Channel Nine ‘Still the One’ for ruining sports coverage
Roar Pro By Benjamin Conkey, 19 Jul 2009 Benjamin Conkey is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- British Open, Channel 9, Golf, sports coverage
I know many out there say “just get pay television if you want to watch sport.” But some sporting events should be left sacred for as long as possible – like the British Open.
Channel Nine has once again let down sport lovers, with one of the most bizarre and ridiculous scheduling decisions of all-time.
Despite having the free-to-air rights for the British Open, the network has decided not to show the tournament live. It’s the equivalent of buying a Ferrari and leaving it in the garage to gather dust.
It follows similar questionable decisions to not show sport live, including the World Club challenge between Manly and Leeds, which was on at 5am. Instead the network showed a replay the next night at around midnight.
Also the Wimbledon coverage, where Nine pretended to show a Stosur match live, while crossing to Lleyton Hewitt’s match. The phony coverage was expertly uncovered by Media Watch.
Now, back to The British Open.
Channel Nine director of sport Steve Crawley was quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying “it’s a difficult situation, the fact is, the British Open doesn’t really work on free-to-air.”
What a load of bullocks. The event finishes around 4am each round.
Surely Nine has room in their graveyard timeslot for live sport?
I understand that golf isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it’s a bit better than selling fancy sponges and abdominal exercise equipment on looped American infomercials. Or playing an old movie or re-run of Matlock.
What makes the decision by Nine even more ridiculous, and contradicts everything Steve Crawley says, is that the network will show highlights of the tournament from around midnight!
So the other night we were able to witness the highlights from the first day of the Open, while the second round was underway.
If the British Open doesn’t work on FTA, why is Nine showing it at all?
And also what is the point of having a High Definition channel if you don’t use it? Nine puts the AFL Footy Show on at 9:30pm on HD for Queensland and NSW viewers, so they don’t have to wait up to watch. Wouldn’t it seem logical to utilise the HD service for golf?
The cynic in me says a sneaky cash payment could have been made by Foxtel to Nine to prevent them from showing the event live.
Something like that must have happened, because it just doesn’t make sense why Nine would pull out at the last minute, when it doesn’t affect their prime-time programs.
I’m hoping an Australian wins The Open more than ever now. It will be karma for a network that used to be ‘switched on’ when covering sport. To get the network back to where it used to be (i.e. ‘Still the One’), executives should start asking the question: What would Kerry Packer do?
Clearly he wouldn’t give up a premier sporting event like the British Open, especially when one has the rights to show it live.
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- Explore:
- British Open, Channel 9, Golf, sports coverage
July 20th 2009 @ 12:19pm
Phil said | July 20th 2009 @ 12:19pm | Report comment
Maybe someone at 9 was monitoring complaints on ROAR and other forums, and saw the light! I’d managed to find a free live feed of American ABC and was settling in for a few hours in front of the computer screen. Later, I checked out the Cricket and the Tour on TV and there was the live Golf, complete with the usual superfluous “host” checking in after each ad break. Nevertheless, congrats to 9 for putting it on. Very sad to watch Tom Watson miss out in the play off, especially having to stay up another hour to witness his ignominious demise to the curiously suntanned S Cink.
July 20th 2009 @ 12:44pm
Benjamin Conkey said | July 20th 2009 @ 12:44pm | Report comment
Phil, Really? How strange. If only I knew..I too was searching for an internet feed. I wonder if they advertised that they were showing the last round live?
Do you know who was hosting?
Poor Tom Watson…looks like there is a curse for older players winning major championships in the modern era.
July 20th 2009 @ 1:26pm
Phil said | July 20th 2009 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
Benjamin, you may have been the catalyst for 9′s change of heart! I’m not sure what 9 was up to in the lead-up to live coverage, maybe we’ll find out in due season. However, they did keep running banner apologies for suspension of advertised programs. I didn’t recognise the (unseen, local) host’s voice, although he had passing knowledge of the game. My computer savvy son advises that free feeds of most things are out there somewhere!
Watson’s loss will go down in golf folklore. He was very unlucky on the last and then limp in the play-off after a great drive on the first of four play-off holes.
July 20th 2009 @ 5:28pm
Benjamin Conkey said | July 20th 2009 @ 5:28pm | Report comment
Sorry didn’t see your comment there Aussie Golfer. What is going on at Nine land? They obviously didn’t tell anyone that they were showing the last round live…because the online TV guide still had “highlights” for last night.
Maybe they wanted to see how many people would tune in without any advertising of live coverage…in some sort of test…
Thanks for your comments Phil. I’d love to think an article like this could change a Channel Nine executive’s mind, but I doubt it.
Then again The Roar editors know all about ‘Search Engine Optimisation’. I typed in ‘Channel Nine Golf’ on Google and my article was the first that came up..so I guess it is possible that someone at Nine read this!
July 20th 2009 @ 5:32pm
Benjamin Conkey said | July 20th 2009 @ 5:32pm | Report comment
You obviously know about ‘SEO’ too Aussie Golfer…I saw your article after mine on Google.
July 9th 2010 @ 7:42pm
Mike said | July 9th 2010 @ 7:42pm | Report comment
Hi there, I know it’s been a year since anyone has commented on this forum, but I just thought that I’d check the online tv guide to see if good old channel 9 was going to show the British Open live next weekend. Well, guess what? They aren’t showing it live! Just the old one hour of highlights like what they did for the first three days last year. I am hoping (probably in vain) that they will at least show the final round live like they did last year. Channel nine really deserves to lose the rights to this event….
July 15th 2011 @ 5:11pm
Barry Collins said | July 15th 2011 @ 5:11pm | Report comment
If Channel nine has the rights to show British Open Golf on free TV, why is it not happening. It is disgraceful to show 30 year old movies instead. There are many who cannot afford, to pay for it on Fox. You completely disregard pensioners and those who do not have the means to pay. Does Channel nine have a financial interest in Fox. There are many people who will be hurt by your decision to withhold showing this very important event, thus preventing other channels which may be interested in showing it. Whatever happened to the Governments anti syphoning legislation, designed I believe, to prevent this dog in a manger attitude. Shame, Channel nine