Participant Observation 2/9/17 - Broadcaster Relationships and Sharing Vision

While watching the final round of AFL last week, I was struck by the appearance of Fox Footy commentators on the Friday night Channel 7 coverage. Clearly this is unusual, but was probably facilitated by the broadcasters due to the significance of the situation, as three AFL greats were retiring. Two of them were Western Bulldogs players, Matt Boyd and Bob Murphy, and a former Bulldog is also one of the Fox Footy commentary team, Brad Johnson:

What is significant is that during one of my research interviews this week, someone with close knowledge of broadcaster relationships said that it was in the best interests for broadcasters to work like this together, with the understanding that branding elements would be removed. In this example, the commentator is using 'generic' AFL branded microphone cubes, rather than Channel 7 or Fox Footy cubes. However, I think the Channel 7 commentators still used Channel 7 cubes - perhaps this was an oversight, something more antagonistic, or perhaps it was an agreed on stipulation between the two broadcasters.

Evidence though perhaps of a correlation between my own data and practical application!