Show A-League and Twenty20 on Friday nights

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By Brett McKay, 17 Nov 2009 Brett McKay is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: A-League, Cricket, Cricket Australia, FFA, Football Federation Australia, Fox Sports, Twenty20

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Perth's Wayne Shroj (22) and Sydney's Beau Busch go for the ball during Round 16 of the Hyundai A-League between Sydney FC and Perth Glory in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008. Perth won 4-1. AAP Image/Jenny Evans

It was only when I started scribbling some notes for this week’s column that I realised the errors of my timing. For some time, I have suggested on The Roar that a massive opportunity sits as yet untested for both Football Federation Australia and Cricket Australia.

And I thought this week was time to expand on this idea some more. Except that my timing, in the end, was a bit off.

You see, the week I’ve chosen to write about an idea for increasing the exposure of the A-League (and the domestic Twenty20 cricket “Big Bash”) happens to coincide with the only weekend this side of Christmas where there are no A-League games scheduled.

Irony works in truly funny ways sometimes …

In my humble opinion, FFA and CA have an opportunity to cash in on some now-vacant major prime-time free-to-air television real estate.

With footy fans around the country now scratching their heads about what to watch on a Friday night, with the AFL and NRL competitions run and won, FFA and/or CA should be moving heaven and earth to grab these timeslots.

Surely, a live Friday night A-League or T20 Big Bash game on one of the free-to-air channels is going to be an infinitely better choice for the sports fan than Better Homes &; Gardens, or the inevitable re-runs of Police Academy movies.

In the case of both sports, this Friday night timeslot would be the ideal introduction to viewers in the free-to-air markets to competitions that they have never seen before.

In the case of the A-League, FFA Chairman Frank Lowy has made no secret of his desire to see the A-League on Australian free-to-air television.

The A-League markets itself as being a great summer sport alternative, and makes good use of the timeslots available to them, with every game being broadcast live on Fox Sports.

Further, the A-League has traditionally made good use of the holiday periods too, with a game scheduled this season on December 23, plus two more on Boxing Day evening. Games on New Year’s Eve and Australia Day are also locked in for this season, as has been the case in years previous.

There’s no doubt the A-League is conscious of catering for the both the live crowd, and the viewing public. A live Friday night game on a free-to-air network can only enhance this.

The domestic Twenty20 Cricket competition, the Big Bash, has been around for a similar period to that of the A-League, and has slowly grown in that time.

Where once it was a simple three-game round robin with a one-off Final, this season’s Big Bash series has expanded to a draw where each team plays each other once, a preliminary final, and a Final.

This season’s competition will feature games scheduled for most nights of the week, and runs from December 28 to January 23.

For CA to take advantage of this free-to-air television opportunity, a major re-work of the schedule would be required. But that shouldn’t kill the idea.

Already, ONE HD’s broadcasts of the Indian Premier League, and the recent Champions League T20 – won by NSW in October – has shown that there is already a market for this format of the game on free-to-air TV.

Additionally, Friday night Big Bash games have also been among the highest-viewed Pay-TV programs of the week.

If there needed any more convincing of the merits, the Channel 9 broadcasts of pointless T20 Internationals, and the even-more pointless All-Star game to begin the summer (such as this coming Sunday night), have always been traditionally high rating programmes.

So, if the idea seems logical, what could bring it undone? Well, existing broadcasting contracts with Fox Sports, for one. A bloody big “one”, actually.

Both the FFA and CA have existing deals with Fox through to around 2013, and in the case of CA, this deal was only just renewed at the start of this cricket season.

For either body to take advantage of this vacant Friday night timeslot, some very careful and very clever renegotiations will have to eventuate.

Alternatively, Fox Sports could on-sell the Friday night game to a free-to-air network. Realistically, this is probably the more doable.

Either way, Fox aren’t going to give it up for nothing.

I should add that I am only talking about the Friday night games here; not the entire competition broadcasts (as good as that would be). I’m very aware of the fact that without Fox Sports, neither competition would have come to life as they have.

Certainly in the case of the A-League, it wouldn’t exist at all without Fox Sports buying the broadcast rights.

It just seems to me that this is too good an opportunity not to explore.

On the surface, it looks like a genuine win-win-win-win situation, for both FFA and/or CA, for the free-to-air network bold enough to try it, definitely for the footy fans enduring Better Homes & Gardens, and maybe even for Fox Sports on-selling broadcast rights.

