Channel 9 ruining more than Rugby World Cup

Ray Warren is the worst commentator for rugby. When will channel 9 wise up and give the job back to Gordon Bray. Anyone except Ray Warren. George Gregan , John Eales, Buddha Handy, Nick Farr Jones etc etc there are 1000's of people who could do a better job than this loser Ray Warren. He seems to be completely asleep to the things that make rugby - rugby.

Wilkie to complain over Ch 9 Pokie comments Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says he and Senator Nick Xenophon will lodge a formal complaint over Channel Nine's airing of comments on poker machine laws. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-02/wilkie-to-lodge-pokies-complaint/3205506

Yes but the AFL footy show did have the night to itself (as mentioned above - ie to maximise revenue for the cartel). Sydney had Ten's "The Game Plan" on thursday night. Not quite apples with apples comparison there.

5 The Footy Show Nine 973,000 152,000 507,000 116,000 128,000 71,000 Pathtetic ratings for the GF NRL show in Sydney, without the AFL, the footy show would be gone, a conundrum for 9 !!. Will 9 bring it back next year.

If Nine don't reply forward your compliant direct to ACMA. They are extremely interested in any complaints to Nine given recent form. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/nine-penalised-after-persistent-breaches/story-e6frfmyi-1226061516101

I notice the gambling industry get the commentators to have a conversation before all games in Australia. I'm guessing the same gambling organisations got this league commentator to give their view on this policy. BTW, C9 didn't buy the rugby rights from the ARU or IRB. They bought them from fox, which is why they don't have to show all of the matches. Although I'm in agreement that they probably did get them from fox just so the viewing wouldn't go to a rival. I sent a letter of complaint about rugby scheduling to Nine a few weeks ago. But surprise, surprise, they didn't write back. Also, I think Nine have to show all the finals matches in the WC, although I'm not sure if this includes the QF's or just the SF's and final.

great article. a big percentage of how rugby league is percieved is based on the content ch nine produce and show. i wish another network could get a crack maybe ten just to see how they would promote the game.

Rugby Union is not Rugby leagues greatest rival. In fact I would go so far as to suggest that good coverage of exciting rugby union events actually drives people towards rugby league. Someone who enjoys watching the current RU series on TV who perhaps had never been exposed to Rugby may well be more inclined to seek out League matches to watch in future. It certainly would not drive him/her to AFL or Soccor. RU and RL are two sides of the same game. RL was born out of RU and over the last 100 and odd years developed its own style. It is more fast flowing and athletic than RU and a better game to watch but to suggest that RU is RL's greatest rival is plain wrong. Hurting the current Rugby Union Competition through poor coverage will indirectly hurt RL in this country.

Ahhh the refreshing words of a someone who knows how to write. Well done!! -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

Channel nine and the NRL are dependent on one and other. In my view if the NRL is doing good then so is the channel nine and vice versa. So rugby union has basically given the rights to the biggest sporting event of 2011 to its greatest rival. This in my opinion is similar to McDonald’s getting hungry jacks to promote the big mac or coke getting Pepsi to distribute coke. Russia and the US have their games live on free to air but a country that has won the tournament twice dose not. Mark Geyer was complaining (on Sunday roast) about the new poki legislation, saying that some kids would not be able to play junior rugby league because subsides from leagues clubs would be less. I say what about the kids who don’t eat some nights because their parents have put there hole pay into a poker machine. Poker machines are an economic black hole were people put money into and get no goods or service in return. Jobs would probably be lost in the clubs industry if the legislation is passed but as the money started to go into more positive areas (goods and services) employment would ultimately incise.

stabpass I've no problem that (in the main) people in Melbourne would rather watch the AFL footy show and generally agree with you there. Personally I prefer the NRL one. In fact your comments would surely add weight to my argument that Nine's interest is in maintaining status quo, maximising revenue and if this means burying sport (to the detriment of fans) then that is what they will do. They also bury Union in Sydney and Brisbane as well as League (by not on-selling live rights) in Melbourne. Union is not as big a threat to the AFL roadshow in Melbourne so is tolerated there. In Sydney, Union would have a stronger chance of affecting NRL advertising dollars and hence is not shown live into that market where it conflicts with a Rugby League game.

If you bother to check the ratings, it is the Australian football 'footy show ' that keeps the RL one afloat. Ratings for the RL Fatt Vautin show are pathetically low, but across Australia, they come up acceptable because relatively high ratings from the Gary Lyon one. If nine want to compete in the southern markets they must give people what they want, and that means Australian football, you might not like it, ATM that is the status quo, and unless the demographics change very, very significantly, this is the way it will stay.

Jameswm The reason Channel Nine bought the rights to Rugby is so they can avoid splitting the market and maximise advertising revenue as they reach their desired demographic in respective capital cities. They also do this in Melbourne, effectively burying the NRL down here, whilst maintaining their AFL footy Show and other tenuous links to the Victorian code. It has nothing with wanting to bring sport to Australian homes with more around maintaining the various status quos in different markets. The Networks worst nightmare is having two codes competing for the same revenue stream.

Except when he says 'No no no no NOOO!' a thousand times a game. Moving onto an incredibly important topic, what's happened to his hair? Looks as if Santa's beard has escaped from the North Pole and is hiding out on Gus' head. It had an evolution in the space of one month. It went from brown, to pineapple colored fairy floss to Santa's escaped beard.

I've got a conspiracy theory on 9 buying the rights for the RWC. The NRL and 9 are so tight, they got in bed together to buy the rights, so they could screw rugby and promote league as much as possible. They could put on the minimum no. of RWC games to satisfay their base obligations, and otherwise make sure the NRL finals had pride of place and was not interrupted. The ARU or IRB (whoever sold the rights to 9) should be worried about promotion of the game as well as the $$$ received on the deal, and should have made it a condition of the contract that their main station showed a certain number of games live etc, in all states.

You are right for questioning nines motives in getting the RWC. After all, The Australian matches would've outrated the endless repeats they stick on the digital channels, and the bigger NZ matches as well (in the Northern States). If they didn't show the RL final with the Storm when it got over 200k, then you could question their motives there as well. Perhaps Phil Gould could go into politics like Mal Meninga - the shortest political career in Australia - lasted until the first interview!

Sounded a bit like an Alan Jones endorsement

They did run a banner at the same time. What peeved me off was they talked at length about the good work undertaken by the various organisations (a good warm fuzzy) before then going on about the won't work, will hurt pro pokies propaganda which actually ate into the second half kickoff. The pro-pokies people will have paid for that "endorsement". Aren't ads supposed to be clearly an ad and not hidden within the program content as what happened here?

hear hear. if i want politics i'll watch 7:30 report and thats why i watch footy on friday night. shouldnt be allowed to interrupt a perfectly good footy broadcast with politics. as if we dont get enough of it the rest of the time it has to invade our loungerooms while we're trying to watch footy.

you completely miss the point. we get all that crap all week long on the news and brekky tv from the politicians and vested interests groups. friday night we want to relax and watch the football and give ourselves a break from all that.