Seven’s Olympic coverage beyond a joke
Roar Rookie By Mohammed Patel, 19 Aug 2008 Mohammed Patel is a Roar Rookie
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- 2008 Olympics, AFL, australian opals, Beijing 2008, Beijing Olympics, Channel 7, Channel Seven, Olympics, opals, Opals Russia, seven
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The Australian Opals basketball team achieved a major milestone in their campaign for gold yesterday, beating Russia in an exciting come-from-behind victory to reach the semi-finals. But while our Aussie girls were competing for their country, Channel Seven’s Olympic broadcast was dumped for the AFL.
“Well done, Channel 7! We missed out on another win by the Opals. We didn’t get to see a brilliant comeback to defeat the Russians in an important round of basketball,” said Cathy Mitchell, an Opals fan from Melbourne.
“I notice there is never a cut away when the American men’s team is playing.”
The network has also been criticised for its lack of live coverage and advertising interruptions.
“The problem with Channel 7 is you don’t know if you are watching something live or replayed. There is so little live coverage, and then when it is live, it’s only on for a short time,” one blogger said.
Meanwhile, upset bloggers on Channel 7′s website called for a boycott of the station.
“I really can’t believe how poorly Channel 7 have covered the Olympics (or not at all as in the case today), please ring and complain,” one angry viewer wrote.
Seven has the exclusive rights to air the Olympics, but a spokesman in Beijing said the broadcast was determined by previous contracts with the AFL.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the network is obliged to air a minimum two and a half hour AFL game every Sunday for five years. But surely the network could have come up with a mutually beneficial agreement between themselves and the AFL to avoid disrupting the Olympic coverage?
If they can’t do it properly, they shouldn’t do it at all.
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- 2008 Olympics, AFL, australian opals, Beijing 2008, Beijing Olympics, Channel 7, Channel Seven, Olympics, opals, Opals Russia, seven
August 19th 2008 @ 9:00am
Harry said | August 19th 2008 @ 9:00am | Report comment
Why can’t 7 assemble a decent half hour highlights package? No slow-mo’s, music and 7 branding with Joanna and the bloke whittering away – don’t know his name but I’ve seen far too much of him. I accept we’ve got to cop a heap of ads but do we further have to have our viewing time of actual sport whittled away by these gibberers?
Last night was a prime example – no proper coverage of our 3 gold medallists actually competing and showing them in action. No replays of the womens 100 or mens 10,000, both events I was very keen to see (No Aussies so no go from 7!). All we got was one of those cringeworthy interviews which are basically an excuse for a panasonic advertorial.
August 19th 2008 @ 9:11am
Blue Sue said | August 19th 2008 @ 9:11am | Report comment
We are very lucky here in Sydney that we have radio 2GB doing a fantastic job of calling as many events live as they can. Last night, whilst the gymnastics was the only viewing on 7, 2GB were calling live the Track and field, softball, equestrian and cycling. At times the events were being shown 45 minutes delayed on 7.
However, get ready rugby fans.
Having checked the TV guide for Saturday, 7 are not showing the rugby test live. The test will be on at 2am after the Olympic events have finished. The AFL obviously pay more than the ARU do for coverage!
Thank goodness we have Foxtel.
August 19th 2008 @ 10:05am
Daniel King said | August 19th 2008 @ 10:05am | Report comment
It is so annoying i agree, if it was live you’d know when to sit down and watch it. To be honest over the weekend i recorded most of it and watched it on fast forward until the event i wanted came on.
Was watching the men’s team sprint in the velodrome on Friday night and channel 7 showed all the heats and the bronze medal run then went back to the studio, the presenter said we’ll be back in the velodrome in a short moment (they never went back that i know of). I wanted to see the final, particularly because there was a Brit team in it. Instead we got gymnastics instead……. you may think “well we don’t have to show Brits” and fair enough you don’t but to rub salt into the wound the GYMNASTICS WAS A REPEAT WITHOUT ANY AUSSIES IN IT EITHER!!!!!!!! But to show all the heats and not the final (it only lasts 45 seconds) is ridiculous and i am sure Aussie cycling fans would have liked to have seen it, doesn’t anyone sit at home and ask “well, who won the gold and silver then?”
I rang 7 to complain and some young girl said she’d pass it on for future reference but you gotta think that it falls onto deaf ears.
London 2012 Channel 9 and Foxtel have got it, press red and choose what you want…….. can’t wait!
August 19th 2008 @ 11:21am
Daniel King said | August 19th 2008 @ 11:21am | Report comment
I don’t think we are lucky to have 2GB at all, it’s packed full of adverts, they were not covering the marathon as i drove to the Central Coast on Sunday and the rest of Australia gets ad free ABC coverage.
It is however better than nothing………………….. just!
August 19th 2008 @ 11:57am
Blue Sue said | August 19th 2008 @ 11:57am | Report comment
I don’t know what marathon you were hoping to hear last Sunday, they haven’t been held yet……perhaps the cycling road race was what you were looking for as that was the closest event to a marathon that was on.
We all accept that the Olympics is a huge event and you cannot cover all events and keep everyone happy. Both channel 7 and 2GB are commercial channels and even SBS, as the complemetary broadcaster, has their fair share of ads and self promotion. However, Channel 7′s over the top self promotion of programs on AFTER the Olympics has been ridiculous. They are flogging these ads in preference to showing events live, and as they refuse to give us viewing times for events, they aren’t even trying to show them live. At least on the radio they are trying to be on the spot and keep you up to date with everything as it happens. The technology that we have today, that allows us to see things instantaneously, would suggest that Channel 7 just aren’t trying. At least 2GB is trying to have all events covered, and in many cases, their commentary, with Nicole Livingstone and Jane Flemming, has been far superior to that on 7.
August 19th 2008 @ 12:28pm
Blue Sue said | August 19th 2008 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
Apologies Daniel. Yes the marathon was on Sunday. Missed it totally as spent the day umpiring on the courts….obviously those relaying highlights of all sports from the sideline didn’t think that it was worth mentioning.
Doesn’t change the fact that 7′s coverage has been sub standard, or that they won’t be showing the rugby live on Saturday evening.
August 19th 2008 @ 12:28pm
Daniel King said | August 19th 2008 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
Blue Sue
The womens marathon was on Sunday, won by a Romanian.
August 19th 2008 @ 1:54pm
matta said | August 19th 2008 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
I love how hard it is for them to tell us what time events are actually on..keep you watch highlights for hours…
August 19th 2008 @ 5:05pm
Zac said | August 19th 2008 @ 5:05pm | Report comment
To weigh into this, we got the following Roar of the crowd submission to the site by Matthew Rankin over the weekend which works best as a comment here I think:
“Is anyone else as annoyed as I am that Channel 7 is not showing the Carlton vs Nth Melbourne match live (Sunday 17th August), and further, not showing a replay at any future time (at least in Sydney)?
If you feel the same, you should do as I did and let them know your feelings. You can contact them on 02 8777 7777 to leave your feedback.
Most AFL fans I know in Sydney are sick to death of the lack of coverage of AFL matches. It’s about time things changed!”
August 19th 2008 @ 6:42pm
mtngry said | August 19th 2008 @ 6:42pm | Report comment
I would be happy with one little thing right now.
IS IT LIVE OR A REPLAY!