Media Street: Channel 7 shelve plan for new AFL Sunday morning panel show

Channel 7’s plans to reboot a Sunday morning panel show have quietly been shelved and the reason isn’t going to appease the AFL or footy fans.

Plans for a Sunday AFL football show on Channel 7 have been shelved.

In a slap in the face for the league, its free-to-air television rights holder is going into another season without any additional programs outside of game broadcasts.

After copping a serve from the AFL about the lack of auxiliary programs during last year’s negotiations about a new TV deal, there was renewed optimism about a possible reboot of Game Day which had been a staple on Sundays until 2020.

But the word out of Seven’s Docklands bunker is that the old “budget issues” has been rolled out as a reason for ditching plans for a new show.

The last iteration of AFL Game Day on Channel 7 before it was cancelled in 2020

Seven has relied on the highly successful Front Bar to carry its AFL content during the week and while it has been an extraordinary ratings winner, it is about entertainment rather than the nuts and bolts of the game.

The lack of focus on the weekend’s games has allowed rival Channel 9 to dominate the analysis and opinion market with the popular Sunday Footy Show going from strength to strength while Footy Classified has expanded to two nights a week.

There is a theory that Seven are holding fire until the new broadcast rights deal, which was signed off in September last year, kicks in.

Seven West Media and Foxtel secured the AFL media rights from 2025 to 2031 in a historic deal worth $4.5 billion.

The lack of programming was discussed during the negotiations with an understanding Seven would make improvements in that area.

Seven are slashing costs across the board, recently pulling out of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.