SBS's wake-up call to FTA sports broadcasters

As of Saturday, April 8, SBS became the first Australian free-to-air broadcaster with two HD channels, flicking the switch for SBS VICELAND to broadcast in 1080i.

The change came as a surprise to many, but whether the surprise was intentional or not, the SBS push for audiences to re-tune their television sets will have advertisers and other commercial networks watching closely when the ratings come out.

The ramifications within the sporting world are yet to be felt, but will no doubt be significant in upcoming rights battles.

SBS will add to their HD roster the remainder of the current A-League season, their UEFA Champions League highlights show, as well as upcoming cycling tours, including the Amstel Gold and La Flèche Wallone. Come the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to which SBS holds partial rights, all available games will most likely be broadcast in HD across the two channels.

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In the parallel world of the commercial networks, the current free-to-air schedule shows the confusion facing Australian sports fans that further quality upgrades like this could solve:

The Seven Network has broadcast AFL coverage in HD since 2016, however varies this between the main channel and secondary channel, 7mate, in different markets. This has led to a disparity for other sporting events on the network such as the Melbourne Cup, or curious situations where the HD feed has been swapped on the day of events with little notice to audiences.

The HD divide is clear in the network’s coverage of large events, such as Olympics and Australian Open, where all channels are used and HD feeds provided at an extra cost online, leading to the situation where users on their phones and tablets have better quality coverage than those watching on the big screen.

Meanwhile, at Nine, as online compliments flow for the bandwidth allocated for the primary channel’s HD feed and NRL coverage, their coverage of last year’s International Champions Cup, as well as this year’s Super Netball competition, were both relinquished to GEM in SD.

Like Seven, feeds for each of the network’s channels are available in HD online for those willing to sacrifice the privacy of an email address, giving the online user better quality than the television viewer.

On Ten, live events like the Big Bash League, Formula One and Supercars are shown in HD, but only when shown live. Motorsports highlights, and Super Rugby and rugby sevens highlights shows are kept on multi-channel ONE in SD.

This is surely a point of contention within the network that once launched ONE as the home of HD sport on FTA?

Now that SBS has proved what is possible, advertisers and representatives from sporting codes will be putting pressure on these other networks to squeeze the most out of their available bandwidth and offer a constant experience for viewers.

Pay TV networks, mainly Fox Sports, have conditioned viewers to expect HD when watching live sport. It’s been made a key selling point in consecutive marketing campaigns for both pay and free TV networks, and even most illegitimate streaming services offer HD or high-bitrate options.

All eyes will be on ratings as SBS tests the waters, and advertisers and sports administrators, especially those relinquished to multi-channels, ask ‘why not us?’

The first examples of this pressure may be seen in upcoming weeks. Bids for the A-League FTA and mobile rights are due to the FFA by the Easter weekend. SBS will be keen to bring their new HD channel to the table with the FFA, who had previously made public their eagerness to drop the state broadcaster.

Negotiations for the BBL rights for 2018 onwards will shortly follow, and expectation will be clear for networks to follow Network Ten’s precedent of showing every match in HD.

SBS’s move may not seem major, but this ripple in the television world will soon be making waves in meeting rooms, and then lounge rooms, across Australia.