During The World Game, SBS broadcast an advertisement during the football show for a rugby Test they are broadcasting against Wales.
I was both surprised and delighted.
SBS do a excellent job when they broadcast sport. The Tour De France is almost a must-watch, and when they broadcast the cricket their presentation was first rate. Not to mention SBS broadcasting of football, which is excellent as well.
From the SBS ad, they plan to show the game live in the wee small hours, with a repeat in prime time later that night. What would normally be hidden away on pay TV will be made extremely available on a free-to-air broadcast.
The challenge to SBS is what sort of job they do, and whether they can do it better than Seven or Nine. Another question will be whether most people know that SBS are broadcasting the match and the replay later that night.
I’m not sure if I will watch the match live, but will certainly watch the replay. Moreover I will enjoy seeing what sort of job SBS can do.
The Australian Rugby Union should be given some credit for testing the water, as SBS could be an excellent broadcaster of the lower-profile rugby matches. Pacific island teams and some of the lesser European teams spring to mind.
In return, SBS could in return get a rugby audience to watch some of their excellent non-sporting programming.
All in all, this will be a very interesting space to watch.
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November 29th 2011 @ 7:21am
The Cattery said | November 29th 2011 @ 7:21am | Report comment
Is it exclusively on SBS or on both Fox and SBS?
In all honesty, you don’t really want a Government broadcaster becoming your main broadcaster – nothing sends the message of atrophy quicker than relying overly on Government broadcasters.
November 29th 2011 @ 10:20am
Whites said | November 29th 2011 @ 10:20am | Report comment
It’s on both.
I take that back. Doesn’t seem to be on Fox Sports.
November 29th 2011 @ 1:15pm
cm said | November 29th 2011 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
I just double-checked the Foxtel guide. Seems they’re replaying the game at 19:30 EST this Sunday, and it’s the only replay. But I swear I saw it scheduled for live broadcast also.
Weird, since they broadcast the Barbarians game live and had two replays last Sunday. Does this mean Fox doesn’t rate a real Test when compared to a Baa Baas frolic?
I think Fox or SBS could do a lot for the game by showing English Premiership and Heineken Cup games. I believe ESPN will show the Six Nations again early next year.
November 29th 2011 @ 11:34am
Bakkies said | November 29th 2011 @ 11:34am | Report comment
Rugby is broadcast on tax payer funded channels in France, Ireland and the UK so don’t see what your problem is. SBS is more likely to guarantee full nationwide coverage then Nine, Ten and 7. It’s a win win for Rugby fans. If the ABC wasn’t stuck in the 80s it could broadcast Rugby again too. It can’t continue to rely on televising grass roots stuff mainly as it needs to be a more relevant sports broadcaster.
November 29th 2011 @ 1:00pm
Matthew Skellett said | November 29th 2011 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Really Catts? Look at the diabolically poor performance good ol’ private enterprise did with the Channel Nine coverage for the RWC -can’t get any worse than that
and be blessed 
November 29th 2011 @ 9:46pm
mango jack said | November 29th 2011 @ 9:46pm | Report comment
Agreed. It could not possibly be worse than Nine’s abysmal effort in RWC
November 29th 2011 @ 10:34pm
The Cattery said | November 29th 2011 @ 10:34pm | Report comment
Guys, I’m sure the coverage will be good, that’s not my point.
in the history of sports coverage (in Australia), on govt broadcasters, you will not find an example where taxpayer funded coverage has bought prosperity to a sport.
So, my advice to all sports is this: apart from niche products like women’s sport, youth sport, local sport, or anything else that has a limited market, never, ever view the govt broadcasters as a financial bonanza, or something upon which to build a long term business model.
Genaerally speaking, one would go out of one’s way to avoid them.
Where your sport is not reliant on any financial return locally, eg soccer WC and tour de France, then sit back and enjoy.
November 30th 2011 @ 11:27am
zhenry said | November 30th 2011 @ 11:27am | Report comment
Absolute doctrinal rubbish.
