“It’ll all be very easy”: How you watch footy could be set to change dramatically

An AFL streaming revolution appears imminent.

According to a report in The Age, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan is heading over to the US with fixture boss Travis Auld and head of strategy, Walter Lee to meet the likes of Amazon and Google

While the AFL’s current TV rights deal with Channel 7, Fox Sports and Telstra doesn’t expire until the end of 2022, futurist Steve Sammartino told 3AW Breakfast mainstream TV channels should be concerned about the revelation.

“For me, it’s inevitable and it’s been a long time coming,” he said.

“TV isn’t TV anymore, they’re computers so that changes who can serve up the content they want.

“You would click on the AFL logo (on your smart TV) and you’re straight in.

“If they go to streaming, you won’t just have one AFL channel, you’re probably going to have one for every team and (even) biased commentary.

“It’ll all be very easy.”

Mr Sammartino said the way people pay to watch games would be completely different under a new footy streaming model, with tech giants set to charge a flat fee rather than demanding monthly payments like Foxtel currently do.

“If they go with Amazon, Netflix or Google, the (cost) would be included in a once-off fee,” he said.

“If you’re paying 15 dollars a month for Netflix, you would get your AFL for for free.

“The reason it would work that way because Amazon and Netflix want to be in every house and they’ve got the money to do it.

“Netflix have spent 15 billion dollars in original content and we have to remember the AFL TV rights are only worth 400 million a year.

“This is a really easy way for them to get you into their ecosystem.”

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