Seven Sport

From the first year of television in Australia in 1956 to 2001, Seven was the main broadcaster of the Australian Football League. From the early 1970s to 1986 Seven was along with the ABC the main broadcaster of the VFL showing replays and highlights of matches played that Saturday. In 1977 Seven paid the VFL $500,000 to broadcast the Grand Final and a further $500,000 to broadcast the Grand Final Replay also live with the drawn match watch by 1.2 Million viewers at the time the biggest daytime audience in Australia television history. In 1987, after taken over by new ownership from Sydney, Seven lost the VFL rights to Broadcom who on sold the rights in Victoria to the ABC after offering less money compared to the previous year, the rights were regained the next year. In 2001 the Seven Network announced that after 45 years as the official broadcaster of the VFL/AFL that it would finished its partnership at the end of the season, Nine and Ten entered a joint rights deal with pay TV provider Foxtel to ensure that all eight matches of each round were televised, starting in 2002 and concluding in 2006. At the time and being the only broadcaster, Seven broadcast only one match at a timeslot at a time and showed highlights of other matches that weren’t broadcast.

On 5 January 2006, Seven regained the rights to the AFL in the following broadcast deal, covering the period between 2007 and 2011 inclusive, in a joint contract with Ten and Foxtel. The cost of the deal was A$780 million, an A$280 million increase on the Nine/Ten/Foxtel 2002-2006 joint broadcast venture. Under the deal, Seven and Ten alternated the Brownlow Medal ceremonies and the AFL Grand Final;[1] Seven televised the Friday night and Sunday afternoon Premiership season matches, while Ten televised the two Saturday matches and Foxtel televising the rest. Both Seven and Ten alternate in show the NAB Cup Grand Final, the Brownlow Medal count (2007, 2009 and 2011 were shown on Seven) and the AFL Grand Final (2008 and both in 2010)

In 2011, it was announced that Seven and Foxtel would share the football broadcast rights from 2012–2016, bringing Ten's 10-year run to an end. Under the new deal, Seven would televise four games per week, and Foxtel would simulcast coverage of Seven's games and broadcast the other five weekly games live and exclusive. Seven televised the entire finals series, with Foxtel simulcasting all finals except for the Grand Final, which was televised live and exclusively by Seven. The deal required Seven to televise all but the Saturday afternoon match live into Victoria and Tasmania; all four games were shown live into the northern states on 7mate and games were shown live or on delay into Western Australia (night matches on 7mate, day matches on Seven) and South Australia (all on Seven) depending on Seven's television schedule.

It was announced in 2015 that Seven would again be the sole free-to-air broadcaster of AFL matches, for the period between 2017 and 2022. Under the deal, Seven no longer televises the Saturday afternoon match into Victoria, however, matches in this timeslot involving interstate teams continue to be televised into their respective markets.[2][3] Controversially, however, up to three matches involving each of all four of the Western Australia and South Australia clubs (the West Coast Eagles, Fremantle, Adelaide and Port Adelaide) are televised on a significant delay, with the telecast starting after the final siren has gone in real time.[4][5][6]

Under the revised deal (post COVID-19) agreement, Channel Seven will show up to five matches per week live on their networks, with Fox Sports broadcasting each and every game on either a Fox Footy or Fox Sports 503. One match of both the Eagles and Dockers in WA and one match of both the Crows and Power in SA was shown on a significant delay in 2020. On June 11 the AFL and the Seven Network extended it current agreement until 2022 for an extra two until the end of 2024 with deal virtually the same as the original one signed prior to 2017.

The network's coverage of the 2000 Sydney Olympics attracted a TV audience of over 6.5 million Australians for the opening and closing ceremonies. The broadcast also ran on the short-lived C7 Sport subscription channel.

