TdU Channel Nine coverage

[Tale]

SBS didnt do a full broadcast last year - just a highlights package. The Cancer Classic was live but thats it.

Didn't SBS broadcast the last two stages live in 2010 and 2011, in addition to the nightly highlights? I attended the TDU the last three years as a holiday and rode the Challenge Tour stages in the last two, and I distinctly remember lying in my Adelaide hotel room watching the full Willunga stage live on TV in 2010, as I was too exhausted to ride down to McLaren Vale

Disclosure: I work for SBS in an unrelated field. I don't speak for my employer, just as a cycling fan.

[CommuRider]

Surely, Channel 9's poaching of other sports coverages is bordering on the anti-competitive?

It's like the way Woolies and Coles are buying prime pieces of real estate land so no rival supermarket can build on it ala Aldi's submission to the ACCC. Same principle is applying here. C9 is buying the rugby, AFL, cycling coverage etc so the other channels can't show it. Nothing to do with their own ratings because they don't have the in-house experts (Eastlake a motorsports fan is doing the cycling coverage now?!!!), but to prevent other channels from getting the viewers AND the sponsors that come with the viewers.

Highly anti-competitive. Each FTA station has its digital channels now so it beggars belief that C9 wouldn't show this on their other digital channel. C7, at least, is still honouring their sports commitment and actually showing the tennis live (!).

C'mon ACCC, this station's strategy of buying out the rights to shunt the competition, is to the detriment of the Australian consuming public.

[The 2nd Womble]

Channel 9 suks bllocks. End of story.
I'm starting an online petition to Santos give it back to SBS for semi serious Poo's and giggles

[grasshopper]

Now with added Fb.

[CommuRider]

Now with added Fb.

Direct link to petition

http://www.change.org/petitions/channel ... -australia

Needs 10,000 peeps! 9800 to go.

[Drunkmonkey]

Wrong - not many people in Europe or the US would be interested in a race thats being held in Australia during January,

So in your view, 9 primarily outbid SBS for the rights to run highlights at 1030pm in Australia, and all these foreign networks are broadcasting something to not many people.

International broadcasters
Viewers around the world can watch the Santos Tour Down Under action on the following networks. Please check your local broadcaster for schedule details.

France - Sport+
Ireland - Setanta
Luxembourg - RTL
Norway - TV2Sport
Spain - Teledeporte
UK - Sky Sports and ITV
Pan-Africa - Supersport
USA and Canada - NBCSports and Rogers
South and Central America - Direct TV
Pan-Asia - Eurosport Asia
Japan - Jsports
Malaysia - Astro
New Zealand - Sky TV

Being broadcast and being watched are two different things

How many people watch the smaller races broadcast on Eurosports?

[Drunkmonkey]

SBS didnt do a full broadcast last year - just a highlights package. The Cancer Classic was live but thats it.

Didn't SBS broadcast the last two stages live in 2010 and 2011, in addition to the nightly highlights? I attended the TDU the last three years as a holiday and rode the Challenge Tour stages in the last two, and I distinctly remember lying in my Adelaide hotel room watching the full Willunga stage live on TV in 2010, as I was too exhausted to ride down to McLaren Vale

Disclosure: I work for SBS in an unrelated field. I don't speak for my employer, just as a cycling fan.

2 stages live is not full coverage!!

[Drunkmonkey]

Honestly the only difference between SBS and Nine is nines highlight package is on later at night.

5 hours is a huge difference when you have to get up for work.

How do you cope during the 3 weeks of the TDF then

[Drunkmonkey]

Surely, Channel 9's poaching of other sports coverages is bordering on the anti-competitive?

It's like the way Woolies and Coles are buying prime pieces of real estate land so no rival supermarket can build on it ala Aldi's submission to the ACCC. Same principle is applying here. C9 is buying the rugby, AFL, cycling coverage etc so the other channels can't show it. Nothing to do with their own ratings because they don't have the in-house experts (Eastlake a motorsports fan is doing the cycling coverage now?!!!), but to prevent other channels from getting the viewers AND the sponsors that come with the viewers.

Highly anti-competitive. Each FTA station has its digital channels now so it beggars belief that C9 wouldn't show this on their other digital channel. C7, at least, is still honouring their sports commitment and actually showing the tennis live (!).

C'mon ACCC, this station's strategy of buying out the rights to shunt the competition, is to the detriment of the Australian consuming public.

Its a waste of time banging on about channel 9, complain to the TDU organisers - they knew what they were getting into when they sold their soul to channel 9

Like I said - the TDU organisers want you to visit Adelaide and empty your wallet while you are there, they dont want you to have full television coverage. 100,000 people watched last nights stage from around the track - thats what oragnisers want, big crowds.

[CommuRider]

Not saying TDU organisers aren't culpable either. Obviously $$$$ offered by C9 > SBS. TdU are out of touch with cycling fans and don't realise live coverage is much more important as the sport is growing than this great attempt to stifle the sport with late night highlights.

