All i will say is; Game of Thrones...
Ego's play a big part in the TV industry, channels will do things purely to spite each other and protect their own content.
I worked for a while, many moons ago, for the company that did the ratings survey for the British television market. We were in London a few weeks ago, and had lunch with an old colleague who stayed in the business, ended up working for AC Neilsen (who took the company we worked for over), and then the BBC, still doing television audience surveys of various kinds.
I asked him why there is such a premium placed on being first in the ratings, a question that has fascinated me for years? From a purely financial perspective, surely the value of a commercial spot does not change radically, just because one channel is a point or two ahead of the next? (I can understand why hugely popular events can command huge rates, Super Bowl, and even SOO, but that is not the case in the current discussion about Fox and TEN).
In the end, it seems to come down to a question of morale, team spirit, whatever it would be called, amongst the sales force. According to my friend, the ratings leader is perceived as a winner, and that has a flow-on effect out of proportion to the theoretical commercial paramaters. That's what they believe, so presumably, it is a valid preoccupation.
However, the larger question remains. Why, if you were Foxtel, would you not make a tiny potential sacrifice today, for the benefit of increasing your potential audience tomorrow? And, as I asked earlier, how many Foxtel subscribers are going to choose the TEN broadcast anyway, particularly if the commentary team is the same dreary bunch?