I know many out there say “just get pay television if you want to watch sport.” But some sporting events should be left sacred for as long as possible – like the British Open.
Channel Nine has once again let down sport lovers, with one of the most bizarre and ridiculous scheduling decisions of all-time.
Despite having the free-to-air rights for the British Open, the network has decided not to show the tournament live. It’s the equivalent of buying a Ferrari and leaving it in the garage to gather dust.
It follows similar questionable decisions to not show sport live, including the World Club challenge between Manly and Leeds, which was on at 5am. Instead the network showed a replay the next night at around midnight.
Also the Wimbledon coverage, where Nine pretended to show a Stosur match live, while crossing to Lleyton Hewitt’s match. The phony coverage was expertly uncovered by Media Watch.
Now, back to The British Open.
Channel Nine director of sport Steve Crawley was quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying “it’s a difficult situation, the fact is, the British Open doesn’t really work on free-to-air.”
What a load of bullocks. The event finishes around 4am each round.
Surely Nine has room in their graveyard timeslot for live sport?
I understand that golf isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it’s a bit better than selling fancy sponges and abdominal exercise equipment on looped American infomercials. Or playing an old movie or re-run of Matlock.
What makes the decision by Nine even more ridiculous, and contradicts everything Steve Crawley says, is that the network will show highlights of the tournament from around midnight!
So the other night we were able to witness the highlights from the first day of the Open, while the second round was underway.
If the British Open doesn’t work on FTA, why is Nine showing it at all?
And also what is the point of having a High Definition channel if you don’t use it? Nine puts the AFL Footy Show on at 9:30pm on HD for Queensland and NSW viewers, so they don’t have to wait up to watch. Wouldn’t it seem logical to utilise the HD service for golf?
The cynic in me says a sneaky cash payment could have been made by Foxtel to Nine to prevent them from showing the event live.
Something like that must have happened, because it just doesn’t make sense why Nine would pull out at the last minute, when it doesn’t affect their prime-time programs.
I’m hoping an Australian wins The Open more than ever now. It will be karma for a network that used to be ‘switched on’ when covering sport. To get the network back to where it used to be (i.e. ‘Still the One’), executives should start asking the question: What would Kerry Packer do?
Clearly he wouldn’t give up a premier sporting event like the British Open, especially when one has the rights to show it live.
Barry Collins
Guest
If Channel nine has the rights to show British Open Golf on free TV, why is it not happening. It is disgraceful to show 30 year old movies instead. There are many who cannot afford, to pay for it on Fox. You completely disregard pensioners and those who do not have the means to pay. Does Channel nine have a financial interest in Fox. There are many people who will be hurt by your decision to withhold showing this very important event, thus preventing other channels which may be interested in showing it. Whatever happened to the Governments anti syphoning legislation, designed I believe, to prevent this dog in a manger attitude. Shame, Channel nine
Mike
Guest
Hi there, I know it's been a year since anyone has commented on this forum, but I just thought that I'd check the online tv guide to see if good old channel 9 was going to show the British Open live next weekend. Well, guess what? They aren't showing it live! Just the old one hour of highlights like what they did for the first three days last year. I am hoping (probably in vain) that they will at least show the final round live like they did last year. Channel nine really deserves to lose the rights to this event....
Benjamin Conkey
Editor
You obviously know about 'SEO' too Aussie Golfer...I saw your article after mine on Google.
Benjamin Conkey
Editor
Sorry didn't see your comment there Aussie Golfer. What is going on at Nine land? They obviously didn't tell anyone that they were showing the last round live...because the online TV guide still had "highlights" for last night. Maybe they wanted to see how many people would tune in without any advertising of live coverage...in some sort of test... Thanks for your comments Phil. I'd love to think an article like this could change a Channel Nine executive's mind, but I doubt it. Then again The Roar editors know all about 'Search Engine Optimisation'. I typed in 'Channel Nine Golf' on Google and my article was the first that came up..so I guess it is possible that someone at Nine read this!
Phil
Guest
Benjamin, you may have been the catalyst for 9's change of heart! I'm not sure what 9 was up to in the lead-up to live coverage, maybe we'll find out in due season. However, they did keep running banner apologies for suspension of advertised programs. I didn't recognise the (unseen, local) host's voice, although he had passing knowledge of the game. My computer savvy son advises that free feeds of most things are out there somewhere! Watson's loss will go down in golf folklore. He was very unlucky on the last and then limp in the play-off after a great drive on the first of four play-off holes.
Benjamin Conkey
Editor
Phil, Really? How strange. If only I knew..I too was searching for an internet feed. I wonder if they advertised that they were showing the last round live? Do you know who was hosting? Poor Tom Watson...looks like there is a curse for older players winning major championships in the modern era.
