What the new NRL deal means for Foxtel and Channel Nine

I can still remember watching the inaugural years of Super Saturday on Foxtel with Warren Smith in commentary and loving the product it conveyed.

A 5.30pm game fed straight into a 7.30pm game and the late game seemed to usually feature a talented young North Queensland Cowboys team or the powerhouse Melbourne Storm who were showing signs of the dominance they would attain in the coming years.

Watching a young Matt Bowen and Billy Slater were two particular highlights, their speed and agility as young men was amazing and they lit up the screen.

Smith did a terrific job in commentary despite his annoying signature, “and the Storm will play from in front tonight”.

Other commentators were also competent and experts such as Wally Lewis and Greg Alexander added to the professional and slick production that has morphed into the multifaceted beast that we now see.

The massive television deal has reshaped the game and the early signs are that Foxtel may be a winner in terms of ratings and fan loyalty.

I have continued to subscribe to Foxtel to this very day and have loved the broad coverage, ad-free game time and the absence of shameless cross-promotion that Channel Nine have bombarded its customers with for the last decade.

For the first time in rugby league’s history, games are being shown on both channels at the same time. While many have complained about less football to watch, some have also finally been alerted to the quality product that Fox generally produces.

Foxtel has promoted heavily in recent times to battle two things. A subscription mark of only 30 per cent of the wider viewing audiences poses an obvious challenge. Yet the stigma of paying for television coverage has also seemingly fuelled some comments made in recent weeks as the season explodes onto our screens.

A few weeks back I heard a gentleman call into a Sydney talk-back sports radio program complaining of the lack of football for him to watch now that the media coverage of the game has all been reworked. He was the archetypal voice of fury at both the league and cable television.

He claimed he “couldn’t afford Foxtel” yet in the subsequent discussion on the lateness of the second game on Channel Nine that many people have never ever see through to the finish, he stated that he was “too pissed” to stay awake.

The following day numerous follow-up callers expressed a similar feeling that I held.

Foxtel offer a $50 per month no contract sports combo pack. How many schooners do you have to give up for a $50 saving? These days, sad to say, not many. A friend of mine uses the same argument and gets insanely frustrated when I tell him to cut his cigarette intake by a measly three packs a month and he too could be a Foxtel subscriber.

It irks me that some people seem to be rejecting the cable option, not based on reality but based on a prehistoric argument anchored by a refusal to pay for television.

It saddens me that some friends of mine with children, a mortgage and financial stresses can’t actually validate the cost of cable. Of course there are real people out there who are in this situation yet they don’t seem to be the ones expressing vitriolic opinion about cable providers.

This vitriol, in turn, supports and perpetuates the poor standard of coverage that the Nine Network has been able to get away with for years.

Channel Nine’s unwillingness to show games in high definition until this year seemed absolutely mindless. The poor quality of picture shocked many visitors to my lounge room when I compared the game viewed in HD to the non-HD alternative.

Internationally, the judgement was heightened as foreign visitors were astounded that the flagship sport in the Sydney market could be so far behind the times in free-to-air coverage.

The stretching of start times for Friday night matches until almost 8pm made the game almost unviable for me to attend with my young children. Both the league and the television provider are to blame here.

The absurdity in the commentary team and the unprofessional antics of Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns are an insult to everyone watching. Only last week the panel lauded the demolition the Roosters were about to do on the Rabbitohs with Peter Sterling being the only discerning voice.

Late in the game, one commentator jumped ships and said, “I could see this coming”. More deserved players and commentators on radio networks are far more knowledgeable and enjoyable to listen to.

No wonder Sterling broadened his horizons in search of a more credible platform in which to express his immense knowledge of the game.

The human ‘conflict of interest’ Phil Gould is undoubtedly one of the most astute thinkers in the game, yet he will always suffer from the same sorts of barbs thrown at Eddie McGuire in Melbourne due to close affinity with one club or another.

Gould’s early commentary was outstanding, the 1995 grand final was a perfect example as he dissected the game early in the second half and accurately predicted the downfall of the Eagles to a rampaging Dogs unit.

The brilliant prediction of Jason Smith, Jim Dymock and Dean Pay eventually getting their hands free to offload was prophetic. Sure the game had its controversies but Gould read the play like a children’s picture book.

Now Gould has frequently slumped to cries of ‘Dear oh dear oh dear’ that grind on the brain and remind me of my grandmother whining over someone not using cutlery correctly at the dinner table.

It will be interesting to note if the impending departure of the great Ray Warren might reinvigorate Channel Nine’s stocks.

Foxtel are far from perfect, of course. The antics of Bryan Fletcher and Nathan Hindmarsh are as embarrassing as The Footy Show, but serve a certain audience, and surely the host of feature matches across the weekend should have some football cred. Matt Shirvington seems to struggle weekly and fumbles his way through as Gordon Tallis and co offer some genuine insight into the game.

The initial trend seems to be people choosing the ad-free cable over the Channel Nine coverage. Whether this continues remains to be seen. The healthy challenge of the cable option might even make Channel Nine sharpen up its coverage.

The most important result should be increased viewing audiences and customer satisfaction at the product on display. Let’s hope the NRL keep this as a priority as the AFL and A-League continue to grow.

For the greatest game of all to continue to make that claim, the new deal needs to iron out some past flaws and move aggressively into the more congested and competitive media age.