I would try to also get the league televised in Asia.

He mentioned Asia on the ONEHD broadcast on Friday night.

Maybe we could enter our best team in the ASEAN league? so they played in both the NBL & ASEAN...or maybe organising a Champions league like the soccer.

A SEABL team would go close to winning the ASEAN league. I think a champions league set-up needs to happen, which has been on FIBA, BA and the NBL's agenda for a while.

The Champs league idea would add games and TV time to the NBL clubs which is great as we don't play enough games at present.

Paytv, foxsports is great worked well for A-league. Broadcast every game!

I'm still not a big fan of going to Foxtel because it limits the potential audience. Over half of Australian homes still don't have Foxtel.

That's what happened when the NBL went with Foxtel back in the late 1990's. Fox were in a much smaller percentage of homes back then and by putting all games on pay-tv the league managed to cut well over half their television audience in one foul swoop. The so-called casual fans were no longer exposed to the NBL other than the odd news report if a team was successful or what could be read in the papers and it became a case of "out of sight, out of mind" for most people, and that reflected in attendances which dropped alarmingly after the 1990's "golden era".

Don't get me wrong, I can see the plus side of things. But if it were up to me I wouldn't go to pay-tv again until Fox is in about 2/3's of Aussie homes.

Foxtel is dead and buried.

Any deal with Foxtel will entice who to follow the sport or to a lesser extent the NBL?

Free to air TV and an improved NBLTV model is what is needed. Still just needs two nbl games a week on free to air, and reduce the cost of NBL TV to around $50 a season. You will be surprised that it will be easier for the NBL and in the end they will make more money with a cheaper NBL TV model.

They should not be expecting the working, money earning basketball fans to fork out for an unwanted overpriced cable network. Especially given the improvements to online TV networks.

Free to Air and NBL Tv (or similar) for mine.This is what I have now.

Foxtel does not interest me and certainly would not get it for NBL.

Foxtel giving the NBL money back in the late 90's also gave the league more revenue - lots of it. But that wasn't enough to sustain things as they ended up cutting their TV audience by well over half and that ended up being reflected in attendance figures.

Basketball in Australia isn't soccer. Its not the AFL and its not the NRL or Super Rugby or cricket. It simply doesn't have a large enough following that will see people subscribe to pay-tv just to watch the NBL.

Have you noticed all the Foxtel ads lately promoting their $25 subscription? And the ones saying you can get some sports channels for $50? Its because subscriptions are not growing fast enough because most simply can't afford to, myself included.

FTA television and a better, reasonably priced NBL.TV product is needed to avoid losing the casual fans again.

Are the NBL seriously thinking about going down the pay-tv path again? Something about lightning striking twice springs to mind.....

I'd go with 7MATE and NBL.tv through someone other than PERFORM at a cheaper rate.

One thing I'm find disconcerting is that there is absolutely no talk from anybody about a league major sponsor... Can we please get one so these 'self sufficient clubs' can actually have more money in their coffers!
I'd like to see Virgin or someone already associated with the league step up and take a bigger role

I'd go with 7MATE and NBL.tv through someone other than PERFORM at a cheaper rate.

One thing I'm find disconcerting is that there is absolutely no talk from anybody about a league major sponsor... Can we please get one so these 'self sufficient clubs' can actually have more money in their coffers!
I'd like to see Virgin or someone already associated with the league step up and take a bigger role

I think the point being missed here is the NBL is aiming for both FTA and Pay TV, which would be a superb outcome. If they go down the NBL.TV route again I think it has to be free so you can actively attract new fans with that medium rather that just service the small number of converted.

Paul as it, the new deal needs FTA TV coverage with Foxtel complimenting it, it extends viewing potential for those who want to go to their mates place (who has Foxtel) and make a night of it!

Do you guys think Foxtel has hurt the A-League?

We don't have the pull cricket has, to create a new competition like Big Bash out of nothing and have it all over the TV, we must be more savvy and find dollars from somewhere just to survive until we can build the NBL...

Foxtel rely on sport for Subscriptions...with the download/streaming era upon us the movies/TV show channels don't bring in revenue.

A perfect world would see a split deal between Foxtel/FTA so every single game is broadcast every week.

It is crucial to be on FTA to help engage the casual fan, however most people have foxtel and its only $50 a month but it doesn't drive foxtel subscription so not sure foxtel will throw a lot of money at it.

Personally I'd love a 7mate or OneHd double header Friday night....1 east coast game straight into the Perth game so basketball is on from 7pm to 11:30pm every Friday night so you might grab the casual FTA fan and really only compete with the A-League on SBS in terms of sport.

@Anon...if you like sports you have Foxtel!

It is very affordable at only around $50 a month....