During its time as the broadcaster of the Olympic Games, it has won the Olympic Golden Rings for the Best Television coverage for the best television programme during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.[7]

During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Seven and NBC Universal were the major recipients of the Golden Rings; with Seven taking the Golden Rings for the best Olympic Programme, the Silver Rings for the best Olympic feature (NBC Universal received the Golden Rings), and the Bronze Rings for the Best Sports Coverage (behind SRG Switzerland and YLE Finland).[8]

During Seven's coverage of the XXIX Olympiad, numerous complaints by the general Australian public were made to the Seven Network for several reasons, including the lack of a broadcast of events to which Australia is not competing in, too many advertisements and at inappropriate times during events and poor commentating of events. There has also been media speculation about the editing of Olympic events by Seven; how live sound from events is faded and the commentary sound is the prominent sound feature.

Seven had exclusive Australian free-to-air, pay television, online and mobile telephony broadcast rights to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The live telecast of the XXIX Olympiad was shared by both the Seven Network and SBS Television. Seven broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies and mainstream sports including swimming, athletics, rowing, cycling and gymnastics. In stark contrast, SBS TV provided complementary coverage focused on long-form events such as soccer, road cycling, volleyball, and table tennis.[9]

Seven's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics was widely criticised by viewers, with many angry at the networks contractual obligation to show AFL football over the Olympics. Viewers also complained that many team sports were delayed, with the absence of Roy and HG and with seemingly large amounts of advertising breaks during live events upsetting some viewers.[10] Despite this, the International Olympic Committee awarded Seven the 'Golden Rings' award for "Best Olympic Programme". The award is given for the best overall Olympic coverage.[11]

From 2016, Seven once again became the home of the Summer Olympic Games, Winter Olympic Games and the Summer Paralympic Games. The Network secured the Australian broadcast rights to the Olympic Games in a deal that ensures its place as the Olympic broadcaster until 2020. The multimillion-dollar deal includes TV rights to the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020, the winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang in 2018 and the summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020.[12] In October 2020, the Seven Network announced it would be the home of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing [13]

Seven screened the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April 2018.[14]

From 1963 to 1997, Seven was the home of motor sport in Australia as they broadcast the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and the Bathurst 1000. Seven were the first broadcasters to use race cam in the 1979 Bathurst 1000, which allowed them to talk to the drivers mid-race.

The Seven commentary team included Evan Green, Will Hagon and Geoff Stone (late 60s to the mid 70s). From 1977–1995 Mike Raymond and Garry Wilkinson from 1978–1996 (V8 1000). Neil Crompton reporting from the pits from around 1985, Mark Oastler (1989–1996), Doug Mulray (1988–1994), Allan Moffat (1985–1996, V8 1000) and as a pit reporter Andy Raymond (early 90s). At the Bathurst 1000, Sandy Roberts or Bruce McAvaney would be the host during the early to mid 1990s.

In 1997, Seven lost the rights to the ATCC to Network Ten, but still broadcast the Australian Super Touring Championship until the series' demise in 2001. In 2003, Seven Sport broadcast the Nations Cup and V8 Utes, before Network Ten broadcast the V8 Utes in 2005 after the collapse of organising body Procar Australia.

From 2007 to 2014, Seven regained the rights to V8 Supercars. The commentary team included Neil Crompton, Mark Skaife and Mark Larkham. From 2015, Seven Sport broadcasts the Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race.

In 2020, Seven regained the TV rights to the Supercars Championship, sharing the rights with Foxtel in a deal worth $200 million for 5 years (2021-2025). The new deal has Seven Sport show seven rounds of the Supercars Championship live and showing highlights of the rounds it is not able to televise.[15]

On 13 April 2018, Cricket Australia announced that the Seven Network had acquired free-to-air media rights to a package of events beginning in the 2018–19 season, under a six-year contract as part of a consortium with Foxtel. Seven would broadcast coverage of all test matches, Women's internationals, 43 Big Bash League matches per-season, and 23 Women's Big Bash League matches per-season. All events would be shared with the newly-established Fox Cricket channel. This ended Nine's 45-year run as television rightsholder of international cricket in Australia.[16]

