Australian football chiefs on Monday hailed a bumper US $166 million television deal as they refused to give up on bringing former England captain David Beckham Down Under. The four-year arrangement with Fox Sports, pay TV provider Foxtel and free-to-air channel SBS is the most valuable and important commercial deal ever reached in Australian football, Football Federation Australia said.
The Aus$160 million agreement, which starts in July 2013, will see A-League matches shown on free-to-air TV for the first time. The previous arrangement with Fox was worth Aus$120 million over seven years. Under the new broadcast deal, Fox Sports will provide exclusive live coverage of all Socceroos matches and will remain the primary broadcaster of the domestic A-League competition until 2017. SBS will present Friday night A-League matches live.