Who knows what such a move might do for either completion? Who knows how many new viewers will start enjoying something they’ve previously never seen? Who knows how much new advertising revenue might materialise? Questions that all deserve an answer.

The first competition to tackle Friday nights in summer might just secure their immediate future. And the network that takes the punt, I suspect they’ll end up with a summer ratings bonanza.

Follow Brett McKay on Twitter: @BMcSport

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The Crowd Says (56) | Page 1 of Comments

Kurt said | November 17th 2009 @ 5:20am | Report comment

“I suspect they’ll end up with a summer ratings bonanza”. This does rather beg the question Brett, if broadcasting 20/20 or A-league is such a brilliant idea why are no FTA networks interested? Yes, yes I know they’re anti-soccer and run by people desperate to delay that sport’s inevitable march to domination of the Australian sporting landscape, but the fact that they’re not interested in interstate cricket either does tend to suggest that maybe the people running these networks have a reasonable idea of what their audience want and are not engaged simply as proxies in the code war.

I’ve often made the point to AFL fans in NSW and QLD and league fans in Vic/SA/WA (and yes I know that the former get a better deal than the latter) that Better Homes & Gardens might bore you senseless but it just so happens that there are plenty of people out there who love it. The final of Masterchef got better ratings than either the AFL or NRL grand finals and the number of people watching live AFL & NRL even in their ‘heartlands’ is invariably less than the total number watching other shows being broadcast at the same time, even for blockbuster games.

So in other words sports fans should stop complaining and pony up the cash for Pay TV if they’re bored on Friday nights in summer.

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- Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:00am | Report comment
  
  Kurt, I thought of two obvious answers to your question. The first was that maybe they are, and we just don’t know about yet, and the second (and probably more likely) was that selling Friday nights seperately probably wasn’t an option when the rights to both comps were initially sold. IN the case of the A-L, I think I’m right in saying they’re still on their original deal with Fox Sports, and as I said above, would not exist without the Fox money. For the Big Bash, I think this comp came about after the domestic cricket moved from 9 to Fox, and so the other networks may not have been able to have a crack even if they wanted to.
  
  Your second paragraph is quite valid, but again, why isn’t this somthing worth trying? Currently it’s no contest for Friday nights, when potentially the viewing numbers could be huge. Advertisers like sports broadcasts because more people see their ads more regularly. It’s literally an untapped market.
  
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Freud of Football said | November 17th 2009 @ 5:37am | Report comment

I see you’ve finally gathered your thoughts here Brett.

The idea certainly has it’s merits. For one, ODI’s don’t begin until January I believe so basically you’ve got a 4-month window with no competition from the established codes. With the sports mad Australian public not to mention a few key figures (you noted that the Big-Bash had some of the highest viewer numbers on Pay TV) it makes sense for one, if not both bodies to try and enter the market.

Football for mine has the advantage for a few reasons. It’s more of a spectator sport than cricket, particularly state cricket and it would, on the whole already attract a larger following than domestic cricket.

Cricket could though, with some smart administration do really well out of it and regain interest in the domestic competitions. T20 is the easiest form to sell, short games with constant breaks for advertisements are ideal for TV so for mine, it’s a matter of who reads the Roar first, CA or the FFA?

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- Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:03am | Report comment
  
  If only it was that simple Freud, a race to read The Roar!!
  
  Reply
  - Freud of Football said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:25am | Report comment
    
    In theory it would be Brett.
    
    Any salesman from the CA could capitilise on the viewer numbers from Pay TV and conclude that putting one game in prime-time a week is going to reap rewards for Fox once the finals come around, with that in mind it wouldn’t take much to twist their arm (or line their pockets) to get a FTA game on a Friday night.
    
    Same goes for football, Fox wants more interest and more subscribers, put a game in a prime-time slot on FTA (figure out the finances afterwards) and in the long turn they will reap the rewards.
    
    Reply
  - Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 7:26am | Report comment
    
    quite true Freud. In trying to find A-League and Big Bash ratings (to very limited success, unfortunately) I was able to find ratings for some weeks, and the Fri night Big Bash game featured as or among the highest rating programmes for that week, often pushing 180,000 viewers. Now 180K viewers on FTA would be quite low, probably not enough to sustain the broadcast, but it’s 180K viewers that FTA cricket broadcast sponsors can’t currently get to.
    
