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Remember the ’90s, when free-to-air broadcasters like Channel Nine had so much sport content they had to shift between events?
International cricket in Australia used to be interrupted occasionally by horse racing, while The Ashes in the UK had to wait for Friday night football to finish. Those days appear to be coming to an end.
Channel Nine, like its Seven rival, is starting to embrace its digital channels, due in large part to a stunning smorgasbord of sport in July.
July 8 for example will be massive for Nine, with the State of Origin decider in Brisbane as well as Day 1 of the Ashes on its high-definition offering, GEM.
It’s not the first time Nine has broadcast cricket on its HD channel, but this time they will have exclusive coverage. Perhaps for that reason the network will send its own commentary team to England rather than relying on Sky Sports.
The following week three different sporting events will be shown simultaneously on Nine, with The Ashes second Test on GEM, Brisbane Roar vs Liverpool on GO!, and Melbourne Storm vs Penrith Panthers on the main channel.
It’s something sports fans have been crying out for ever since digital television began.
Channel Seven use it well with AFL on 7mate for non-traditional AFL markets as well as putting horse racing on 7Two. They also used multi channels for the Australian Open, putting more action on other channels and ensuring all Australian players were shown when there was a conflict, while keeping the tennis going during the news.
Channel Ten had a number of different events to choose from on ONE HD when the Winter Olympics were on and even though it’s expected on Foxtel, the Pay TV service has used its ‘red button’ more and more for greater access, including in-car camera angles for Formula One and V8 Supercars.
The time it’s taken for FTA networks to fully embrace multi channeling has partly been due to adapting to suit advertisers, who understandably tend to prefer their ads on the channel everyone is watching. But statistics show that multi channels deserve plenty of attention with the cumulative weekly reach of Free TV’s six multi-channels more than 2.5 times that of pay TV’s top 10 channels (OZ TAM).
Due to the Ashes being on July 8, State of Origin 3 is unlikely to break an individual ratings record but like the old children’s show Captain Planet, with “powers combined” Nine will dominate the audience share, something head of sport Steve Crawley alluded to when speaking to Fairfax.
“The bosses now go with the network share, so it’s not so much Nine versus GEM. They’re all playing for the same side,” Crawley said.
“It will be hard. I’ll be producing the rugby league coverage and it will be hard not to want to watch the second television to watch the Ashes as well… I’ll just have to iQ it, I guess.”
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