Rely on Govt TV for prosperity, as if private TV brings prosperity. For the few. Privatise is the magic bullet? C..p. What do you mean by prosperity? Getting the game out there to the public free is the way for prosperity. As pointed out Channel 9’s record is abysmal on Union because it is controlled by the advertisers. What’s prosperous about Channel 9’s record for the general Union fan? And again as pointed out look at the countries that prosper by Public TV broadcasts.
Look at Super Rugby, it loses money. TV rights and making Murdoch fat is the only thing that is going for it (and a whole lot of other things for AU which won’t pursue here). By prosperous you no doubt mean TV rights. Public broadcasting pay Broadcasting Rights (BR) not the blown up amounts of private broadcasters but look what the private broadcasters do with it? The overall balance of public broadcasting has a much better mix and broader base of prosperity and is attested by the number of countries that use it.
Back to your cats please.
November 29th 2011 @ 8:13am
Midfielder said | November 29th 2011 @ 8:13am | Report comment
TC
No idea if its on Fox as well…
However SBS ratings for sport are quite good…
They have a huge audience for the Tour De France, they won the rating when they broadcast the cricket and their Socceroo and WC broadcast have excellent ratings…
Its a one off I guess but i don’t see the problem in having them broadcast some matches…
November 29th 2011 @ 8:20am
The Cattery said | November 29th 2011 @ 8:20am | Report comment
Midfielder
What SBS pays for high rating sports such as the WC and Tour de France are a drop in the ocean of what those sports are making from their overall rights deals, but as soon as a domestic competition has to rely on a Government broadcaster, it generally spells impoverishment for that sport.
This is just a general observation.
No professional sports in Australia are currently relying on a government broadcaster for their prosperity.
With most of the Olympic sports, incapable of earning a brass razoo between them, have to go to government cap in hand each and every year, and hope like hell that Australians still place a lot of store in winning medals.
November 29th 2011 @ 8:37am
B-Rock said | November 29th 2011 @ 8:37am | Report comment
I disagree – as long as SBS is your secondary broadcaster, as Midfielder says above, for less important games. Any time a match is shown on free to air (any station) when it otherwise wouldnt be, is a win for the sport in my book.
There is a raft of quality rugby not being shown in Australia which could be shown on SBS or ABC, mainly from the NH, which is well suited to the SBS demographic. I assume they will be getting the Welsh commentary feed rather than putting their own commentators on the ground, so it will be cheap to show – a model which could work for several other games each season.
Your general observation has an element of chicken and egg to it – they only come to rely on the Govt owned broadcaster once all commercial stations have turned down the sport, so are already in a dire situation. ABC and SBS do not have a negative impact on the sports, but they are only involved (as primary broadcasters) once the sports are already in decline. Rugby relies on Fox, not the SBS which isnt ideal (of course you would prefer a NRL/AFL commercial station deal) but I dont think it spells impoverishment either.
November 29th 2011 @ 10:47am
clipper said | November 29th 2011 @ 10:47am | Report comment
B-Rock, you raise a good point re the demographics. A lot of the Rugby people would be used to watching SBS or ABC, so it’s not as the same as some other sports on nine where you would have to drag them away from Jersey Shore or some Kardashian saga.
November 30th 2011 @ 12:36am
Mike said | November 30th 2011 @ 12:36am | Report comment
The point about quality rugby from different sources is well made. I think it could only help the game in Australia to give exposure to e.g. NH matches on FTA.
November 29th 2011 @ 9:53am
Midfielder said | November 29th 2011 @ 9:53am | Report comment
TC
As I understand it every major sporting event SBS run make them huge profits… they use the profit from their sports shows to pay for some of their other programming…
However this is getting way off the topic….
November 29th 2011 @ 10:35pm
The Cattery said | November 29th 2011 @ 10:35pm | Report comment
What SBS makes is not the point
November 29th 2011 @ 11:37am
Bakkies said | November 29th 2011 @ 11:37am | Report comment
Rugby doesn’t rely on FTA to finance Rugby in Australia. It’s more for coverage than money. Foxsports and News Corp are the main bankroller for the ARU.
