"Australians will run towards the light," Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany declared at last week's 2025 Fox Footy and Kayo Sports AFL Launch.
The "light" he referred to is the growing acceptance of subscription-based sports viewing, a shift that is rapidly shaping the future of how Australians engage with live sports.
With Delany stating that most Australians "see as normal paying for content these days", Foxtel has announced that much of the upcoming AFL season's live Saturday coverage will be placed behind the Kayo paywall.
For the duration of the season, Channel Seven will no longer air AFL matches on Saturdays in Victoria and Tasmania, while other states will begin receiving local team Saturday matches from round nine onwards.
As a result, fans eager to watch footy on Saturdays will need to pay $40 per month for Kayo's 4K offerings, following a price increase in March.
This move is just the latest in a series of tactical shifts in the ongoing sports streaming wars. The fierce scramble for broadcasting rights across multiple leagues has resulted in a surge of services, each demanding its own subscription.
With more money at stake, it seems that current legislation is struggling to contain the growing blaze of competition.
The anti-siphoning laws introduced in the 1990s were designed to ensure that free-to-air TV stations retained broadcasting rights to key sports events, safeguarding access to these major broadcasts in the public's interest.
In response to last week's Kayo Sports AFL launch, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland addressed the issue at hand.
"While some Australians may choose to pay to watch sport, not everyone can afford to do so," she said, per the Guardian.
While every match in the AFL premiership is covered by the anti-siphoning laws, Rowland emphasised that while these laws "promote free access," they cannot guarantee it.
"Rights deals and scheduling decisions are ultimately a matter for the relevant sporting code and their media partners," she said.
The streaming giants - Amazon, Disney, and Netflix - are all looking to stake their claim as well.
Cricket fans hoping to watch the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy will find it exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, with no free-to-air or live TV broadcast available.
Foxtel took a major hit earlier this month when Disney announced that ESPN's extensive sports lineup - including the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB, along with select Australian events - will soon be available to stream on Disney+. ESPN's sports content was previously exclusive to FetchTV and Foxtel/Kayo, but the network has long been known for its strategy of striking distribution deals across multiple platforms.
While Netflix has yet to secure rights to Australian sports, it is steadily ramping up its live sports investments. After testing the waters with last Christmas' live NFL games, the platform has since expanded into live WWE wrestling and boxing.
DAZN also offers boxing and MMA, while Optus delivers English football. Paramount+ features content from the Matildas and Socceroos, Stan covers rugby union and tennis Grand Slams, and beIN Sports focuses on European football. In total, sports content for Australian viewers is stretched across 10 different service providers.
Although the NRL's current deal with Foxtel and Nine has two years to run, international media giants are reportedly eager to secure the lucrative broadcasting rights. The league has set a mid-year deadline to finalise its next deal.
"We have got the most valuable rights in Australian sport. Last year we were the most viewed sport in Australia," ARLC chairman Peter V'landys said to the Daily Telegraph in January.
"It will also depend on if someone else wants the rights and there will be plenty of parties wanting the rights."
With traditional broadcasting ad revenue in steep decline, consolidation among platforms could provide a crucial path forward. Earlier this year, we witnessed this trend in action: Foxtel was acquired by Saudi Arabia-backed DAZN, and Optus Sport formed a tie-up with beIN Sports to serve pubs and clubs.
"Australians watch more sport than any other country in the world, which makes this deal an incredibly exciting opportunity for DAZN to enter a key market, marking another step in our long-term strategy to become the global home of sport," Shay Segev, Chief Executive Officer of DAZN, said in a statement post-acquisition.
As the war of sports streaming wages on, the โglobal home of sportโ grows increasingly fragmented. Free-to-air broadcasters are leaning more heavily on their VOD platforms, while US media giants stand ready to snap up the broadcasting rights that traditional networks can no longer afford.
It appears that the future light of sports broadcasting that Australians are running toward may come at a steep price.
