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Queensland, South Australian viewers bash TEN over sport delays

Networks keen to nab sports rights would do well to remember viewers just want it Live (and in HD).

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2015-01-06_0003Another day another viewer backlash on social media, this time aimed at TEN over delays returning for the Big Bash League into Queensland and South Australia.

After 2 weeks of live coverage while The Project was resting, delays have returned in Queensland once more. The Project returned last night with guest host Wil Anderson.

Last month a TEN spokesperson told TV Tonight there would be some delays and some live games for Queensland.

“We will be airing 34 KFC T20 Big Bash League matches in prime time. Unfortunately, due to the earlier start times of Big Bash matches this year, there will be some matches that will be delayed in Brisbane and Adelaide.

“The majority of matches will be live in every market on TEN, with all matches available live in Perth on ONE and then replayed on TEN in Perth at 8.30pm.”

While the 3 hour time difference in WA has been deemed too long to wait and ONE comes to the rescue, it seems 1 hour in Queensland isn’t long enough to warrant the multichannel strategy.

 

44 Responses

  1. Well done to Chris Lynn for calling out Ten Sport while being interviewed live on the field during the Brisbane Heat game tonight. Skip to the 1:00 mark to hear what he says.

    youtube.com/watch?v=036LgIO2_Hc

  3. I could be mistaken, but I am sure I heard the commentators last night tell Adelaide viewers that “The Project would be back tomorrow night…”.

    I took this to mean that Adelaide were actually seeing the game live.

    It also gave me hope that the Brisbane Heat game would be shown live in Brisbane.

    Did anyone else hear this?

  4. I read Ten are using the confusion excuse for not starting on ONE and then shifting it to Ten couriermail.com.au/sport/big-bash-league-tv-chiefs-risking-twenty20-supporters-fury-by-delaying-games/story-fn6w5qv7-1227176542872?nk=773b535081e5c4942ff8fd72bf9c4484

    When the Australian open is on 7 have no problem showing the first hour of the night session on 7 two and then putting it on the main channel later.

    I refuse to watch delayed games. Wish I had a ratings box so that it actually mattered.

  5. In this day and age of multichannels and social media it is totally unacceptable to have delayed sporting coverage. Ten doesn’t want to move The Project due to the hit it took last year in the ratings because of BBL, understandable, but show the first hour of BBL on OneHD and give viewers the option. Unlike other markets where the audience is growing for the second session of the BBL, in QLD, the ratings are showing viewers are switching off, presumably because they already know the outcome. Seven used to delay tennis coverage in Qld but they finally got their act together. As for those bashing QLD for not having daylight saving, blame the QLD govt for that, not average Joe Blow wanting to watch the cricket live.

  6. As others have mentioned, the most amazing part of this is that finally Ten have something that is actually popular and people really want to watch and yet they’re doing their best to alienate a large chunk of their audience by not showing it live.

  7. I for one have refused to watch Ten over the past 2 nights because of this. It’s a disgrace.

    We all know why Ten are doing it. They want to protect their precious Family Feud and Project. They know very well that if they put the BBL on ONE, a huge number of people will just switch to the cricket and ignore those two programs. And rightly so. The BBL rated huge on Monday night (although I notice it didn’t do so well in Qld), but Family Feud and The Project both failed to make the top 20.

  9. @MHA Fair enough, I’d forgotten about the limitations of city or state of origin sports.. and that was a significant impact. But like you say that was more at the insistence of the sporting codes rather than a limitation put on by the broadcasters… which is what is happening now.

  10. I can’t believe their are people on this site supporting Delayed Sport.

    What Ch 10 are doing is maximising their Profits via ratings and advertisement. It has nothing to do with Daylight Saving!

    It’s pretty simple what us Queenslanders and South Australians need to do, it is to turn off the Tv or change the channel and not watch the BBL it’s pretty simple.

    If an Average Audience of 150,000 viewers in Brisbane drops to 75,000 viewers or less in Brisbane, all of the sudden advertisement revenues fall, then it’s in ch10’s best interest to show the matches live. But why show the BBL live if people are willing to watch the BBL delayed!!!!

  12. They are now showing tonight game Live into Adelaide gues because it is just a Adelaide Strikers game the next 3 games after that are on 30 minutes delay and dont forget you can watch all games live on pc and tablet

  13. I don’t think you’ll see most sport in HD until the networks put their main channels into HD only. For the networks to put their main SD channel into HD only, would be ratings suicide as not everyone has a HD compatible TV and some are just getting used to SD as the switch over from analog for all households wasnt that far ago.

  15. Yes, lets be like China with one national timezone instead of 6. Daylight saving or lack of it in QLD/NT/WA has nothing to do with this!

    @Andrew, I well remember the bad old days in the 70’s when lots of sport was delayed, including cricket every now and then depending on which part of the country you lived in. The VFL in Victora comes to mind when the Saturday match of the day used to be delayed until 6:30pm and don’t forget the cricket blackouts in cities of origin. Even the State of Origin Rugby League used to be delayed in the city of origin in the early days. Sport was very much delayed alot in the 1970’s, more at the behest of the Sporting bodies than TV stations I begrudgingly admit.

  16. One of the things that hurt Ten was not having an early evening lineup that worked. That is why having got FF and The Project Working they are loath to let people get out of the habit of watching them.

    Not showing Brisbane’s games live could cost them more though.

  17. Well I suppose that BBL04 is different to BBL03 in terms of programming for QLD and SA. 2014 saw the Reboot of Family Feud on Ten. Some QLD, SA and NT viewers criticised the Network Ten for not putting the T20 matches live and free and especially on ONE. Here in Perth, we get to see every match live and Free on One and then being replayed on Ten during 8:30-9:30PM.

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