    I hadn’t even considered the increased interest come finals time, which would indeed force people over to Fox Sports. Fox win again!
    
    There’s also another angle to this which came up in conversation with a mate yesterday. My theory is that Foxtel maybe isn’t that far off their peak uptake. Why are we seeing so many Foxtel ads and deals currently?? To entice people who’ve dropped it back, and to create the illusion that it’s cheaper for those that haven’t had it. In reality the prices haven’t changed, and most people who want it already have it. So Fox Sports can’t really grow its audience much more than it already is.
    
    Fox has enabled the A-L and Big bash to become what they are, but they’ve now reached the point where Fox are almost holding them back too. Friday night FTA coverage for either or both comps, on the other hand, instantly adds NEW viewers numbering the hundreds of thousands. It’d almost be like finding another entire Fox Sports audience, and that’s why I think this idea make sense. ONE HD’s ratings have been so low, only ABC2 and SBS2 is below them. That’s because of the lack of local content, pure and simple. Start increasing the amount of local sport (instead of the US College football like I saw yesterday), and that’ll grow in a real hurry.
    
    When you’re sending your resume to CA, attach this discussion to hit – you could hit the ground running!!
    
    Reply
    - M1tch said | November 17th 2009 @ 10:17am | Report comment
      
      http://www.astra.org.au/news_archive.asp
      
      Big bash really dominates aleague ratings
      
      Reply
    - Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 10:22am | Report comment
      
      Mitch, I never suggested it did, what makes you say that??
      
      By the way, are referring us to a particular report there, or just ASTRA’s entire news archive since 2002??
      
      Reply
      - M1tch said | November 17th 2009 @ 10:24am | Report comment
        
        No no, just meaning that the big bash would be the option FTA networks would probably go for.
        Theres a couple from late dec 08 and jan 09 which have the ratings.
        
        http://www.astra.org.au/content/pdf/MediaReleases/ASTRA-Ratings-for-Week-081221.pdf
        http://www.astra.org.au/content/pdf/MediaReleases/ASTRA-Ratings-for-Week-081228.pdf
        http://www.astra.org.au/content/pdf/MediaReleases/ASTRA-Ratings-for-Week-090104.pdf
        http://www.astra.org.au/content/pdf/MediaReleases/ASTRA-Ratings-for-Week-090111.pdf
        http://www.astra.org.au/content/pdf/MediaReleases/ASTRA-Ratings-for-Week-090118.pdf – for the final
        
        Reply
      - Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 10:38am | Report comment
        
        thanks for the clarification Mitch. Those reports includes some that I did find when writing this, and that I alluded to in replies to Freud above. So in all five of those reports you’ve listed, a Big Bash game appears in the top 10 programmes, and four of them have a BB game at no.1. Two of those No.1s are Friday night games. One of the No.1 Fri night reports (the 2nd or 3rd on the list) includes a Fri Night A-L game about halfway down the list.
        
        I suspect you’re right, the Big Bash could well be the better option. Be interesting to see what this Sunday night’s All Star T20 rates like for Ch9, it’d be a fair indicator of interest in a domestic T20 game..
        
        Reply
        
        M1tch said | November 17th 2009 @ 10:53am | Report comment
        
        cant final ratings for last years, i would assume it would get at least 1 mil
        friday night sport is the go, 20/20 fits in perfectly
    - Freud of Football said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:34pm | Report comment
      
      Ah Brett, you’ve entered Freud’s favourite territory, off-the-field issues.
      
      I haven’t worked in the TV industry but I can imagine how Foxtel works, at least the principle behind the business and I’d imagine there is no “cap” in place, imaginary or otherwise as to how many people they can attract to their service.
      
      The management will know that Australia is a “limited” market but they’ll also know that their current subscription numbers can be improved upon, your statement of “Fox Sports can’t really grow its audience much more than it already is” would get you fired if you worked there. Yes they can and yes they will.
      
      They will simply have to move with the times, offer more for less, look at utilising the internet and try and do some educated guessing on the future of sports which means predicting trends of which sports will boom in Australia (they’re on a winner in football), how the different business models are changing and find additional business, perhaps they’ll look at affiliating with some of their advertising partners on a more performance orientated payment basis, I don’t know what their plans are but I can assure you, they will never plateau, it’s a Murdoch company, he didn’t get where he is by resting on his laurels and he wouldn’t have someone in charge of a company like that that didn’t have hunger.
      
