5 games of footy, 5 games on Foxtel.

Now I understand how sport on television works. It's the same all over the world; the best teams get the prime-time television spots on the prime networks. I can understand that. But we've been given a Saturday night game at the MCG against Brisbane. But what's on free-to-air instead? St. Kilda vs. Port.

In Adelaide.

St. Kilda.

versus.

PORT ADELAIDE!

Surely Melbourne vs. Brisbane would have been a better bet for Channel 10 than Saints vs. Port. Have Port ever even had a free-to-air game on a Friday or Saturday night in the last 5 years? And yet, on a weekend when we play a big game on the big stage, we're banished to Foxtel again.

If you live in Melbourne you should have no excuse not to go, so it's irrelevant.

It makes sense that St Kilda supporters who want to watch their team play interstate, should have access to the game on free to air, whereas Melbourne supporters can just go the game... as they should!

Obviously it's better for us if we can get he neutral supporters watching our game, but until we are playing good footy again, it's just not going to happen.

If you live in Melbourne you should have no excuse not to go, so it's irrelevant.

Hear Hear! And, it does say in your profile that you live in Melbourne... come down! Not only do we need to increase our crowd levels at games like this, so we can show the AFL that we deserve them, we need all the support we can get at games like this!

He may be referring to recording the replay.

Good news is we're free to air the following Saturday when we play North.

I'll be there with bells on. I just think it was a great opportunity to get extra coverage and be free-to-air in a prime-time spot.

He may be referring to recording the replay.

Good news is we're free to air the following Saturday when we play North.

Gee wiz, that'll kill it in the ratings!!! *sigh*

To be honest, I couldn't give a stuff about the ratings. So long as we kill North I won't care. I plan to be at Etihad to witness our 4th consecutive win.

Melbourne does just not rate on FTA or Fox for that matter. its sad but true.

And as soon as they become a team that has more good games then bad, then i am afraid we will be on Pay. Not saying i agree, but they are the facts.

we have a small supporter base and have been a rabble in terms of wins for some years now. If you look back on our history of big games on FTA its not a very bright picture.

please no Dwayne Russell commentating again

i think we have copped his verbal diarrhea in the first 4 rounds

i agree with you about Dwayne usually.. it is obvious to hellen Keller that he hates Melbourne, his pathetic rant on Jack Watts last night on AW's sports tonight was just horrible and frankly a little embarrasing for him, it is time he got over it.

In saying that, i reckon he has called really well on the demon games the last few weeks.

Think of the positives: if it's cold/wet, and it's on FTA, plenty of fickle supporters will just stay home. This way, the only way most of us can see it is at the game itself.

More important that we're on TV when we go interstate so the majority of our supporters, who live in Melbourne, can see. And none of our interstate games are on TV this year. Which sucks.

To be honest, I couldn't give a stuff about the ratings. So long as we kill North I won't care. I plan to be at Etihad to witness our 4th consecutive win.

That would be my plan too.

From a purely selfish point-of-view, I prefer our games to be on Fox. No ads during the quarters outweighs anything offered by free-to-air. Well basically I just hate Channel Seven's "coverage" - they are a joke, games three hours delayed, full of ads etc.. Ten is much better than Seven, at least they show games live. Fox is the best of the lot, they show all their games live, with no ads. That's all I ask for. The commentary is neither here nor there for mine, it can be slightly annoying but doesn't really affect my viewing of the game. And good commentary is great.

Yes the exposure of free-to-air is good but from a purely viewing perspective, Fox can't be beat.

It doesn't faze me personally whether we're on FTA or Pay as I have Foxtel and I got to Melbourne games anyway.

However, from a business perspective it is really very significant. The ratings on FTA (particularly a slot like Sat night) are significantly better than on Pay and this has an impact on our sponsorship valuations which can be important in renewing existing sponsorships and attracting new sponsorships.

From this perspective, it is most annoying that we're not getting a run on FTA.

It doesn't faze me personally whether we're on FTA or Pay as I have Foxtel and I got to Melbourne games anyway.

