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Isn’t September grand for rugby league fans?
I spent the weekend with a massive smile on myself enjoying just about every moment of the four games that were played over the weekend. My favourite game had to be between the Sydney Roosters and Penrith Panthers.
Both teams played incredible football and to see Jamie Soward slot that field goal with 20 seconds remaining was magic. It seems to me that it is still an open competition, and that just about any of the six teams remaining have a shot at Premiership glory.
If the remainder of the games are as thrilling as the past weekend, by grand final day we should all be making a toast to the incredible talent that our competition boasts and to the health of rugby league.
Now onto some other news which pleased me this morning about one of my pet peeves – the Sunday afternoon delayed telecast.
We all know the story by now.
Last year when the new $1.025 billion dollar NRL TV deal was announced, the big boss at Channel Nine, one David Gyngell made no apologies about the current arrangement, which includes the delayed Sunday game. During his defence of delayed coverage Gyngell used words like “commercial point of view” and “exclusivity” and “commercial sense”.
To us, this seemed a nonsense failing to recognise that a decision to continue to have delayed coverage would result in the fans speaking to the current administration using their remotes.
In an era where I can wake up early to watch the EPL live on Fox Sports, where I can watch television in High Definition and where I can stream games live on the internet, it is ridiculous for Channel Nine to be able to hold the game to ransom and not give the customers what they want. In my view, what customers want is to watch live sport.
However, today it has been reported that delayed coverage is on Dave Smith’s ‘to-do’ list and he is completely open to negotiating the current five-year television contract. Smith has acknowledged that ultimately, it is better to watch sport live.
Bravo, Mr Smith.
Delayed coverage is no longer good enough. It has to be recognised that the way Australians watch sport has dramatically changed in the last couple of years – largely because of social media. Viewers watch television with their devices in their hands. Many fans use Facebook and Twitter to connect with other fans and our rugby league teams are seeing the value. Social media has become big business.
It seems that when negotiating the new deal, the NRL was just concerned with the economic value of the deal without really considering their product and the fans who the product is there to satisfy. In return for the administration being able to say that they had agreed to a “billion dollar deal” the NRL gave significant control over scheduling to Channel Nine and this has resulted in a Sunday game which is almost impossible to watch and enjoy as an NRL fan.
On a Sunday afternoon you are forced to sit through delayed coverage, not in HD and with very carefully positioned ads which tell the viewers when a try or points are on the way. For those of us extremely passionate about our teams it is basically impossible to resist temptation to check the score.
To see this on Dave’s to-do list is a positive start – at least there is a recognition that there is a problem and that the fans aren’t getting what they want.
I’m looking forward to following through with this issue over the off season and look forward to the NRL working with David Gyngell to make sure that delayed coverage is a thing of the past.
Follow Mary on Twitter: @Ladieswholeague