      Reply
      - Brett McKay said | November 18th 2009 @ 7:22am | Report comment
        
        Freud, I probably should have added the cover-all “in their current structure” to my ‘can’t really grow’ comment. They will of course do whatever it takes to increase subscription numbers over time, but sooner or later they will have to make things more enticing. Pay-per-view instantly comes to mind, for people who really only want to watch their footy team once a week.
        
        Reply
AndyRoo said | November 17th 2009 @ 8:53am | Report comment

I liked this idea ever since you first brought it up briefly on another thread.

Live Friday night football but only one game a week would be the perfect hook for Fox

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TV Viewer said | November 17th 2009 @ 8:57am | Report comment

I’m a little mystified by your article Brett, are you aware of how TV stations work?

They put on content that people will want to watch! To get the advertising dollars in through the door.

Frankly, putting either of these sports live-to-air on a Friday night would be a ratings disaster – the A-League or Cricket Australia would have to pay the networks to broadcast these sports free-to-air in such a timeslot.

Having said that, the proliferation of digital TV does provide an alternative, and it is possible that someone like ONEHD could broadcast these sports – however, ONEHD pay peanuts for all the sports they broadcast, I am very sceptical in the extreme that either sport would enjoy a ratings “bonanza” as you call it – however, that will come back to how you define “bonanza”

Also, as you mention – both sports are tied to FoxSports until 2013 – given FoxSports is fighting these very same FreeTV channels to grab viewers, I highly doubt that onsell these rights to these games to their competition – unless they thought they were getting a good price. Given the aforementioned problem that the FreeTV channels would have in selling this content and getting advertising, I don’t think they’ll come anywhere near to offering Fox what they’d want for the rights.

Given that, in my book its a non-starter – at least until 2013/2014. At that point, yes it could well be possible, however, the broadcasting landscape may have changed considerably by then, so who knows?

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Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 9:10am | Report comment

Yep, exactly, Andy, it’s just Friday nights we’re talking about. For how much longer can it be ignored??

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Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 9:38am | Report comment

TV, I have to say I’m just as mystified by your post. Initially you declare my idea a non-starter, you agree with things I’ve written, and then end by suggesting it could be possible??

I’m just as surprised that on a sports website, you’d suggest no-one would want to watch sport on a Friday night over summer, just as they have been over footy season. If you enjoy BH&G, that’s fine, you don’t have to tune in. This is just a suggestion that the opportunity exists for A summer sport to push for the vacant Friday night timeslot on a SINGLE FTA channel.

But perhaps you’re right, maybe I don’t know how TV works. I mean, why would a commercial channel want to bring in new untried programmes over summer to test them out to audiences and advertisers, that’d be madness….

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AndyRoo said | November 17th 2009 @ 10:06am | Report comment

Obviously I would watch the HAL but I do that already so it’s a bad example.

I guess a fair comparison would be AFL for me, it’s not my favorite sport but I watch the highlights and catch a quarter here and there, when I am in the car I will listen to the game on the radio.

Say if they played AFL on a Friday Night in summer I reckon I would end up watching a few full games. I wouldn’t watch every week because of the time of year but if I was watching TV on a Friday night (and ahd the remote) I would tune if for at least the start and see where that leads. I am guessing that is likely the sort of approach you would get from non HAL fans to if the product was on FTA.

At the moment they would be “meh” but put it on and up against summer tv or with a cold beer on a balmy night it might click.

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Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 10:15am | Report comment

There’s another angle to this as well, and that is the outcomes of the current review of the anti-syphoning list. Currently neither the A-League nor the Big Bash are on the ASL, but mainly as they were created after the last ASL was drawn up.

IF, and this is a big ‘if’, the ASL review decides that some but not all the A-L (for eg) should be shown on FTA networks, then the Friday night idea becomes more plausible too. The sudden popularity of T20 cricket might have the same effect for the Big Bash.

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Benjamin Conkey said | November 17th 2009 @ 10:52am | Report comment

Brett your argument certainly has weight. As Kurt alluded to in the first comment, the problem with football is the FTA dislike of the sport. As I mentioned in an article at the start of the year FTA networks underestimate the audience for football.
Andy Harper came to our university and spoke about when he was working at Channel Nine for the 2002 World Cup.
Nine bought the rights hoping Australia would qualify. When they didn’t the executives were so pissed off that they would have to push the rugby league back to “Show this joke of a World Cup”. But every match Channel Nine showed had massive ratings. I know a World Cup is different to A-League..but it just shows that you can’t assume what the audience wants to watch. I think Channel 10 is the best bet with ONE HD…They tend to give sports a chance.