Phil
Guest
Maybe someone at 9 was monitoring complaints on ROAR and other forums, and saw the light! I'd managed to find a free live feed of American ABC and was settling in for a few hours in front of the computer screen. Later, I checked out the Cricket and the Tour on TV and there was the live Golf, complete with the usual superfluous "host" checking in after each ad break. Nevertheless, congrats to 9 for putting it on. Very sad to watch Tom Watson miss out in the play off, especially having to stay up another hour to witness his ignominious demise to the curiously suntanned S Cink.
Michael Green
Roar Pro
So it turns out Channel 9 did show the golf live last night! How weird?! I flicked over around midnight and there it was!?!
Brett McKay
Guest
Choppy, Crutcho, I'm not sure the anti-siphoning laws "use it or lose it" clause relates to live coverage actually. I've not read it in any detail (and I'm sure it's a cracking read) and so will happily stand corrected, but my understanding of 'use it or lose it' was that whoever holds the rights is still allowed to show them on a reasonable delay. I base this on the coverage of ARL, NRL, Wimbledon, Olympics, etc, which have always been allowed to have some component of delayed coverage. Of course, the variable here is what is 'reasonable', and obviously legislators may well have a differing view to the affected sports fans. I think 'use it or lose it' is there to stop networks "warehousing" events, which is another thing Ch9 were once guilty of once upon a time..
Choppy
Guest
I was under the impression the anti-siphoning laws also had a 'use it or loose it' clause where the events on the list that were not shown live in FTA would be taken off the anti-siphoning list next time and I hope the Open does get taken off as well as the French Open tennis that channel nine didn't show. Channel 9's treatment of the sports they hold the rights to is disgraceful, channel 7's isn't much better with them shuffling the V8's around the AFL when it suits them and not necessarily showing them live either. If the commercial networks are not going to do the great sporting events justice, the least the legislators can do for the sports fan is give Pay TV parallel broadcasting rights and sooner the better. The sport is the only thing that convinced me to get Pay TV and is the only thing keeping me paying is that I do get to see most of the big sporting events live that are not AFL or NRL.
Crutcho
Guest
This article is spot on the money, reflecting the appalling attitude shown by the commercial networks to their viewing audience in recent years, particularly with the scheduling and screening of sport. Is there any surprise that savvy consumers ... the ones I thought would have been most attractive to advertisers ... are switching to internet streaming, downloading and various other techniques to circumvent the whims of out of touch executives and ensure they see the programs they want at the times they want? But, I digress. The rub in this for me is, and always has been, the so called "anti-siphoning" laws and related legislation that is supposed to prevent major sporting events being shifted from FTA to pay TV. While I'm certainly no expert in matters legal, my layman's understanding of this legislation was that certain sporting events could only be moved to pay TV if FTA channels did not wish to screen the event live (or perhaps at least the 21st century definition of "live"). Seems reasonable, no? Well, didn't anyone ever notice that those who own the commercial FTA networks are also the primary owners of the pay TV systems? Strikes me that when you have the same party owning the two distribution channels, any expectation that popular events would continued to be screened through the "free" channel (and now that pay TV carries advertisements anyway) is akin to a 34 year old believing in Santa Claus. As a child I said I wanted a space shuttle for Christmas. I was told it's just not going to happen. Perhaps seeking popular sporting events to be screened according to viewer preferences when an alternative, more lucrative distribution mechanism is being offered by the same provider is in the same category.
Phil
Guest
Surely 9 is cutting off its nose to spite its face by not exercising free to air rights on the British Open, and other events. Forcing people off to Foxtel can't be in 9's long term interests. As for the event "not working on free to air", that is just pure spin that the likes of Kevin Rudd and Mike Rann would be proud of. Ah well, off to bed.
Michael Green
Roar Pro
Absolutely. Well said. It's a disgrace and I think your suspicion may be correct. Who are the "rights" actually bought from? Perhaps in future, whoever is selling the British Open rights should make sure the buyer shows the event live.
Justin
Guest
No Bledisloe live in Melbourne Brett, not on 7 anyway.
Brett McKay
Expert
So let me guess Conks, you changed channels thinking the golf was on, saw ads for fancy sponges and abdominal exercise equipment, and instead headed for the computer.... Sneaky pot-shot at your motivation aside, you're spot in here. Nine, and to a lesser extent Seven, have a long history of this. They've been claiming "live and exclusive coverage" of Wimbledon for years, which is fine if you overlook the mere detail of Fox Sports also covering the Championships. I've even got my suspicions that Seven squeezed extra ads in during the Bledisloe last night, and that while it may well have started live, I suspect the coverage finished a few minutes later than the game. SBS dual handling of the Ashes and Le Tour has been fantastic, exactly what digital multi-channelling should be used for. MVD, you mention you're glad SBS have the World Cup in 2010 - unfortunately, Nine has the RWC 2011 rights.....
MVDave
Guest
Thank goodness SBS has the World Cup next year.
Rob
Guest
I agree it is poor form to not show the event live. I am now a big fan of SBS who are of course showing the Ashes live as well as the Tour de France on SBS Two. Well done to SBS.