Seven Sport
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| Division of: | Seven Network |
|---|---|
| Key people: | Colin Southey (General Manager, Network Sport) |
| Major Broadcasting Contracts: |
AFL Australian Open Tennis Brisbane International Tennis Sydney International Tennis Hopman Cup Tennis Summer Olympics Winter Olympics Melbourne Cup US Masters Rugby League World Cup |
| Parent: | Seven West Media |
| Slogan: | Gotta Love Sport |
| Website: | au |
Seven Sport is the brand and production department under which all sporting events on the Seven Network are broadcast. It broadcasts some of Australia's most prominent sporting events, such as the Australian Open, AFL and the Melbourne Cup.
The Seven Network is a major player in Australian sports broadcasting.
Prior to 2001, Seven was the only broadcaster of Australian Football League matches. As the single broadcaster, only one match could be broadcast in any timeslot, so it was not possible for every match to be broadcast. In 2000, Nine and Ten entered a joint rights deal with pay TV provider Foxtel to ensure that all eight matches of each round were televised, starting in 2002 and concluding in 2006. That brought Seven's 45-year run as VFL/AFL football broadcaster to an end.
Seven regained the rights to the Australian Football League in the following broadcast deal, covering the period between 2007 and 2011 inclusive, in a joint contract with Ten and Foxtel. The cost of the deal was A$780 million, an A$280 million increase on the Nine/Ten/Foxtel 2002-2006 joint broadcast venture. Under the deal, Seven and Ten alternated the Brownlow Medal ceremonies and the AFL Grand Final; Seven televised the Friday night and Sunday afternoon Premiership season matches, while Ten televised the two Saturday matches and Foxtel televising the rest.
In 2011, it was announced that Seven and Foxtel would share the football broadcast rights from 2012–2016, bringing Ten's 10-year run to an end. Under the new deal, Seven would televise four games per week, and Foxtel would simulcast coverage of Seven's games and broadcast the other five weekly games live and exclusive. Seven televised the entire finals series, with Foxtel simulcasting all finals except for the Grand Final, which was televised live and exclusively by Seven. The deal required Seven to televise all but the Saturday afternoon match live into Victoria and Tasmania; all four games were shown live into the northern states on 7mate and games were shown live or on delay into Western Australia (night matches on 7mate, day matches on Seven) and South Australia (all on Seven) depending on Seven's television schedule.
It was announced in 2015 that Seven would again be the sole free-to-air broadcaster of Australian Football League matches, for the period between 2017 and 2022. Under the deal, Seven will no longer televise the Saturday afternoon match into Victoria, however, matches in this timeslot involving interstate teams will continue to be televised into their respective markets.
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