Channel 9 is reportedly furious after media mogul Craig Hutchison effectively stopped the network’s radio broadcasts of games from being heard on the official AFL app.
The Herald Sun reports Nine has complained to the AFL after realising their commentary from Melbourne station 3AW was no longer available on the AFL Live app — the league’s main matchday platform.
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Fans previously had the choice of listening to commentary from Triple M, the ABC, SEN and 3AW via the AFL app, but that has changed this year.
Under a new radio rights deal negotiated by Hutchison late last year, the SEN boss paid a premium for his station to be only commercial AM network available on the app.
According to the Herald Sun, the AFL didn’t hesitate to accept the offer from Hutchison’s Sports and Entertainment Network (SEN) for exclusive app rights, given the league believed Nine’s interest in AFL was declining.
One industry source said: “Nine were asleep at the wheel”.
The AFL and several of 3AW’s high-profile talent have reportedly been frustrated at the station’s decision not to cover Thursday night games, choosing to broadcast its regular programming of Nights with Denis Walter instead.
3AW now broadcasts just four games per round, whereas SEN’s AFL Nation covers all nine games every weekend.
There isn’t much 3AW can do for now, given SEN’s exclusive deal with the AFL app is locked in for two years.
Interestingly, Hutchison has been the longtime host of Channel 9’s main AFL show Footy Classified and is a previous host of the Footy Show.
Hutchison is no stranger to controversial media moves.
He recently hired Tom Morris to co-host the pre-game program Sunday Crunchtime on SEN a year after he was sacked by Fox Footy, declaring Morris “absolutely deserves a second chance”.