I avoid foxtel like the plague. It's been incredibly expensive up until recently, and I don't see why Murdoch should get any more money.

Instead I do online subscriptions to the sports I want to see, as well as FTA, and quite enjoy going and sports broadcasts at the pub for big clashes (in any sport).

"Its great for the sportsfan but bad for the league."

How could having some games that wouldn't otherwise be on TV shown on Foxtel be bad for the league?

Foxtel is now in 2.6 million households (which is around 34%) plus has decent reach with key sports viewing demographics through venues. A split deal would be perfect for the league.

*That should read 33%, fat fingers.

If FTA don't want to pay for the product the NBL might not have a choice did anyone think of that?

What if due to production costs no network is really wanting to get involved?

Don't assume people can afford it. And don't be so ignorant that you assume that everyone drinks and smoke so if they didn't they could. Seriously... Families are finding it increasingly difficult with cost of living food, sport and health care costs and the singles, DINKS and DIWK think it is all easy. We don't holiday but love our basketball so budget paying off our NBL club membership and NBL tv as our entertainment and watch FTA. We use the library internet to watch Nbl tv to cut costs. $50 a month would go towards school shoes 3 a year due to wear and growth, sports uniforms, equipment, fees and transport. Just can't afford it and I am not well enough to work.

Ignorant Nuff Nuff

@ #510544, fair call.

I have a subscription to Sportsbet, that's kind of the same...

FTA television is in pretty much every Australian home that has a TV. Foxtel is in 33% of Australian homes. Put all NBL games on pay-tv and you're cutting 67% of your potential audience in one hit. Then you have to factor in those who subscribe but have no interest in basketball, let alone the NBL.

Like its done with the NRL, I wouldn't have a problem if the NBL was shared on FTA and Foxtel, with FTA at least keeping the Friday night and one Sunday game. But I wouldn't have it all on Fox because you kill off most of the potential audience.

Soccer is without a doubt the highest profile team sport in the world and the A-League can easily live on pay-tv. For fan support in Australia basketball generally runs behind Aussie rules, cricket, rugby league, soccer and rugby union. There isn't yet enough fan support for the NBL to survive with all games being shown on Foxtel, especially when only about 1/3 of the country actually subscribes.

But in a hypothetical where Fox were offering good money to be the exclusive broadcaster you have to weight the promotion that can be done with that money with the extra reach a particular FTA channel might have.

If their second tier sport doesn't rate better than Fox Sports', and you're taking a significant financial hit to be on FTA, maybe in the short term it's worth using the money to build sustainability and awareness?

The avg wage is about $75k so on avg people can afford to have foxtel if they manage correct budget and don't overstretch on morgagees.

@Anon 510545 - Healthcare in Australia is free and esp to those who are "struggling"

Head to another country and you'll get what struggling really is....#firstworldproblems

I can afford Foxtel but NBL or no NBL, I wouldn't want Foxtel in my house.

"I can afford Foxtel but NBL or no NBL, I wouldn't want Foxtel in my house."

Is that an ideological bent?

Its amusing that ppl always sook about cost of living pressures etc..I can't afford foxtel etc but I hardly pay any Tax due to the family tax benefit and I get free health care!

FTA/Foxtel is key for the game moving forward the other major key is we need the corporates back at games, that is what makes every other sport stronger than the NBL corporate fats cats and the cash they bring via boxes/courtside dining and drinks.

paul, few reasons:

- not keen to have more TV options in the house where most of it is trash
- don't want to reward pay TV that then throws ads into the mix on top of the subscription
- not interested in more money heading to Murdoch
- excuse to go and watch games with a friend at the pub

If I were choosing, and the 36ers kept improving their admin, I'd be more inclined to get season tickets again rather than pay for Foxtel.

Fair enough. If I wasn't in footy coaching I wouldn't have it either (Fox Footy is too good a resource not to have) but if they were showing all NBL games with good coverage I'd be all over it.

@Anon - I'm not the one sooking about foxtel being expensive I think it is priced very well!

Anon #510727 - what you said is pretty much what most (myself included) think about Foxtel. Its just not good value for money.....and to add to that, as Isaac said - most of it is trash and why would you also pay for ads?

If the AFL announced tomorrow that they were dumping their FTA coverage and showing all future games on Foxtel...then after the public had their cry about it, people would subscribe and it would end up in most Aussie homes. If the NBL did the same thing it would barely cause a ripple.

Personally (and I did have Foxtel in the past so I know something of what I speak), I won't subscribe to them again until such time as I can choose which individual channels I want rather than choose packages where well over half the channels would never see the light of day in my home. To me that is money wasted.

Like I've said, a share of the NBL between FTA and pay-TV wouldn't be a bad thing - provided that the FTA coverage didn't get the raw end of the stick.

Could also mean they aren't swimming in money