Channel Nine unwise to snub sub-continent clash
Columnist By Kersi Meher-Homji, 10 Feb 2012 Kersi Meher-Homji is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Channel Nine, commonwealth bank, Cricket Australia, gem, India, Sri Lanka, tri-series, WACA
Bald Archy entry 'Simply Marvellous' a portrait of cricket commentator Richie Benaud by James Brennan. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Channel Nine’s decision to not broadcast the India vs Sri Lanka match on its main station reflects an unfair and insular attitude.
I was all agog on Wednesday to watch the tri-nation one-day international match between India and Sri Lanka at the WACA. I finished my daily chores early just so that I could see all 100 overs uninterrupted.
I switched on the TV, but lo and behold, there was no cricket coverage on Channel Nine. Instead there were riveting programmes such as Hi 5, Hot Seat, Excess Baggage, Big Bang Theory, and Bride Wars.
“What?! No cricket on Channel Nine?,” I yelled.
“Ah, Foxtel will surely cover it,” I consoled myself. But not so; they were busy replaying the Pakistan versus England Test match.
I switched channels like an alcoholic on a pub crawl. Then I struck gold. GEM (Channel 99) was broadcasting the match I so badly desired.
Last Sunday Channel Nine showed the Australia versus India MCG match live on their regular channel. And I’m sure they will show today’s game between Australia and Sri Lanka there too.
Does that mean that some matches in the tri-nation series are different – inferior even – if they do not involve Australia? Are matches not involving Australia second class?
Having lived in Australia for 41 happy years, I know that Aussies are not racists. I have never encountered even one negative instance in the land Down Under. The story is the same for my family members and friends, who have resided in Australia for over 25 years.
But are we Aussies parochial? I have encountered this sort of attitude in the past, when interest in anything not involving Australian players is considered slightly inferior.
Yet India and Sri Lanka met in the 2011 Cricket World Cup final last April. On paper they are the titans of one-day cricket, even if India’s performance in the Tests this summer has been woeful. Spectators and TV audiences would not shun such teams.
Cricket tragics from Sri Lanka (drums and all) and the Swamy Army from India are packing stadia and munching “wada” and “dossa” while watching cricket in front of their tele.
My Australian friends were as disappointed as I was that Channel Nine had shown discrimination in their decision to only broadcast matches involving Australia.
For those who were not aware of GEM or Channel 99, India defeated Sri Lanka by four wickets with 20 balls remaining.
On paper it looked an easy win but actually it was not. It was a struggle all the way, particularly once India – chasing a victory target of 234 – lost the in-form but injured batsman Virat Kohli (77 runs) to be 6/181.
But man-of-the-match Ravichandran Ashwin (3-32 in 10 overs and 30 not out runs) and Ravi Jadeja, the $2 million dollar man for IPL-5, carried India to victory.
There was a bit of comedy at the end when three Sri Lankan fielders converged to catch Ashwin but each left it to the other. The lucky batsman watched with a delighted winning smile. Pity those without GEM missed the thrills and the spill.
Programmers at Channel Nine, take note: Australia is a multicultural country where all nations should be treated equally, where the home team should not receive preferential treatment.
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- Explore:
- Channel Nine, commonwealth bank, Cricket Australia, gem, India, Sri Lanka, tri-series, WACA
February 10th 2012 @ 7:48am
Vas Venkatramani said | February 10th 2012 @ 7:48am | Report comment
Kersi, given the white boy exclusive culture that goes on in Channel 9, them broadcasting it on their main channel would be the surprising thing.
The good news is that it comforts me to know the mindsets of a Channel 9 employee is not reflective of wider society…
February 10th 2012 @ 9:04am
peeeko said | February 10th 2012 @ 9:04am | Report comment
“white boy exclusive culture”- quite an outlandish remark. The decision not to broadcast sl vs India is not that sinister, it’s about ratings. It would be the same if it was nz vs England
February 10th 2012 @ 9:49am
sheek said | February 10th 2012 @ 9:49am | Report comment
Peeko,
I actually agree with Vas. And you also.
Channel 9 has had a long standing principal of doing whatever will maximise its ratings. They will use anyone & everyone in this endeavor.
From a cricket point of view, Channel 9 has been consistent in not showing a tic of interest in anything that didn’t involve Australia in Australia. Apart from the Ashes, any other country visited by Australia might as well have been on another planet.
As for two teams playing each, neither of which was Australia, forget it! Even in Australia, non-Australian teams have always pulled the lowest ratings.
Believe me, the ‘white boy exclusive culture’ is alive & well. You only had to see how it played out in the various Warne v Muralitharan sagas. While this attitude might be in the minority of us anglo-saxon Aussies, it nevertheless exists, & there’s no point pretending otherwise.
