A Sports Watch column in April which discussed football's bid to become the No.1 sport in this country, and the unease between Football Federation Australia and SBS over the host free-to-air broadcaster's Friday-night coverage, and the overall patchy ratings this year of the A League, was seen as a dig at the code. When some matches on pay television are watched by only 14,000 households, then surely that is a concern.

There's nothing worse than watching an event, regardless of the sport, when the echo of any empty stadium can be felt by those at home on the couch. There are too many of those type of games in the A League - although that could not be said of Friday night's all-Melbourne semi-final between the Victory and City at Etihad Stadium.

"Anyone watching at home on Fox, the noise must have come through," Victory coach Kevin Muscat said in his post-match address on Fox Sports. "It was a great night for football."

On a night Fox Sports play-by-play caller Brenton Speed described as "the biggest in club football we have seen in this country outside of grand finals", Fox's coverage, led by host Adam Peacock, was typically comprehensive, with all the modern graphics. The relaxed feel, with studio-based analysts comfortable on a couch and in casual dress, worked well.

SBS' studio-based coverage, with David Zdrilic​ as host, has been criticised for being bland but on this night was also incisive, with studio bosses opting for Zdrilic to join analysts Craig Foster and Michael Bridges in sitting around a small table in a more business-like manner. That the now retired Les Murray was used as the introductory voice previewing the night ahead was a nice touch, while the in-play combination of David Basheer and Craig Moore provided insight into just went wrong for Melbourne City.

For those with access to pay television and free-to-air, the varied looks gave viewers two solid options, except for the fact SBS'game coverage - as part of its contract with FFA - was on delay by an hour. In this day and age with rampant social media, that just doesn't work.

Channel Seven held on for as long as it could in delaying Friday-night matches because of the strong ratings of Better Homes and Gardens but that changed from 2012 as part of the current broadcast rights agreement.

While Fox Sports, naturally, was protecting its patch as the chief rights holder, for the sport to grow, live A League finals are required on SBS - should it retain the rights from this season. The kick-off from 8.30pm, rather than the live 7.30pm start, would also have impacted on the number of children watching - an area highlighted for growth in the FFA's just-released 20-year blueprint.

"Australian Football must aim to convert more junior participants into fans; this would transform the game's attendances, TV ratings and digital audiences which would flow into greater commercial revenues and in turn more funds to invest in community football and elite player development," the FFA says.

SBS deservedly won a Logie for its coverage of the World Cup but there's still work to be done with the A League.

It's not only on the race track where tension is brewing in the first year of a six-year, $241 million deal with Fox Sports and Channel Ten.

V8 Supercars chief James Warburton had said ratings for the race broadcasts and associated shows was up by 58 per cent this season. Analysis of the race-day only events by Fusion Media's Steve Allen, however, indicated ratings were a concern.

This prompted a rebuke from V8 Supercars, declaring the ratings from all shows needed to be included in the statistics - not just those on race day.

However, with only six of the 14 races on free-to-air, Allen says the new deal is not great for viewers, with some expressing their frustration to Sports Watch.

"This year there are various companion programs - RPM, Inside Supercars, Supercars Life plus highlight packages, most of which are multi-play, whether on Network 10 or Fox Sports. This adds complexity to audience scoring and evaluation," Allen says.

"It is a clever deal and delivers V8 Supercars buckets of cash [and] hours of telecasting but we argue less impact and lower audiences - significantly lower audiences."

More will be known after this weekend's racing in the Victorian town of Winton, to be shown exclusively on Fox Sports.