November 30th 2011 @ 12:52am
The Cattery said | November 30th 2011 @ 12:52am | Report comment
Agreed.
But I would add, to look to the government broadcasters is a retrograde step.
As far as TV broadcasting go, you will not find a single Australian sport that has got any long term advantage (in terms of growth) by being shown on the taxpayer funded stations – not one.
The general idea, at least what we learn from the last 50 years of TV sports broadcasting is that once you move away from the government stations, you never look back.
The long term goal is to leave them behind – not to return to them.
Obviously there is no harm in a one off telecast – but I would not view a return back to the government broadcaster in a big way as anything other than a retrograde step to be avoided at all costs.
November 30th 2011 @ 11:39am
zhenry said | November 30th 2011 @ 11:39am | Report comment
Private broadcasters make money for what is deemed popular. Thats how they make their money, for tham selves and their advertisers. ” ..you will not find a single Australian sport that has got any long term advantage (in terms of growth) by being shown on the taxpayer funded stations..” On what basis do you make that statement? Getting the game out there to the most number of public is what public broadcasting does and that has masive long term benefits for that game. It is not measured on TV rights only. Making God like absolute statements in favor of the present economic system is not going to save it.
November 30th 2011 @ 12:50pm
Bakkies said | November 30th 2011 @ 12:50pm | Report comment
I suggest you look at the ratings that rugby generates for the BBC in the UK and RTE in Ireland then come back to me. RTE nearly got a million viewers in a population 4.5 million for the Ireland v Italy RWC game which was played at breakfast time. Put rugby on SBS with nationwide coverage, ad free (bar half time obviously), proper commentators on prime time. You will be surprised at how it will rate.
November 29th 2011 @ 9:58am
Harryonthecoast said | November 29th 2011 @ 9:58am | Report comment
Yes SBs has a good record and their commentators are normally very good and unbiased. Not like the Fox Cheer Squad!!! How much longer will we have to put up with Kearns and Martin? Kafer is fine and gets better each game. Kearns has no idea which is surprising as was a good footballer. When asked by Martin “What happened in that scrum Kearnsy?” there is invariable silence. He just doesn’t know about scrums and he was a Wallaby hooker!! He3 does see offsides though, and just about every forward is offside in his view.
Sorry, but they are bloody hopeless!!
November 29th 2011 @ 12:51pm
sunshine said | November 29th 2011 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
Sorry but was that “he doesn’t know about scrums cause he was a Wallaby hooker”… hehe
November 29th 2011 @ 8:32am
Atawhai Drive said | November 29th 2011 @ 8:32am | Report comment
Fox Sports’ utterly woeful online TV guide has nothing to suggest the Test will be shown on pay-TV. Likewise the IQ2 on-screen program guide contains no reference to Fox coverage.
So it seems SBS will have this one to themselves, which is an interesting but not unprecedented development. SBS showed a Wallabies-Italy Test at the end of 1988. As I recall, they did it quite well.
November 29th 2011 @ 11:39am
Bakkies said | November 29th 2011 @ 11:39am | Report comment
Ring them up or check the ARU website for tv coverage details. It probably has to do with getting the feed from the UK. Haven’t a clue in who is showing it in the UK and Ireland. Setanta did this with the Munster v Australia match put it on last minute with little advertising.
November 29th 2011 @ 1:00pm
RedsNut said | November 29th 2011 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
See my post at the end for TV broadcasts
December 1st 2011 @ 1:16pm
Funk said | December 1st 2011 @ 1:16pm | Report comment
The online Foxsports TVGuide says that they will be showing the game live 1:15am.
November 29th 2011 @ 8:43am
Brett McKay said | November 29th 2011 @ 8:43am | Report comment
Middie, this is excellent news, the Barbarians game wasn’t shown on FTA at all on Sunday morning.
Interestingly Cattery & Atawhai, the ARU site suggests it will be on SBS only. Fox Sports 2 was listed for the BaaBaas game, but not for the Wales game, which would be a major surprise if that’s the case..
