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The eighth of May is a date that will live long in the minds of Australian sports fans. OneHD, the great green hope of Australian free-to-air (FTA) sports broadcasting finally confirmed something, long suspected by many a thinking sports-fan.
Outside of the big three (AFL, NRL and Cricket), sport simply isn’t viable in a FTA context.
The simple reality for those that held hopes of the A-League making an appearance on the channel, is that niche sports (of which “soccer” is still considered in this country) don’t attract the level of ratings that FTA require to make them viable.
As brilliant as the series “Long Way Down” is, it is old (2007, has had a sequel and three spin-offs) and has already been broadcast (and re-broadcast) on FTA. Yet, it is seen as a safer bet for ONE than showing the netball, Basketball, motor racing or soccer.
We can all be critical of the new Ten hierarchy, but the facts are out there.
The film “Speed” will rate better than motor racing in their sub-35 male target audience, it simply appeals to more people.
This is why Channel Nine show a late night movie in Melbourne rather than broadcast NRL, even on slight delay.
As much as we would like to find conspiracies in this network or that network trying to bury a sport, their revenue is generated 100 per cent by ratings, if it doesn’t rate, it doesn’t make money.
If the A-League had been on-sold to ONE, even for one game a week, we would be looking down the barrel of being shunted out of our timeslot for a re-run of Ice Road Truckers.
In the absence of a dedicated FTA sports channel, I (sadly) think that the A-League has no place on FTA. FoxSports treats the game seriously, despite some serious warts.
ONE cannot afford to give the game the same level of coverage even if they wanted to, and public broadcasters are the graveyard of niche sports.
Maybe, a solution would be to give A-League members access to a stripped-back sports focused package, with a handful of other channels.
I have had Fox for quite some time and have upgraded my package (which I took out as a strictly sports only package), you know, the old “your first hit is on the house” tactic.
At the end of the day, we need to work out which is going to hinder the growth of the game more, limited exposure, but serious dedication to the game from FoxSports or at the hands of a ratings driven lifestyle channel.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.