Eddie McGuire takes on two new footy shows at rival Channel 7

The media mogul is taking on two new footy shows at Channel 7, just months after labelling the network “Channel Copycat” after it poached his stars from Footy Classified.

Eddie McGuire is taking on two new footy shows at Channel 7, just months after labelling the network “Channel Copycat” after it poached his stars from Footy Classified.

McGuire’s JAM TV will produce Sunday Footy Feast for Seven, which will start just minutes after the rival Sunday Footy Show wraps up, which he produces for Nine.

JAM TV will also produce The Wash Up, which will run immediately after the final siren of Seven’s Sunday afternoon match broadcasts.

McGuire had flown the flag for Nine when Footy Classified hosts Caroline Wilson, Craig Hutchison and Kane Cornes defected to Seven, branding them “list-cloggers”.

McGuire played down his expanded behind the scenes role at Seven on Thursday.

“We produce shows for every network including Seven. So nothing new in any of this,” he said from New York.

McGuire played down his expanded behind the scenes role at 7.

McGuire pointed to how he had juggled roles at different networks before, including covering the Melbourne Cup for Ten and working for Foxtel while at Nine.

He added that other hosts, including Sam Pang, Tom Gleeson, and Hamish Blake and Andy Lee had also worked for several TV networks at the same time.

JAM TV already produces Seven’s VFL broadcasts but tensions exploded last September when Hutchison’s rival production business Rainmaker poached Cornes and Wilson to front Seven’s new Monday night show, Agenda Setters.

Hutchison also jumped ship from Classified with McGuire talking up the TV wars in a live interview on Nine’s Today Show in September.

But all wounds have healed with Wilson now expected to line up for the Agenda Setters season opener despite fears she would be held to a non-compete clause by Nine.

One network insider said on Thursday: “Why would Seven allow McGuire to do it? Surely they see those Nine shows as the enemy.

“I wonder how the CEOs of Seven and Nine feel about JAM producing products that directly compete for the same advertising dollars?”

New Channel 7 recruit Kane Cornes.

McGuire is also the host of the Wednesday edition of Footy Classified, which is moving to Tuesday nights next year.

Seven had previously expressed concerns about McGuire’s JAM TV having a conflict of interest.

The network removed JAM TV’s contract for its Talking Footy show hosted by Luke Darcy in 2018 when McGuire’s company had taken over production of Nine’s The Footy Show.

McGuire had come back as host of the show midway through 2017, replacing Hutchison who failed to ignite the ratings while in the chair.

Seven’s bold new AFL play is being led by head of sport Chris Jones, an old friend and former housemate of Hutchison’s back in his TV newshound days.

Retired St Kilda great and former Fox Footy star Nick Riewoldt will complete the Agenda Setters Monday night panel in a show that will go head to head with McGuire’s new-look Footy Classified featuring James Hird and Matthew Lloyd.

“I’m bitterly disappointed but no one is bigger than the show,” Lloyd said last year.

A Seven insider says the network was getting serious about its football offerings after years of pedestrian off-field coverage under former Melbourne station boss Lewis Martin.

Fox Footy will also be able to provide live commentary for every game for the first time, which was likely to put Seven’s broadcasts under increased competition.