Australia NewsFox Sports Gets Footy Facelift |
EXCLUSIVE: Mark Bosnich, virtual replays, extended A-League and Socceroos coverage and a new review show headline Fox Sports' pumped-up football coverage this season.
For A-League viewers, Foxtel's sports channel's coverage will now feature post-game shows to top and tail matches."Whereas before you had two hours of A-League football now you'll have three hours with half an hour before and half an hour after," Fox Sports football boss Murray Shaw told au.fourfourtwo.com.
The coverage will also include virtual replays with motion graphics similar to a PlayStation taking an interactive look at key incidents in games from different angles, like seeing the play from a referee's view or a player in question's angle to help understand and analyse what happened.
"It'll be very interactive," said Shaw. And there'll be a fresh coat of paint for the coverage with new graphics while former Savage Garden musician - and big football fan - Daniel Jones has composed new music to go with the programme's presentation.
What's more, one A-League game per week will be in HD (High Definition) and at least two English Premier League matches will be in HD on Fox Sports HD.
As for the football programs, "Total Football" - Fox Sports Thursday night preview show - is now gone after three seasons on air.
It will be replaced by a new more casual Tuesday night offering called "Fox Sports FC".
"It'll be more commonly referred to as "The Club" as in join us tonight in the club," adds Shaw. "We've found that by Thursday night, everyone's been through the major issues from the previous weekend.
"Hopefully now, on a Tuesday night, we can have some good detailed analysis of the incidents and happenings not only in the A-League and also the English Premier League. It's a review show."
Andy Harper will continue to host with a rotating group of panelists. "We'll get rid of the desks and suits and have a more casual chat about what happened on the weekend. Just more casual."
Shaw was keen to point out that the level of analysis will ramp up a notch as "people are looking for than just the obvious after three years of the A-League. More intellectual debate - we want to break things down and explain why things have happened."
The show hopes to cross to England regularly to draw analysis from personalities commenting on the headlines of the day. This would also include a wrap-up of how European-based Australians are doing. Controversial English referee Graham Poll is one possibility for this part of the show.
Much of this ramped up coverage for Fox Sports football is driven by exceptional ratings for the code. The Socceroos' Asian Cup match against Japan was the highest ratings program ever on pay-TV.
Shaw predicted that the Socceroos live World Cup qualifier blockbuster with Japan in Saitama next February 11 would be another huge ratings event. "With an 8.20pm local kick off time, it's primetime in front of 65,000 screaming Japanese.
"The prospect of a spot in the World Cup at a time when the A-League finals are on and with all the big names back? Can you imagine that? It's scary what it could do [in the ratings]."
Fox Sports will also broadcast every match from both round four AFC World Cup qualifying groups, with all Socceroos matches live and with extended coverage on game day similar to the A-League.
And in the Asian Champions League, coverage includes Adelaide United's quarter-final clash with Kashima Antlers live this September.
The semis and final can also be seen on Fox Sports as well as live coverage of ACL 2009 - which will feature an expanded tournament including two teams going through from the group stages and a round of 16 before the quarter finals.
The English Premier League continues to be enormously popular with Fox Sports continuing its extensive, interactive coverage. "Viewers choice will be back. And we're in negotiations with Mark Bosnich to join us in the studio if he's in Australia."
Shaw added: "All the talk from fans is 'give me more, more more'. Fortunately we have the vehicle to do that."
Have YOUR say - What do you think about "Fox Sports Gets Footy Facelift"? Tell us NOW in the comment section below.
We review the ‘Ronaldo Effect’ and find out if the Portuguese superstar is missed by Manchester United, why he is so vital to Real Madrid and if we can lead his country to World Cup glory. We also chat to Xavi, Carlo Ancelotti, plus Socceroos Vince Grella and David Carney.
Have you got a scoop? Tell us about it and you could be the first to break the news on FourFourTwo.