As for cricket. I agree Sunday night’s match is pointless, but it will dominate ratings, probably bigger than any 60 Minutes show this year.
I remember someone on the Roar talking about having a FA Cup style 20-20 tournament with all the first grade clubs in Australia eligble (perhaps restrict it to major areas). They did it in England, and I think it would work here. Then a FTA network could screen the finals.

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- Chook said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:56pm | Report comment
  
  Im sure that there were others but the FFA Cup was my idea.
  
  And I will bang on about it again and again till it happens.
  
  Get the final 10 game with the A-League teams in the local tele.
  
  I played in the UK in a lower Non League Divisions and found it awesome to think that we were part of a FA cup although we didnt get any where a mate of mine did and played Leicester city and got flogged 6 – 0 but it was the best and biggest crowd he has ever played to.
  
  What is does is connect the State Leagues with the A- League. Its an easy way to set it up all 10 A- leagues get automatic promotion.
  
  Then 10 spots are for every FFA register club in the country in a play off type comp. Spots are as follows – 2 VIc , 2 NSW, 1 QLD, 1 WA, 1 SA, 1 Can, 1 NT / TAS. or even include a NZ team or even rotate the spots. Play offs can take part of the regular season and may take 2 years to complete for the State Leagues.
  
  Imagine Redland City Devils play Sydney F.C and then get the replay game because of a draw. Then get a home game to play SFC at home imagine the crowd. 3000 all howling for Redlands. it will be awesome and generate a real interest in the A – League. We know a couple thing about football in Australia and that is that there are more than 610,000 register players. Who play every week. We know that there is a massive following for the Socceroos in fact 6.5 million people got up at 3.30am in the morning to watch them play Croatia. Dont tell me people dont follow football we just have to engage them at a local level what better way to connect with a game of football.
  
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  - M1tch said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:59pm | Report comment
    
    I think its a great idea, I’ve been wanting similar for the NRL too.
    
    Reply
  - Freud of Football said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:25pm | Report comment
    
    Has anyone considered the impossibility of an FA Cup styled comp in Aus?
    
    Infrastructure is non-existant, local clubs already have to travel great distances to play matches in their local leagues, how are advancing teams going to afford and be able to coordinate these games?
    
    Sorry but it will never work in Aus. Europe is compact, you travel a few minutes to the next town, in Aus it can take hours, driving interstate can take a day, the idea of an FA-Cup style comp would be great for Football, AFL even, cricket possibly but it is a mere pipedream.
    
    Reply
Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 11:06am | Report comment

Thanks Conks. I deliberately didn’t say “Channel X should show…” because to be honest, I don’t really care which network takes the punt, but ONE would be the obvious candidate for sure, especailly given their lack of Australian content (which I’m sure will change over time). I do recall reading at one stage this year that Nine and Fox were allegedly “well in advance” in talks about showing one (maybe two) game a week, but I can’t recall if that was live or delayed, or even what night. Nine has/had their Future Football Superstars (title?) show with Stephanie Brantz, and if anything, seem to be showing A-League news fairly regularly, “Tim” Verbeek references aside.

Just on your T20 “Cup” with first grade clubs, you might have come across the SCG Cup in your travels (has also been known as the Country Cup, and NRMA Cup), which is a one-day knockout comp among all the First Grade clubs from Newcastle, Wollongong, Central Coast and Canberra, along with the district rep sides from country NSW. The round of 16, QFs and SFs are played between somewhere (has been Dubbo, Parkes, Tamworth, Newcastle) between Christmas and NY, and the Final is played at the SCG in late January.

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- Working Class Rugger said | November 17th 2009 @ 11:54am | Report comment
  
  Brett
  
  I actually like the idea of Friday Night 20/20 in the summer. Would be a fanastic way to advertise our state cricketers. From memory the Big Bash actually rates rather well on Fox so if a FTA channel picked it up it could be a real hit. Some may allude to the less than blockbuster ratings for the IPL but I don’t know about you but I cannot relate to the Delhi Daredevil’s regardless of how many Aussie’s they have. If NSW or even a Sydney team were playing the Bulls or Brisbane I’d be able to get behind them. I would also go as far as saying the Big Bash is a better product than the IPL if you take into account that the Semi-Finals of the T20 Champions League had both NSW and VIC facing off. If they ended up on opposite sudes of the draw it could well have been an all Aussie final.
  