November 29th 2011 @ 1:04pm
drop kick said | November 29th 2011 @ 1:04pm | Report comment
The ARU site now has fox sport listed with channel TBA.
November 29th 2011 @ 9:05am
oikee said | November 29th 2011 @ 9:05am | Report comment
We’ve removed this comment oikee, despite the quite polite comments from our Roarers below. Please don’t start this kind of discussion here. Thanks, Roar Mods.
November 29th 2011 @ 9:30am
Brett McKay said | November 29th 2011 @ 9:30am | Report comment
Oiks, I reckon this ethics path is one you don’t really want to go down….
November 29th 2011 @ 9:53am
Rickety Knees said | November 29th 2011 @ 9:53am | Report comment
Oikee maaate, common on – you have to admit that Rugby is on a vertical upwards climb and with now being played in the Olympics – the climb will only get steeper. Be magnaminous and give credit where it is due.
November 29th 2011 @ 10:08am
Midfielder said | November 29th 2011 @ 10:08am | Report comment
RK
Myabe rugby is making some people are a little worried ….
November 29th 2011 @ 10:35am
HardcorePrawn said | November 29th 2011 @ 10:35am | Report comment
Oikee, I really don’t understand your issue with this: “Rugby is not for FTA consumption” Really? On what basis? Can I assume that you’re not a rugby fan, in which case, why bother commenting on, or even reading this article?
As for the FTA coverage itself, take a look at the UK, I don’t hear any complaints from over there regarding coverage of rugby being on FTA:
The Six Nations are broadcast live on the BBC – and that’s all matches, not just those that involve the British teams, a France-Italy game gets the same coverage as a Wales-England, can you imagine a SA-Argentina match on Channel Nein? No, neither can I. Then the World Cup (again, all matches, none of that picking and choosing business that so blighted FTA coverage here), and highlights of both the Premiership and the Heineken Cup are on ITV. Admittedly ITV flounder a bit with sports coverage, they always have, but at least they show the tournaments that they’ve forked out for, not just bury it in case it affects the audience for their other shows.
Personally I reckon that SBS showing the Wales match is great news, they do have an excellent track record with sports, and unlike the commercial networks can be trusted to not shove adverts into the match at every opportunity.
November 29th 2011 @ 6:33pm
Bakkies said | November 29th 2011 @ 6:33pm | Report comment
One of SBS or ABC used to show a UK highlights program early in the 90s from the English premiership and a bit of stuff from Wales
November 29th 2011 @ 9:57am
David Stratton said | November 29th 2011 @ 9:57am | Report comment
Margaret this is wonderful news. Those rugby boys going hard at it in the wee small hours, then to follow it up with a sensual european epic, starring Gina, or Catherine, or Sophia. What a double play, I just can’t wait
November 29th 2011 @ 10:52am
HardcorePrawn said | November 29th 2011 @ 10:52am | Report comment
Genius!
November 29th 2011 @ 9:50pm
mango jack said | November 29th 2011 @ 9:50pm | Report comment
Gold, David! I give it 5 stars
November 29th 2011 @ 11:00am
Red Son said | November 29th 2011 @ 11:00am | Report comment
For someone that does not have pay TV this is good news. SBS will be OK. I suspect the will use the UK commentary which is always interesting. Good to hear how it’s done elsewhere. Nine has been terrible in its coverage of rugby. I am old enough to remember ABC test coverage and it was fine and they do a great job with the Shute Shield. So I have no worries with a “government” station doing a broadcast.
November 29th 2011 @ 11:06am
Bay35Pablo said | November 29th 2011 @ 11:06am | Report comment
I suspect Nine had the rights or option, and didn’t use it resulting in SBS doing so. I can’t see Fox not at least showing it using the UK commentary if they had the rights.
SBS will probably intro using their usual general sport talkigng head, and get a rugby head into discuss. Which will be better than Fox no matter who it is. Cue Campo …
I’d say SBS will use the UK feed, which again is likely to be still decent and in many ways better than Fox.
