Rules · TV coverage · Must-follow
Pay-TV-only Saturdays early in the season
BC-08Catalogue name: Saturday pay-television windows
What it means
Early-season Saturday games are pay-TV only. This applies nationally through Round 8, in Queensland and New South Wales through Round 10, and all season in Victoria. Named marquee gameA major occasion fixed in advance, such as Anzac Day, Dreamtime or King’s Birthday.Read more in the glossary are exceptions.
Why it exists
This is the central promise of the TV deal to the pay-television broadcaster: Saturdays are theirs while the season is young.
For example
A Saturday game in Round 5 is not on free-to-airTelevision anyone can watch without a subscription.Read more in the glossary anywhere in Australia unless it is one of the named marquee games.
How strictly it applies
Must-follow The fixture must obey this rule. A separate checker tests the finished fixture afterwards.
Must-follow. The round numbers are the 2025 deal as reported, carried into 2027 as a labelled assumption; the AFLAustralian Football League.Read more in the glossary's 2027 values will replace them when published.
Where to see it
Prime-time games shows how this plays out across the season.
How it played out across versions
One cell per release, oldest first. Each shows the verdict that release recorded for this rule; a release with no row for the rule says so.
- Preview 13 September2027 · Generated
Off, switched off by these settings
no checker yet
- Preview 14 September (seed 42)2027 · Generated
Off, switched off by these settings
no checker yet
- Repeat-qualified (seed 42)2027 · Generated
Off, switched off by these settings
no checker yet
- Corrected (seed 43)2027 · Generated
Off, switched off by these settings
no checker yet
- Rules release (seed 43)2027 · Generated
Off, switched off by these settings
no checker yet
- B009 nominal (seed 43)2027 · Generated
Off, switched off by these settings
no checker yet
- B010 nominal (weight 0.10)2027 · Generated
Met, met
- B011 nominal2027 · Generated
Met, met
- B012 Wednesday opening2027 · Generated
Met, met
- 20252025 season as played2025 · As played
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
First checked independently in TV slots added, 18 Sep 2026.
Related
For analysts: catalogue text and codes
- Rule id
BC-08- Catalogue text
- Super Saturday exclusivity: all Saturday games exclusively live on Foxtel/Kayo during defined early-season windows.
- Catalogue type
- Hard / contract
- Catalogue family
- Broadcast Rights Constraints (2025–2031 Deal)
- Class
hard· The fixture must never break it.- Step
S4· Step 5: TV slot- Recorded status
met· source rowevaluated- Catalogue reason
- The central exclusivity term of the broadcast deal.