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  - Fisher Price said | November 17th 2009 @ 3:48pm | Report comment
    
    Working Class Rugger: an oxymoron surely?
    
    Reply
- Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:01pm | Report comment
  
  Cheers WCR. Mitch provided some ratings reports above, in in that you can see Friday night T20s are consistently toward the top of the ratings for that week. There’s no reason why that wouldn’t replicate over the FTA channels. Re the IPL, I seem to recall Ten expressing pleasant suprise how well the IPL rates, and likewise more recently for the CLT20. The market’s definitely there..
  
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  - Working Class Rugger said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:12pm | Report comment
    
    Brett
    
    I think the Big Bash being on PayTV is a big disadvantage. Although the platform has been good to the T20 format its far to restrictive. From what I have read and witnessed whenever a T20 match is broadcast on FTA they tend to rate very well. Which is to be expected as Cricket is the National game. There is absolutley no reason why a domestic T20 Championship as long as it isn’t overdone couldn’t emulate those ratings on a regular basis. It would definitely bring our domestic scene back into focus. As for the IPL. I wasn’t aware of Tens sentiment toward the ratings for the IPL. But still many would have avoided watching due to the time difference and lack of relatability.
    
    Reply
  - Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
    
    completely agree WCR, and that’s exactly why I’m suggesting Friday nights only, so as not to overexpose. If the whole Big Bash series came over onto FTA, it would do well to last a full season with all games telecast live. Crowds at the games would no doubt be affected too. But Johnny 14 and his brother Tommy 12 watching the game on Friday night on FTA might then start hounding mum and dad to go the Sat night game in their city. As mentioned above too, increased interest in the Fri night games gives Fox massive promotion for its’ weekend coverage, and for the final too.
    
    And see my comments above to Freud about my thoughts on Fox possibly nearing its’ peak exposure.
    
    Ten’s surprise about the IPL and CLT20 ratings were largely on the back of the unfortunate time difference, if I recall correctly. They were suggesting much more people watched games into the night and early morning than they expected.
    
    Reply
    - Working Class Rugger said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
      
      Brett
      
      If having the match of the round on FTA could get more to the non-televised game then its certianly worth it.
      
      Reply
- Freud of Football said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:39pm | Report comment
  
  Surely you would care Brett which channel picked up the A-League or Cricket on FTA on a friday night slot.
  
  I know I would find it hard to watch the cricket anywhere else other than Channel 9. I love hearing the familiar voices every summer and people like Greg Blewett who get commentary jobs overseas simply aren’t up to the standard I expect, but those are the kind of guys you’d get calling the games on Channel 7 or OneHD.
  
  As for football, well you have an even bigger problem. The commentary on Fox is derisory, I can’t see how a channel that isn’t dedicated to sport that has no considerable invest in the game would do any better.
  
  I am totally in agreement that one of the games must come to FTA on Friday nights, but not to the detriment of the game. If it comes, it must be a quality package, quality entertainment, not a hodge-podge for the sake of cash.
  
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  - Brett McKay said | November 17th 2009 @ 7:19pm | Report comment
    
    Freud, I am in agreement with you about the quality of production etc, and using the cricket example, any other network would indeed have to at least meet the high standards Nine have set over the years. But also, having listened to a lot of ABC Radio, and even watching the international commentary for events like the World Cup, there’s some good callers out there. Plenty of people didn’t like Nasser Hussein during The Ashes, but I didn’t mind him. Greg Blewett isn’t too bad considering he’s been in the gig for what, two years?? I quite like Damien Fleming and Michael Slater too. But then, there’s Tony Greig….
    
    I actually can’t comment too much on the A-L becuase I don’t see a lot of it. I do like Simon Hill as a commentator though, so if any other network used their own callers, Hill is my benchmark. (Of course, another option for this idea is a simulcast of the Fox telecast – then you could have Simon Hill himself. Plenty of AFL games in NSW and Qld involve Fox simulcasts, by the way, so it could be done)
    
    But as long as the production is good, I don’t particularly care which watermark is in the top corner, no…
    
    Reply