I’m not too concenred about it being on SBS supposedly showing the weakness of the sport. It’s a meaningless end of tour game against Wales in the middle of the night. Exactly how much money are we giving up by not being on Fox? The ARU supposedly did this trip to make some coin, so I am assuming the cash is already in (to help reduce the expected $11m annual loss this year – thanks IRB) and the TV rights in Oz don’t matter much.
November 29th 2011 @ 11:30am
HardcorePrawn said | November 29th 2011 @ 11:30am | Report comment
I agree, they probably will use the UK feed – British commentators are less parochial than their Australian counterparts so I can’t see this being a problem; witness SBS’ coverage of the Ashes from the UK a few years back, despite the likes of Gower, Hussein, and Botham in the box I don’t think we got anywhere near the amount of Rah-Rah-Rah that Healy and the others bring to Channel Nein’s coverage.
The only reservation I do have regarding SBS is that they did make a monumental stuff-up with their Giro D’Italia highlights a couple of years ago. They utilised an Italian-based Irish commentator (I forget his name, anyone else that saw his work will know who I mean) who I believe, was a Serie A reporter for the Irish media, and knew next-to-nothing about cycling: he could recognise Lance Armstrong and Mark Cavendish and would exclaim “There he is! The big man!” whenever either hoved into view on his monitor. He struggled away manfully throughout a few shows before being replaced, but probably not before quite a few viewers had turned off.
Hopefully SBS have learnt from that experience (and all of their excellent sports coverage since then implies that they have), and don’t give the gig to someone without the experience.
November 29th 2011 @ 12:04pm
Brett McKay said | November 29th 2011 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
Pablo, Ten had the Spring Tour rights last year, evidently they didn’t renew them…
November 29th 2011 @ 11:52am
Midfielder said | November 29th 2011 @ 11:52am | Report comment
SBS are pushing this game hard it comes up by itself when you hit the SBS sports link…
Following is the link to the match and how SBS plan to show it.. with Al Baxter and Matt Burke as the rugby experts, with an SBS general sports journo heading the panel…
http://www.sbs.com.au/sport/article/single/2993/Wallabies-v-Wales-LIVE-on-SBS
Wallabies v Wales LIVE on SBS
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Enlarge text 23 November 2011 | 13:04 – By SBS Sport
Scott Higginbotham battles the Wales pack during the RWC third-place play off. (Getty)
7 CommentsJoin the discussionIn a free-to-air TV exclusive, SBS will broadcast the rugby international between Wales and Australia from Millennium Stadium in Cardiff LIVE at 1:15am (AEDT) on Sunday 4 December.
7Join the discussion
The game, which is part of the Wallabies’ Spring Tour, is a rematch of the recent Rugby 2011 World Cup third place play-off, where the Wallabies edged out Wales 21-18.
The match will be LIVE at 1:15am (AEDT) on Sunday 4 December on SBS ONE.
A replay will be screened at 3pm (AEDT) on Sunday 4 December on SBS ONE.
Michael Tomalaris will host SBS’s coverage and will be joined by Al Baxter, Australia’s most-capped prop, and 1999 World Cup winner Matt Burke, Australia’s second highest points scorer in history.
“It’s not every day that we get the chance to broadcast international level rugby union on SBS,” Ken Shipp, SBS Head of Sport, said.
“I’m glad that we are able to provide free-to-air coverage of this match as a service to all rugby fans.”
The Wallabies, currently ranked No.2 in the IRB World Rankings, have won their
past three encounters with Wales.
The James Bevan Trophy between Wales and the Wallabies will be LIVE at 1:15am (AEDT) on Sunday 4 December on SBS ONE. With a replay at 3pm on Sunday 4 December, also on SBS ONE.
November 29th 2011 @ 12:17pm
Lucan said | November 29th 2011 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
Good on them.
The more sport we can get on TV without having to put up with the Nine, Seven, Fox egos the better. The fewer commercial interruptions would be a God-send, and to not have coverage flooded with sponsored betting information would be refreshing.