After 35 years of broadcasting football to Australia, SBS has become known as the ‘home of football’. However, that title looks to be in its final days with news the network is looking to offload its football coverage for the foreseeable future.
While the extent of their split is not yet known, reports emerging on Thursday morning indicate that ratings pressure has seen football coverage flagged as expendable.
>> Is it time football supporters buried the hatchet with Channel Seven?
Currently SBS has deals in place that see it broadcast Friday night A-League games, the UEFA Champions League, Socceroos matches and, of course, the World Cup.
Despite moving their Friday night A-League coverage from a delayed to a live telecast in recent seasons, the ratings have not seen a dramatic boost. A potential issue at play here is the heavy weighting of derbies and traditional high-audience matches being scheduled on Saturday nights, when Fox Sports hold the sole rights.
Although interest has been seen from other major networks, it is unlikely that the Friday night match would gain any prominence on a network’s flagship station, instead reserved for a digital offshoot.
Ratings aside, the move appears to have clear links to a major restructure triggered by the government’s decision to cut funding to the ABC and SBS.
An insider speaking to Fairfax Media told the Sydney Morning Herald “There is a very fundamental change occurring at SBS. Those in charge at the network have made it clear to everyone they intend on taking a new path.
“They want to increase ratings by any means and appear prepared to stray from the charter, if necessary.
“If it wasn’t for SBS, football would never have found a home on Australian television all those years ago. But those in charge of content have come in from outside and have dismissed its importance.”
The question for Australian football fans then becomes, who will broadcast the World Cup? If the offload plays out, their current agreement to broadcast the 2018 and 2022 World Cups could be a tasty revenue earner for the station.
Could the next World Cup end up locked to a pay TV network? That would certainly be a rude shock for fans that have experienced every World Cup since 1990 on the national broadcaster.
As well, with just two months left on their Champions League contract, it appears that Europe’s finest are also destined to be solely broadcast on pay TV networks from 2016 onwards pending a battle for the rights between ESPN, Fox Sports and beIN Sport.
bobbym
Guest
They can also dump their a league podcast with Lucy Zelic she's the worst- argumentative, crass- loud and unfunny. Just terrible.
Chris
Guest
Would more people watch if it was on 7, 9, or 10? If yes, then why aren't they watching now on SBS?
Anthony Ferguson
Guest
Touché
Leland Facepalmer
Guest
Because culture and lifestyle are entirely unrelated, yeah? You're clever.
Boban
Guest
Australia has culture??? Don't make me laugh.
albatross
Roar Pro
They have those sexy late night movies but.
Stadia Cooperoz
Guest
In the last few weeks alone Four Corners have shown up the dodgy greyhound industry ( that is some thereof I mean) and the Abbottt govt setting up sham job agencies to disguise the jobless rate at your expense while selling false hope to the unemployed. That may not be a ratings winner but if leads to better outcomes it saves money especially in the Job market cash racket. There are many examples of this type in publicly funded broadcasting and despairingly few examples of real journalism in the commercial sludge raking channels. I don't know for sure but I was of the belief Fox did most of the technical stuiff and SBS just supplied commentary and rebroadcast it which means they may not be bearing the level of cost you suggest.
Punter
Guest
No worries Bruce, not in Redfern they are not.
Punter
Guest
Yes AR, he AZ agrees with you, lets quote what else it says. 'leagues like the EPL draw billions in revenue from TV deals when advertisers have so little to benefit.' It does & how!!!! Did you see the deal they (EPL) just got, so they must be able to recoup their money somehow. Only the NFL has got a bigger TV deal, but the NFL has no competition. The EPL doesn't even have the best teams or players in the world. In the recent champions league 1/4s stage, they have no representative, out of the top 20 players in the world, the EPL may have 2-3 players in it. Yet this game of 2 halves of 45 mins can get such TV deals. Lets not concentrate on England because it's PAY TV What about Portugal, Holland, Austria, Argentina, Sweden, Iran, France.
Bondy
Guest
AR You're not an enemy here mate you just hop onto the League and Football Tabs explaining how prefect AFL is or how sports other than AFL should be run ..
Ian
Guest
It's disappointing the xenophobic comments that come through.
AR
Guest
Punter: "This was what you said, implying that a game with 2 x 45 mins halves cannot thrive on a commercial station" Oh gawd. How could anyone read my question without its pivotal context of...in Australia! Talk about missing the contextual point of the discussion... That's the relevant bit - in Australia - we're talking about the Australian game and the Australian marketplace and the realities of Australian commercial FTA television. Your response is the rather pointless "yeah well it used to work in England and Germany and Spain so there". Ok, thanks. No kidding. ____ AZ: "I actually agree with AR." Quiet you fool! Don't you realise he's the enemy!
AZ_RBB
Guest
But they sound like shirt sponsors not TV advertisers. I don't think money from shirt deals and stadiums sponsorships go to the broadcasters. Unless they do a deal to appear in both.
Punter
Guest
Yes we need to aim for the next level. The noise when Troisi scored was loud, but I thought Bulut's equaliser was louder. Maybe because Troisi's goal I too was yelling & going crazy, but with Bulut's goal, I felt very little trying to crawl under a rock.
Punter
Guest
AZ, I too watch 100s of games of football & I don't follow Man U, but Aon, Vodaphone, Sharp, AIG Chevrolet are just some of the ads I have seen over the years.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I actually agree with AR. It's something that I wonder as well. Leagues like the EPL draw billions in revenue from TV deals when advertisers have so little to benefit. I tune in at kick off, watch a sitcom at half time, return after 15mins and then turn off at full time. I watch 100 games of football a year and barely see an ad. That just shows the prestige that comes with broadcasting football. These commercial entities are willing to throw astronomical figures with the hope that advertisers will buy in knowing they'll hardly get a look in. It's incredible and I hope the A-League is able to sell itself using the product itself rather than the lure of advertising time.
Punter
Guest
'This is what I’ve often wondered about. I’m not sure how a commercial station gets its commercial fill from 2 x 45 min halves.' This was what you said, implying that a game with 2 x 45 mins halves cannot thrive on a commercial station & yet the biggest viewing of any sport in the world is a game that comprises a game of 2 x 45 mins halves.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Oh yeah I completely agree. I think in terms of pure numbers this ALeague season will go down as one of the best. There's just been a bit of a lull which I hope dissipates as we approach the finals. We can only be pleased with ourselves for so long before we start to aim for the next level.
AR
Guest
And Bondy...thank you for another insightful contribution. Top drawer, as always.
Punter
Guest
I will be there tonight with my wife, yeah unsure what the crowd will be & agree crowds have been a bit disappointing of late. But then I have experienced an Asian cup win & the another win in last Derby game at Parramatta both this year, where the atmosphere was as great as I've seen live in any other sport in Australia or anywhere around the world, so cannot really complain. 10 years ago this did not exist for me living in Australia.