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If Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is a tennis fan, he would have been a little grumpy after he returned home from Australia Day celebrations.
He would have switched on the TV and been absorbed by a great contest between Andy Roddick and Marin Cilic.
As the match seemed certain to enter the decisive fifth set, he would have thrown his remote at the TV as the local broadcaster, the Seven Network, predictably crossed to the News. In this digital age, the game was nowhere to be seen, not on 7TWO, 7HD or anywhere on Pay-TV.
For the fan, the message is simple: “it’s 6pm, the news is a ratings winner, we couldn’t give a stuff if you care about the tennis or not.”
Under the current anti-siphoning legislation, Channel 7 is not permitted to show the Australian Open on a secondary channel. The logic behind this law is to prevent Free to Air networks from hoarding sporting events and forcing Fox Sports to the wall.
Conversely, the selected events on the “Anti-Siphoning” list must be offered to FTA providers prior to Foxtel.
This enables viewers without Pay-TV access to events of ”national importance.”
The result for couch-based fans throughout the country is one of frustration.
Whilst Pay-TV uptake remains relatively low, FTA providers serve up a mish-mash of delayed sporting broadcasts, ridiculous cross promotions (I’m pretty sure that John Alexander is not a fan of Desperate Housewives) and pretty much a second rate coverage of the nation’s most popular sporting events.
If you live outside of the Melbourne/Sydney time-zone, the concept of live sport of FTA TV may be one that you’re no longer familiar with.
The Beijing Olympics in 2008 are a prime example of how the viewer is the loser under the current legislation.
Not only were we subjected to the horrible coverage presented by Seven, featuring such sporting luminaries as Sonia Kruger and Andrew Daddo, but the broadcast was also interrupted by AFL games that Seven were not permitted to show on the secondary channel.
Therefore, Olympic fans in Sydney and Brisbane had to twiddle their thumbs and follow progress via ABC Radio and the Internet as Channel 7 featured an AFL game between Adelaide and Richmond.
It wasn’t good enough 18 months ago and it isn’t good enough now.
Both the AFL and NRL are eagerly anticipating the results of the current review of the anti-Siphoning legislation.
The major codes would be hoping that the restrictions of the current arrangements are loosened and they can sell their product directly to Pay-TV providers. The best result for Messrs Gallop and Demetriou would be record TV rights deals where fans throughout the country can watch every game of the premiership season live and in full.
As Pay-TV providers should be given the right to bid directly for all sporting events, FTA Networks should be permitted to feature events on secondary channels such as GO, 7TWO and ONE.
Sports fans throughout in the Southern states would be the winner if Nine could feature live AFL on its primary channel whilst broadcasting live NRL on GO.
The situation could be reversed for the Northern markets.
For those without digital access, a simple trip to Dick Smith to purchase a $50 set top box would do the trick. Beside,s it’s the only way TV will be accessible when the analogue signal is switched off in 2013.
Australia is renowned for its obsession with sports. It’s time that we had a standard of TV sporting coverage that reflected tha.t
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