In September 2020, it was reported that Seven was attempting to exit its contract, citing an alleged breach of contract surrounding the scheduling of the 2020–21 season, and that the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia would diminish the quality of the 2020–21 Big Bash League season (violating a contractual obligation for the quality of events carried by Seven to meet that of the previous season).[17][18][19] In November 2020, Seven lodged an affidavit in the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne, seeking access to communications with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in regards to scheduling changes for India's 2020–21 tour of Australia. Seven took issue with the ODIs being moved to the start of the series rather than the test matches (which will be the final event of the series) as they would be exclusive to Fox Cricket, and the final test would overlap the end of the holiday season, reducing potential viewership. Seven West Media CEO James Warburton argued that "there aren't many sports that would launch their season behind a paywall", and that the broadcaster wanted to be "fairly compensated for the value reduction caused by the changes to the schedule and other changes."[20][21]

In 2016, the Seven Network won the broadcasting rights deal to be the main broadcaster of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in Australia, beating the other regular rugby league broadcasting channels of Fox League and the Nine Network to secure the deal.[22]

Most Seven programs, except Sunrise and The Chase Australia, went on hiatus during Seven's broadcast of the Olympic Games.[31]

The Seven Sport crew filming a pre-match interview between commentator Cameron Ling and Geelong Cats coach Chris Scott in 2014.

As Seven is forced to show viewers in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland games featuring their respective teams live, sometimes it will show a different game at the same time into these markets then into the rest of Australia. On these occasions, it will pick up Fox Footy's coverage of the match.

[32]

Current

• Abbey Gelmi (Host) 2018/19-Present
• Erin Holland (Host) 2019/20-Present
• Andy Maher (Ball-by-Ball Commentator) 2018/19-Present
• Jason Richardson (Ball-by-Ball Commentator) 2018/19-Present
• Lisa Sthalekar (Expert Commentator) 2018/19-Present
• Julia Price (Expert Commentator) 2018/19-Present
• Holly Ferling (Expert Commentator) 2019/20-Present
• Elyse Villani (Expert Commentator) 2020–Present
• Brad Hodge (Expert Commentator) 2019–Present
• Belinda Clarke (Expert Commentator) 2020/21-Present
• Mel Jones (Expert Commentator) 2020/21-Present
• Kirby Short (Expert Commentator 2020/21-Present
• Damien Fleming (Expert Commentator) 2020/21-Present
• Jess Duffin (Expert Commentator) 2020/21-Present

Past

• Mel McLaughlin (Host) 2018/19
• Mark Readings (Ball-by-Ball Commentator) 2018/19
• Alastair Nicholson (Ball-by-Ball Commentator) 2018/19
• Jason Gillespie (Expert Commentator) 2018/19
• Kristen Beams (Expert Commentator) 2019/20

• Jeff Thompson (Early 2000s)
• Tony Squires (2005)
• Stuart MacGill (2005)
• Kerry O'Keeffe (2005)
• Sam McClure (BBL Host/Boundary Commentator) (2018-2019)
• Jim Wilson (BBL Host/Boundary Commentator) (2018-2020)
• Dirk Nannes (Expert Commentator) (2018-2019)
• Phil Tufnell (International Expert Commentator) (2018-2019)
• Kath Loughnan (Bushfire Bash Boundary Commentator) (2020)
• Mark Howard (Bushfire Bash Commentator) (2020)
• Pat Cummins (Womens Expert Commentator) (2018)
• Mitch Starc (Womens Expert Commentator) (2019)
• Bruce McAvaney (Presenter) (2018-2019)
• Jason Gillespie (Expert Commentator) (2018-2019)
• Aakash Chopra (International Expert Commentator) (2018-2019)
• Marvan Atapattu (International Expert Commentator) (2019)
• Brendon McCullum (International Expert Commentator) (2019-2020)
• Ramiz Raja (International Expert Commentator) (2019)

