TELEVISION'S love of live sport has another happy union to announce, with Football Federation Australia set to trumpet a four-year, $160 million broadcasting rights deal with Fox Sports and SBS, beginning July 1 next year.

Soccer is the third code to cash in on TV's need for live action, following last year's AFL contract for $1.25 billion and this year's $1.02 billion NRL deal.

It is understood Fox Sports will pay about $32 million a year and SBS $7 million to broadcast the A-League's five games a week, including one free-to-air game on SBS, together with World Cup qualifiers.

FFA's current seven-year TV deal is $19 million a year, meaning soccer has doubled its broadcasting revenue.

Advertisement Fans will see the Socceroos' World Cup qualifiers live on Fox Sports and on one-hour delay with SBS.

Although the contract officially applies from July 1, 2013, four World Cup qualifiers - against Oman, Japan, Jordan and Iraq - will be played before that date and shown on SBS on one-hour delay.

The new deal allows SBS, which has paid $25 million for all quadrennial FIFA World Cup tournaments until 2022, more than just a four-week window every four years. It can now pitch to advertisers its year-round coverage, produce preview and review shows and cement a relationship with FFA and FIFA.

The new Fox Sports/SBS arrangement is a minor technical breach of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's anti-siphoning laws, which insist that the Socceroos must be shown first on free-to-air TV.

But the one-hour delay is a realistic solution given the fact Conroy was forced to grant the sport a dispensation in 2005 because pay TV was the only broadcaster interested.

FFA's windfall comes off the back of record TV ratings and crowd figures after its decision to start the A-League season in October, clear of the shadow of the AFL and NRL finals.

Fox Sports is convinced it can convert those AFL and NRL fans disinterested in cricket to continue their subscriptions over summer, rather than churn and renew with Foxtel offers in March.

''Soccer can become a summer sport in Australia and give pay TV year round consistency of football,'' one analyst said.

TV ratings for soccer have risen this season, from an average of 65,000 viewers a game to 95,000.

The match between Sydney FC and Newcastle, featuring the A-League's two highest-profile drawcards, Sydney's Alessandro del Piero and the Jets' Emile Heskey, was the most watched A-League game ever, with 164,000 viewers.

A-League ratings are still small compared with NRL and AFL but both FFA and TV chiefs are confident they will rise as more young players develop, international stars are signed as marquee players and popular Socceroos return when their careers with European clubs conclude.

''It's an investment for the future,'' one executive involved in the negotiations said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league...#ixzz2CcvYXrXg