However, from a business perspective it is really very significant. The ratings on FTA (particularly a slot like Sat night) are significantly better than on Pay and this has an impact on our sponsorship valuations which can be important in renewing existing sponsorships and attracting new sponsorships.

From this perspective, it is most annoying that we're not getting a run on FTA.

I'm of the same opinion.

I take it FTA had first choice and perhaps this was done prior to season starting ? I would be most surprised, frustrated and annoyed if this decision was made recently regarding choice of game for FTA.

Dwayne wont be calling this weekend, so we can breathe a sigh of Releif. Matthew Campbell will call.

From a purely selfish point-of-view, I prefer our games to be on Fox. No ads during the quarters outweighs anything offered by free-to-air. Well basically I just hate Channel Seven's "coverage" - they are a joke, games three hours delayed, full of ads etc.. Ten is much better than Seven, at least they show games live. Fox is the best of the lot, they show all their games live, with no ads. That's all I ask for. The commentary is neither here nor there for mine, it can be slightly annoying but doesn't really affect my viewing of the game. And good commentary is great.

Yes the exposure of free-to-air is good but from a purely viewing perspective, Fox can't be beat.

Can't agree with that at all! Channel 7 is by far the best viewing channel. Channel 10 has 2 words...Kelly Underwood, enough said. And while Fox is good at times, I'm sick of them replaying a 20 second passage of play when they only have a 10 second window to show it! Plus, they didn't even show the boys singing the song after the Richmond game - very shattering for interstate supporters.

In reply to the OP, from memory the TV stations select their telecast games about 6 weeks or so before the actual game. Therefore, when Channel 10 had the choice between our game and the St Kilda game, it would have been before teh start of the season, and who can blame them for picking the game they did? No-one would have expected our game this week being a potential blockbuster!

I'm in agreeance with Adelaide Demon on this one. even in the rare occasion that the Dees ARE on free-to-air, it'll be pre-empted by some other game in Qld, meaning you'll need to have Foxtel (and by extension Main Event) to even see the game! (That is, unless we play the Lions, I'm pretty confident that Saturday's game will be on half hour delay.) Or, alternately, broadcast at midnight (hello Friday night football).

been to every game so it doesnt bother me but 7 is clearly the worst by a mile. that 830 start on friday bullpoo is ridiculous. and trying to

watch a sunday game is painful, theres an ad break every 2nd or 3rd goal and its not like the 1 ad then back to the footy its like 7 or 8. bring back Nine Ten & Foxtel

Yes this weeks game is a blockbuster between melbourne and brisbane

Yes this weeks game is a blockbuster between melbourne and brisbane

Is this taking the pi$$ out of my comment RB?

If so, what I mean is if we were asked in the preseason what this game would be like, I'm pretty sure none of us would have said the Lions were going for 5 straight wins and the Dees were going for a spot in the 8. So, in those terms, this game is a pretty big game. Blockbuster? Well, maybe a slight exaggeration, but it's still a massive game for both clubs.

been to every game so it doesnt bother me but 7 is clearly the worst by a mile. that 830 start on friday bullpoo is ridiculous. and trying to

watch a sunday game is painful, theres an ad break every 2nd or 3rd goal and its not like the 1 ad then back to the footy its like 7 or 8. bring back Nine Ten & Foxtel

Sorry, I get the Friday night game live up here (Qld) via Foxtel 518 = no ad's = great coverage fr the 7 network!!!

In regards to the Sunday telecast, I have mainly watched Fox as that is who is televising Melbourne's game.

I thought it horrible that so much great footage from last week was missed on the foxtel broadcast - everybody at the game would have enjoyed the 5-10 minutes afterwards where the boys were on the ground with the whole of the members/ponsford area packed full of red and blue faithful cheering the boys, chanting to Jimmy as he stepped out onto the ground. Stupid camera was focusing on the other end of the ground!

I always watch winning games after being at the ground because i like to see clearly the events at the other end of the ground, and it sucked not seeing the song or the post-game. Didn't even see the camera zoom in on Jimmy when he came out in the third (but you could damn well hear the JIMMY STYNES! chanting with about 5 minutes to go after the tiges put it out on the full. Was great.)