February 10th 2012 @ 10:04am
Matt F said | February 10th 2012 @ 10:04am | Report comment
It is true to a point, but it really has nothing to do with this article, or it shouldn’t anyway. The decision not to show SL/India is, as you said Sheek, purely a commercial one.
February 10th 2012 @ 7:58pm
Jack Russell said | February 10th 2012 @ 7:58pm | Report comment
They’re also not showing the NZ v Zimbabwe one dayers. Those racist programmers at Channel 9 must be stopped.
What a terrible article this is.
February 10th 2012 @ 7:57am
andy g said | February 10th 2012 @ 7:57am | Report comment
Kersi, you are looking at reasons that just don’t exist. It was bumped off to Gem because people don’t watch non-Australian games, and it’s not Channel 9s job to force people to watch teams they don’t care about because they are 2 good ODI teams. The only reason we have a tri-series is for the international tv money, so let’s not pretend the general public do or should care about them.
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February 10th 2012 @ 8:27am
Australian Rules said | February 10th 2012 @ 8:27am | Report comment
Kersi
I would love all cricket to be on Channel 9 FTA.
But it wouldn’t rate well. That’s the reality. Cricket fans (tragics) like us are not the ‘average’ televsion watcher.
Moreover, every country is parochial. The Olympics Mens basketball final (for eg) will rate higher if Australia’s in it…rather than if it’s USA vs Lithuania. In Lithuania it would rate it socks off.
I am not a supporter of Channel 9 but when it comes to programming content for Australian television, not all nations will be “treated equal”…and the home team will always receive “preferential treatment”.
February 10th 2012 @ 8:49am
Jason said | February 10th 2012 @ 8:49am | Report comment
I’d like all cricket to be on GEM (which is FTA).
At least it would be in High Definition then. It is embarrassing that the international cricket you get on Fox is HD whereas the the Australian home games aren’t in Standard definition.
February 10th 2012 @ 9:03am
AdamLudeke said | February 10th 2012 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Spot on… put all games on GEM please!
February 10th 2012 @ 8:55am
langou said | February 10th 2012 @ 8:55am | Report comment
It’s not channel nine’s job to promote multiculturism. It is about the ratings
February 10th 2012 @ 9:02am
peeeko said | February 10th 2012 @ 9:02am | Report comment
“all nations should be treated equally”, since when have tv programmers been concerned with this? Sports coverage is all based upon what will rate, just look at the Olympic coverage
February 10th 2012 @ 9:22am
Mick said | February 10th 2012 @ 9:22am | Report comment
GEM is 90 I think but in any case when I put it on 9 & it was not on I ended up watching ch-7
February 10th 2012 @ 9:36am
Les Favell said | February 10th 2012 @ 9:36am | Report comment
“Having lived in Australia for 41 happy years, I know that Aussies are not racists. I have never encountered even one negative instance in the land Down Under. The story is the same for my family members and friends, who have resided in Australia for over 25 years.”
Better not tell that to the Professional Outragists – they’ll start to fear for their “jobs”.
(PS: Forgot to change Les Favell back to Tony Tea.)
February 10th 2012 @ 9:41am
Chris said | February 10th 2012 @ 9:41am | Report comment
I don’t have a problem with this in the slightest. Let’s be thankful that 9 actually bothered to show the game on GEM at all.
February 10th 2012 @ 10:02am
Matt F said | February 10th 2012 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Conspiracy theory anyone? It has nothing to do with racism, multiculturalism, equal opportunity etc. It’s all about ratings. Channel 9 will show whatever rates higher. Let’s look at the facts:
1) Non-Australia matches rate poorly. Not enough people are interested. It’s one of the main reasons that the old tri-series was scrapped in the first place. From memory channel 9 did actually shunt one or two non-aus games to Foxtel during the last tri-series as the poor ratings meant it wasn’t viable to show it on 9. Now of course they have digital channels so use them instead.
2) The only reason that we have a tri-series this year is because CA want to get as many games involving India as possible so that they can continue to milk the BCCI cash cow. If you look through the furuturwe tours schwedule you’ll see that the only other time we have a tri-sweries scheduled also involves….wait for it……India! Not to mention the amount of times India are coming here just for an ODI/T20 series in the next few years…..
CA know that the non-aus games don’t rate at all here but they know that Indian TV will pay heaps for a few more India games. This series has nothing to do with the Australian publics growing demand to being gthe tri-series back, but to get as much $$$$$ out of India as CA can.
Ch 9 are a business that will do what’s best for them. If they knew that the India/SL game would rate higher then their usual schedule of endless Big Bang Theory repeats then they’d show it, but they know it won’t get near those numbers. Why should they have to show something that will make them less money?