CATS NOT COMPLETELY SCRATCHED BY FOXTEL DEAL
Ben Jensen 18 February 2007

By Ben Jensen WHILE GEELONG will have only half its games on free to air TV this season, the good news is if you're a Victorian member, without Foxtel, you should only miss out on six games. Out of Geelong's eleven 'away' games, six will be telecast on Foxtel's Fox Sports 1, with five being broadcast on free to air.

Unfortunately for our loyal followers interstate, the situation is much worse. Due to arrangements for teams in Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney, these teams receive priority and even more Geelong games will be shifted to Foxtel. Cats fans will be left with little choice but to pay at least $47.95 per month to one of Foxtel, Optus or Austar. Alternatively, of course, you could plant yourself in a pub or at your brother in law's place and really enjoy the game.

CLICK HERE FOR GEELONG'S 2007 DRAW AND TV SCHEDULE

Geelong's season opener, a Sunday away game against the Western Bulldogs at Telstra Dome, will be on Channel Seven. Two more games will be on channel seven, rounds three and five, but the Cats won't appear on FTA again until Channel Ten broadcasts the home game against Sydney in round thirteen.

The programming quirk however does see six of the last ten matches on FTA, three of which are Ten's only Geelong games. And then hopefully there'll be finals matches, all on FTA.

THE PROBLEM for the Cats is with the 'home' games - just six out of eleven will be on free to air in Victoria. Not such a big deal for members who can make it to games, but disloyal sponsors may consider shifting their advertising dollars to another Victorian (or interstate) club with a greater share of the broadcast audience.