Pay-television network Foxtel now finds itself in a position of unimagined power, a position it could only have dreamt about a handful of years ago.

As a result of the latest AFL broadcast rights deal, announced today by the league amid much back-slapping, mutual admiration and - if you listened carefully - fanfare of trumpets, Foxtel has bought itself an enormously influential stake in Australian sport.

The network paid $575 million for the right to show five AFL games live each week from 2012 to 2016, as well as simulcast all four of Channel Seven's matches. So Foxtel can now telecast live nine games every week of those five seasons, as well as the finals series (although the largesse stops at the grand finals.)

Foxtel will also launch a dedicated 24-hour AFL channel, in which a smorgasbord of footy will be piled up so high that even the most ardent footy glutton might be forced to stagger away from the trestle table, groaning: no more.

The size of Foxtel's stake in AFL has echoes of BSkyB's purchase of broadcast rights for the English Premier League in 1992.

Then, the fledgling pay-TV outfit forked out £302 million for an exclusive five-year soccer deal - a deal which helped elevate the business from a marginal concern to a media colossus. Premier League football has become the bedrock of Sky's success, prompting owner Rupert Murdoch to declare that sport was the "battering ram" for pay-television, because it broke down so many barriers to subscription.

As of last year, about 34% of Australian homes had pay-TV, with the figure much larger in the big cities. It is said the penetration rate in Australia is significantly lower than that seen in the US (over 85%) and in Western Europe (over 55%) because Australian pay-TV subscription fees are significantly more expensive than in the US.

What better way to convert the other two-thirds of Australia to the joys of pay-TV than show nine live AFL matches a week, five exclusively?

So this is the Foxtel 'battering ram' strategy, and the way to extract the most from its mega-deal: convince the 66% of Australians without pay-TV to take out a subscription by showing hours and hours of live footy, the actual play each quarter unadulterated by advertisements. It's a proposition that, on the surface, could well win it a whole new raft of viewers.

Foxtel chairman Kim Williams said the AFL coverage will be included in Foxtel's standard sports package. He would not discuss pricing specifics but promised there would be "no major uplift in price". But perhaps, just maybe, a minor one.

Still, if you're a Collingwood or Essendon supporter in Victoria, for example, you'll probably be able to get by on the free-to-air offering - and not have to fork out for the privilege of watching your team. But if you're a Melbourne or North Melbourne fan, best to start saving now. Can't imagine the Dees and Roos featuring in too many ''major showpiece games'' on free-to-air.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou was at pains at today's announcement to stress the AFL was a not-for-profit organisation. He didn't know if this was the largest TV rights deal ever signed in Australian sport; the money didn't really come into it. It was all about delivering the best possible outcome for the code's supporters.

Free-to-air TV was, Demetriou said, extremely important to the AFL's supporters and the league itself. In fact it was a ''guiding principle'', he insisted, and an article of faith.

''All AFL supporters across every part of our country will be able to watch Australia's leading sporting code at times that suit them, in ways that suit them, across free-to-air television, subscription television, IP television and mobile platforms,'' Demetriou said.

All well and good - but, from 2012, it will cost also these supporters more money than ever to watch their team on telly. That seems an inescapable conclusion from today's announcement. But there's no mention of that in any of the speeches.

The five matches, and 10 teams, not cherry-picked by Seven in any given week will be shown exclusively on pay-TV. Often those teams, if they're losing games or poorly supported or not deemed terribly sexy, will be the same each week. Which means supporters of those unloved clubs - if they really want to watch their boys on TV - will have to think about taking out a Foxtel package. At a not insignificant cost.

This is the battering ram crashing down doors; this is how the footy landscape will change from next season.