Wimbledon

• Todd Woodbridge (Host/Commentator)
• Rennae Stubbs (Commentator)
• Sam Smith (Commentator)
• John Newcombe (Commentator)
• Geoff Masters (Commentator)
• Jim Courier (Expert comments)
• Darren Cahill (Expert comments)

Davis Cup

• Todd Woodbridge (Host/Commentator)
• Basil Zempilas (Host/Commentator, Perth events)
• John Fitzgerald (Commentator)
• Roger Rasheed (Commentator)

Past

• Simon Marshall (Co-host, 2013–present)
• John Letts (Interviews, 2013–present)

• Giaan Rooney (2013)
• Scherri-Lee Biggs (2012–2013)
• Sonia Kruger (2002–2011)
• Matthew White (2004–2012)
• Glen Boss (2011)
• Sandy Roberts (2002–2013)
• Kylie Gillies (2002–2006)
• Rebecca Maddern (2013–2015)
• Ryan Phelan (2014–2020)

• Mark Beretta (Host/Pit reporter, 2015–present)
• Chris Stubbs (Host/Pit reporter, 2020–present)
• Richard Craill (Commentator, 2015–present)
• Graham Goodwin (Commentator, 2015–2017)
• Jonny Palmer (Commentator, 2018–Present)
• John Hindhaugh (Commentator, 2015–present)
• Shea Adam (Pit reporter, 2015–present)
• Chad Neylon (Pit reporter, 2016–present)
• Alex Hart (Reporter, 2018–present)

• Mark Beretta (Host, 2020–present)
• Abbey Way (Host, 2020–present)
• Richard Craill (Commentator, 2020–present)
• Greg Rust (Commentator, 2020–present)
• Matt Naulty (Commentator, 2020–Present)
• Chris Stubbs (Commentator, Pit reporter, 2020-present)
• Cameron van den Dungen (Commentator, 2020–present)
• Molly Taylor (Pit reporter, 2020–present)
• Jack Perkins (Pit reporter, 2020–present)
• Jess Dane (Pit reporter, 2020–present)

• Pat Welsh (Host/Commentator, 2012–present)
• Wayne Grady (Commentator, 2012–present)
• Grant Dodd (Commentator, 2012–present)
• Ewan Porter (Commentator, 2017–present)
• Todd Woodbridge (On Course Commentator/Reporter, 2017–present)
• Alison Whitaker (On Course Commentator/Reporter, 2017–present)
• Bree Laughlin (Reporter, 2017–present)
• Jason Richardson (Host, 2018–present)

• Sandy Roberts (Host/Commentator, 2012–2013)
• Peter Donegan (Host/Commentator, 2014–2016)
• Ian Baker Finch (Commentator, 2012–2016)

• Basil Zempilas (Host/Commentator, 1998–present)
• Giaan Rooney (Commentator, 2018–present)
• Ian Thorpe (Commentator, 2018–present)
• Nathan Templeton (Poolside Commentator, 2018–present)

• Mark Doran (Host/Commentator, 2018)
• Gordon Bray (Commentator, 2018)
• Ashley Morrison (Commentator, 2018)
• Michael Lynagh (Commentator, 2018)
• Tony Lewis (Commentator, 2018)
• Scott Fava (Commentator, 2018)
• Peter Rowsthorn (Commentator, 2018)
• Dani Orlando (Reporter, 2018)
• Sam Longley (Field Reporter, 2018)

• Mark Readings (Host, 2019)
• Mel McLaughlin (Host, 2019)
• David Davutovic (Commentator, 2019)
• Stan Lazaridis (Commentator, 2019)
• David Basheer (Commentator, 2019)
• Jim Wilson (Host, 2015)
• Archie Thompson (Commentator, 2015)