiscuss.When not at work Howie loves to explore the world in the search for the perfect wave. His search has taken him todestinations such as Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Nicaragua and Southern Africa. He play’s cricket in the summer forMiddle Park and footy in winter for Prahran.