World Footy News

AFANA have given us details of how the North American TV coverage of AFL matches is shaping up for the 2010 season. Firstly there is no NAB Cup coverage. The primary US coverage will be via internet broadband on ESPN360.com. This is free if your ISP has a deal with ESPN [about 50% of US homes] or if you live on a university campus or US military base. AFANA have coverage schedules for virtually the entire AFL season and will be posting those soon.

Round 1 will have Richmond v Carlton, Geelong v Essendon and Western Bulldogs v Collingwood live. Three matches live per round for the balance of the AFL season.

ESPN360 will change names on 4 April to ESPN3 but otherwise remain the same just with an upgraded web page. ESPN2, a broadcast outlet, will carry 4 AFL matches during the course of the season including the Grand Final (live). The first match will be the Round 15 Geelong v Hawthorn match on a delayed basis. Two more will be selected at a later date.

Secondary coverage will be on MHz Networks. MHz affiliates are now in over half of the major US TV markets, with a list of cities currently covered available at the AFANA website. Los Angeles was added recently and MHz will announce more cities soon. They will provide a 3-hour match each week, delayed one week from ESPN360, and likely selected from one of the three ESPN matches. Coverage begins April 5th at 9:00 PM US EDT and repeated 3 hours later. Match to be aired is yet to be announced.

Coverage via Bigpond TV, Aussie Sport TV, and Omnisport TV are yet to be detailed by the AFL.

Canadian coverage will continue on TSN2. We are told to expect similar coverage to that of last August / September, however we are still awaiting word from TSN management and the AFL.

As always, check in at afana.com for the latest details as they come to hand.