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Australian Open no pressure to schedule Aussies late

Seven is not to blame for Aussies scheduled in late night matches, according to Tennis Australia.

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2015-01-23_0223Tennis Australia has denied pressure from Channel Seven has led to late-night scheduling of Aussies competing in the Australian Open.

“It’s certainly not the case that we schedule the Australians late just for broadcast,” Australian Open events and facilities manager Tom Larner told 774 ABC Melbourne.

Eight or nine people are involved in making the decisions around scheduling, and it was impossible to please everyone.

Overseas broadcasters may also request certain players play at certain times.

“We’ve got Roger Federer playing during the day, we’ve got Andy Murray out at Margaret Court Arena,” he said.

For Seven the upside to Aussies playing late means they can maintain a strong audience through to midnight, and keeping channel shares buoyant.

16 Responses

  1. 7 does their best to give every player a good time to play. Just because there’s australian doesn’t mean they get to play prime time.

    To the people complaining about the tennis, come on… It’s on only in January, (besides Wimbledon) it doesn’t take up half the year like the Football Does! Get over it

  2. Surely it’s more a case that you’ve now got a couple of Aussies really breaking through and warranting a place on the show courts in primetime after quite a few years of drought since Lleyton Hewitt was at his prime.

    As in all tournaments local TV audiences will definately be a factor – not necessarily the main factor but a key factor at least. In addition I suspect too the night matches are the most expensive so they’ll be wanting to ensure spectators are getting their moneys worth too,

  3. So much pinned on this coverage for them. Outside of Melbourne has been rating like a lead balloon. Last night particularly bad – beaten by a Harry Potter repeat. Time to move this coverage to the second channel and certainly not worth the money in rights just yet….

  5. its not ch 7s fault if players matches run overtime. the other night no one would have predicted that nadal would go to 5 sets the other night when jamilla was playing after.

    7 would want aussies on at night and TA would probably want them as well. but its good we have the other channels to watch.

  6. @Guy – to be fair on C7, Stosur couldn’t win a second round match here if given a set head start and the other player had one arm tied behind her back.

    I do miss watching Novak play in prime time though.

  7. The 7 Network probably does influence draws in terms of who plays when, however the other TV Networks such as ESPN or BBC etc have influence too because they too have paid the broadcast rights so they would prefer players like Federer and Murray and Williams etc play in our day time because of the time difference, cause when its daytime here its night/prime time over there. Its all about ratings and money besides 7 did pay alot too keep the Australian Open and keep it away from TEN, so its only normal that this would happen also other Networks do it too in other 3 Grand Slams.

  8. I have no doubt Seven have a major influence in what goes on with the schedule. I love the tennis and its been great coverage this year but its obvious there is Aussie favouring here. The young Aussie Tomljanovic scheduling Tuesday night proved that. In saying this the same happens at the other 3 majors so its sort of a non-issue really. Its what’s expected. I also think it disadvantages our players too. Stosur loves to play during the day. She has made it clear in the past and i think last night conditions didn’t suit her.

  9. Well the tournament hasn’t been that great at scheduling this year and I don’t think it has to do wiht channel 7. #1 why would you put Sam on at night when she plays best in the heat of the day? #2 why was there a womens match on RLA today between 2 players outside of the top 50, totally doesn’t make any sense whatsoever!!

  10. So while there may not be any pressure from ch7, it’s better for fans to schedule Aussies and the more attractive match ups later in the day or at night when more people are able to watch.

  13. While their are Australians competing in the singles draw channel 7 wants their matches aired in prime time. Anything said otherwise is quite frankly crap. Lleyton’s ranking nor that of his opponents wasn’t high enough to justify Lleyton playing on rod laver arena. I would speculate that they justified him playing on rod laver arena because of his longevity in the game and sevens insistence on his airing in prime time. I look forward to hearing his commentary.

  15. They are deliberately scheduling Australian matches late afternoon with “a not before” every day for Seven’s early evening broadcast. To claim otherwise is nonsense.

    The problem is that those matches have been massive 4 and 5 setters that have run over the night session with the top Australians and the top seeds. They have changed the not before from 6pm to 5pm to help. Advertisers on 72 have reaped some large audiences out of it.

    This always happens to some extent. Once you get past the 3rd round the fixture congestion lessens.

    They rotate the top players around for day and night to give different classes of ticket holders a chance to see them and to be fair. Though Federer does get more night games, particularly in NY which raises complaints from the others.

  16. It’s interesting in previous years when 7 shared the rights with Fox Sports that the Aussies were not all stockpiled to night matches and spread out to courts where Fox would have been covering. 7 now know they have the entire market share and are clearly putting pressure on Tennis Australia as to where and when to schedule matches, it is disgusting….

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