Senator Stephen Conroy has consulted far and wide ahead of his imminent announcement in Federal Parliament of the new list of televised sporting events that need to be shown on free-to-air TV.

It's called the anti siphoning list, but before he hands down the list to the expectant sports and TV industries, the good senator's minders placed a call into us here at BackPageLead and asked us what we think.

So here goes.

AFL

The split: Four home and away games per round, including Friday night matches on free-to-air, the rest on pay TV. All finals on free-to-air plus the Brownlow Medal. The NAB Cup Grand Final on free-to-air, the rest on pay-TV if the league wishes. State league footy on the ABC is a good idea, not sure if it should be mandated.

The skinny: Not much change here, except that the free-to-air broadcasters must be required to show prime-time evening games on their digital channels in the non-AFL states. Finally, Sydney and Brisbane fans will get to see Friday Night footy for free.

NRL

The split: Four NRL games per week on free-to-air, the rest on pay-TV. All NRL finals, state of origin and home Kangaroo tests on free-to-air. Overseas Kangaroo tests can be sold to pay-TV.

The skinny: The big hole in the NRL's free-to-air schedule is Saturdays. It hurts the sport and needs to be rectified. If none of the commercial networks want it, flog it on the cheap to the ABC like in the good old days. You read it here first - bring back Saturday afternoon NRL. And just like our suggestion for Friday night AFL to be screened live on digital channels into northern Australia, the reverse should apply to rugby league. Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide should be able to watch the Friday night double-header on one of the digital channels.

UNION

The split: All home and away Wallabies tests on free-to-air. Super 14 semi finals and final on free-to-air if an Australian team qualifies.

The skinny: pay-TV has served the sport well. Made it rich, in fact. But Super 14 deserves to be showcased on free-to-air, even on delay or in a highlight form.

SOCCER

The split: All Socceroo qualifiers and finals matches - World Cup and Asian Cup - must be on free-to-air. All World Cup finals matches must be on free-to-air, as should the Champions League final and the FA Cup final. The A-League final should also have some sort of presence on free-to-air, perhaps on a slight delay.

The skinny: In our opinion, the Socceroos are second only in popularity to the Australian cricketers in popularity and appeal - and are catching fast - and deserve more widespread coverage. As much as we love Simon Hill and Robbie Slater, they should only be calling the Socceroo friendlies on Fox Sports. Still plenty of round ball for the Pay-TV channels.

CRICKET

The split: All home tests and 20-20 internationals featuring Australia and all away tests against England and India should be on free-to-air TV. All World Cup matches featuring Australia should also be on free-to-air. Pay-TV can have the rest, plus Tony Greig.

The skinny: The big one here is 50-over cricket. Does anybody care any more? 50-over cricket has become so mundane and formulaic that it should no longer be considered to be of national importance and therefore not worthy of free-to-air coverage. Given the poor crowds it now attracts, would you miss it on your TV screen?

TENNIS

The split: The Australian Open and Wimbledon should be covered by free-to-air TV, as should the semi-finals and finals of the French and US opens. You could perhaps mount a case for the Davis Cup being on free-to-air if (and it's an increasingly big 'if') Australia makes it back to the World Group. The rest of the Australian summer and the big ATP and WTA tour events can live happily on pay-TV.

The skinny: Not the sport it used to be.

GOLF

The split: All four majors belong on free-to-air somewhere as do the big three Australian mens' events - the Australian Open, the PGA and the Masters. The women's Australian Open also demands free-to-air coverage.

The skinny: Imagine the hue and cry if an Australian finally saluted at Augusta and huge chunks of the population couldn't see it.

HORSE RACING

The split: The Melbourne Spring and Autumn carnivals and their Sydney counterparts must be on free-to-air. TVN and Sky Channel can have the rest.

The skinny: Channels Seven and Nine tend treat the big race meets as the chance to run six hours of promotional material, leaving the serious students of the turf to watch on pay-TV, the only downside being they have to watch the big races on delay.

MOTOR RACING

The split: All Formula One and domestic V8 Supercar events belong on free-to-air. Not so sure about the motor bikes, save for Phillip Island.

The skinny: The audience becomes pretty fragmented after you take away the big races. Foxtel now has a specialist motor sport channel, which should suit pretty much any petrolhead.

CYCLING

The split: Tour de France, Tour Down Under and any major international event staged on our shores.

The skinny: Huge participation sport that hasn't quite seeped into the national consciousness.

NETBALL

The split: The ANZ Championship and the home tests of the national team should be available to all.

The skinny: A sport that is growing by the year and which needs to be recognised by the government.

SWIMMING

The split: The national titles, world titles and the Pan Pacs are standalone swimming events worthy of free-to-air coverage.

The skinny: Some of the more contrived events such as the World Cup and the skins events aren't really compulsive and demanding of free-to-air coverage.

ATHLETICS

The split: The world championships are deserving of free-to-air coverage, while the Stawell Gift remains an iconic event.

The skinny: The national championships remain a good fit for pay-TV.

THE REST

Other sporting events that must be seen on free-to-air TV include:

• Olympics (winter and summer)
• Commonwealth Games
• SuperBowl
• NBA finals