Footy fans in regional South Australia are devastated that as of today (July 1), they\u2019ll be unable to watch the footy on free to air television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A deal between the AFL and Foxtel already meant the first 8 rounds were not broadcast on free to air television in South Australia and many other parts of the country, but the breakdown of a private agreement<\/a> between WIN TV and Seven West Media will now leave thousands of regional fans locked out for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator for SA and Greens spokesperson for communications:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing more Australian than a night on the couch watching the AFL. But footy fans in regional SA will be forced to whip out their credit card to watch their favorite team as of July 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSouth Australians expect to be able to watch the Adelaide Crows or Port Adelaide for free, but the current regulation is not working for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAcross the country thousands of footy fans, including right here in South Australia, were locked out of watching Saturday matches for free in the first 8 rounds. Now this is about to be a permanent reality for all fans in regional SA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is just un-Australian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegional footy fans shouldn\u2019t have to miss out on watching the footy for free just because these media companies couldn\u2019t come to an agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAny South Aussie will tell you how important the Showdown is, but with the second Showdown of the season this month and Seven\u2019s broadcasts ending across Mount Gambier and the Riverland this week – how will regional fans be able to tune in for free?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe anti-siphoning list acknowledges the cultural importance of the AFL, but the laws have left many footy fans locked out. We need media regulations that are fit for the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn a cost of living crisis, regional South Australians shouldn\u2019t have to fork out extra cash to pay for Foxtel or Kayo just to watch their team play, let alone fixing up poor internet connections that regional communities are often burdened with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll Australians should be able to watch the footy for free, and the Greens will act to fix this law when parliament returns.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Footy fans in regional South Australia are devastated that as of today (July 1), they\u2019ll be unable to watch the footy on free to air television. A deal between the AFL and Foxtel already meant the first 8 rounds were not broadcast on free to air television in South Australia and many other parts of … Continue reading “Greens to protect free sport as regional SA enters free-footy blackout”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33486,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33485\/revisions\/33486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}