Nevertheless, C9 has destroyed other sports coverage before and is on its way of destroying this one too. I still despair about the RWC coverage. A tournament that comes once every 4 years and C9 crapped all over it.

[JB]

TDU coverage = sucks = Channel 9

there feel better now.

[vander]

What noone has mentioned is the kids. Kids will not be able to watch this that late at night. We all know who the future of the sport is so I think having kids watching it is the most important thing for the sport to grow, which apparently is what giving it to channel 9 is meant to be doing........

[Chuck]

How do you cope during the 3 weeks of the TDF then

Excellent point DM and the reason so many are so miffed. Here's the one event we don't have to "cope" with, the one event we don't have to turn up for work in a zombie like trance for, the one event we don't have to sacrifice our early morning ride for and Nine go and #%$* it for us

[JV911]

5 hours is a huge difference when you have to get up to ride.

fixed

How do you cope during the 3 weeks of the TDF then

- record the stage and watch it when you get home from work
- avoid all forms of media during the day
- ban colleagues from discussing the race while you're in ear-shot
- publicly shame anyone who gives the results of the previous nights stage away at work (they'll only do it once:))

[Tale]

SBS is doing online highlights packages. Here's the first: Down Under Classic highlights.

Also lots of SBS TDU news and some post-race interviews and other videos.

I mean, you can at least watch it for Sophie Smith. AKA @sophiesmith86.

[timbo]

Darrell Eastlake is commentating next weekend's live coverage.

...

I was considering watching it this weekend even though it was on Nein. That person alone is enough for me not to even look and see when its on let alone actually watch it.

I was hoping H.G. Nelson and "Rampaging" Roy Slaven would cover it.

I still haven't worked out why Channel 9 want cycling.
Are they working up to the TDF?

[stevecassidy]

Just noticed that Nine have scheduled live streaming of the highlights package at 7pm each night as well as the broadcast version. I'm pretty sure that wasn't there before so hopefully a reaction to all the comment that is going around.

Their live streaming wasn't much to write home about picture quality wise, but better than nothing I guess.

Steve

[CommuRider]

Darrell Eastlake is commentating next weekend's live coverage.

...

I was considering watching it this weekend even though it was on Nein. That person alone is enough for me not to even look and see when its on let alone actually watch it.

I was hoping H.G. Nelson and "Rampaging" Roy Slaven would cover it.

I still haven't worked out why Channel 9 want cycling.
Are they working up to the TDF?

Won't be surprised if they did. What were the viewing figures when Cadel won the TT and the ride down the Champs Elysee?

I can imagine if C9 bought the TdF coverage, instead of Gabriel Gate we would get the dumbed down footage of tits and bums before every stage. instead of chateaux and jardins, P&P will be waxing lyrical about the framed limited edition of Cadel's maillot jaune, numbered to 1000 with highly exclusive replica signature.

[Tale]

As far as I can tell from her tweets, SBS has @sophiesmith86 in the Lotto-Belisol car today. And live online updates on the race here.

[Parrott]

I mean, you can at least watch it for Sophie Smith. AKA @sophiesmith86.

Blonde or Brunette?
Brunette when the question is asked by Sophie

[clackers]

I won't go as far as to actually boycott the Nine coverage.

This is an attempt to spread interest in Aussie cycling to the mainstream.

Since TV executives seem to be panicky headless chickens, this may end up failing like Ten and basketball in the Nineties.

But someone has to try, and in a fragmented sponsors market (as Greenedge have discovered) the injection of cash to the sport must have been welcomed by the organizers.

[roller]

This is an attempt to spread interest in Aussie cycling to the mainstream..

the mainstream of people that happen to be up at 1130pm on a weeknight?

right now, if you didn't know the TDU was on, you wouldn't know it was on.

major "shoot yourself in the foot" from the organisers.

while having the races on television at a reasonable hour might detract some people from getting down to the actual event in adelaide, scheduling the broadcast of the race so that a huge portion of your market won't even see the race isn't going to do much for the long term, people in other states are going to be less likely to make the trip over if they don't even see the race on television.

essentially, while 9's $$ offer probably exceeded SBS's considerably, the organisers really need to look at the value they're getting for those $$$.

SBS = decent coverage, they treat the event as "their" event. they own it.

channel 9 = with 3 channels at their disposal relegate the TDU to the back of the queue behind repeats of 2.5 men, the big bang theory, mike&molly (love to see them on a bike), the middle and top Gear.

shame TDU organisers shame.

[Baldy]

How do you cope during the 3 weeks of the TDF then

Excellent point DM and the reason so many are so miffed. Here's the one event we don't have to "cope" with, the one event we don't have to turn up for work in a zombie like trance for, the one event we don't have to sacrifice our early morning ride for and Nine go and #%$* it for us

Exactly.

Once again, a racing thread where DM wades in and sets us all strait. Remember people, cultural cringe. We are only Australians

[vander]

No live stream of todays stage? Even worse form by 9!

[Parrott]

instead of Gabriel Gate we would get......

Finally a positive for c9, anything else would have to be an improvement