TV Rights and promotion

[PeterPiper]

As an avid Australian rugby fan I am continually disenchanted with the level of coverage of rugby - Australian Rugby
Foxsports has wonderful coverage of the NPC and Currie Cups to the point we Aussies are pretty well qualified to make serious comment on their games, structure and the immense benefit those competitions deliver to their respective nations.
However try and get coverage of Australian rugby (Sydney Premier etc)outside NSW if you don't have Austar. Qld viewers get nothing - nil - zilch.
So why is it that the ABC Rugby is restricted to Sydney. In years gone by you could get Shute Shield anywhere around Oz on the ABC of a Saturday - but not now.
How is it that Fox give great coverage to every game from just about every other rugby playing nation except Australia.
Isn't it about time that Fox, who really treat rugby in my mind as a reserve program, got behind their licence to broadcast test and S14/15 matches and gave us a comprehensive viewing of Brisbane and Sydney premier rugby.
Yeah before you all cry the quality isn't there. If we build it they will come. How can the kiddies get involved at 'grassroots' level when their local clubs are never seen on TV. It is no wonder league gayfl and soccer have such large following when every game is broadcast yet we in the greatest game get to see diddlysquat.

 

[Jets]

Yeah in my opinion the quality of local rugby is superior to the local football comp and that is shown of Fox with most games live. Rugby needs a big money backer to finance rugby on TV. ABC used to show a game a week and a QRU insider told me it cost them $80K to make it happen.

 

[Lee Grant]

Welcome aboard PP.

The tyranny of the marketplace has a lot to answer for but there's not a lot you can do about it. We are extremely lucky that the ABC has been staunch in Sydney but nobody can warrant that it will continue indefinitely.

As for FoxSports: I believe that they buy a package of Currie Cup games from the RSA broadcasters and another one of NPC games from the Kiwi broadcasters. There are no production costs for them, but if they put on Oz rugby games they would have to pay for everything. You could say they could defray their costs by selling the games to foreign broadcasters but the tyranny of the marketplace would take effect again: who would buy them?

It's one thing to discuss this from a rugby tragic point of view, but that is not the same view as that of shareholders.

 

[chief]

I'd use to watch ABC 2 and watch some Sydney Club games, until just a few weeks ago, ABC replaced it with a Children's TV Show. Granted not many people at all would have watched it in QLD, but it was still disappointing especially as the Sydney clubs consist of some great players from Canberra, WA and Sydney, while Brisbane is mostly just Brisbane. Was great especially if I didn't feel like getting of my ass to head down to one of the Premier Grade clubs to watch one of their games.

 

[Moses]

However try and get coverage of Australian rugby (Sydney Premier etc) outside NSW if you don't have Austar. Qld viewers get nothing - nil - zilch.
So why is it that the ABC Rugby is restricted to Sydney. In years gone by you could get Shute Shield anywhere around Oz on the ABC of a Saturday - but not now.

G'Day PeterPiper and welcome to the site.
Are you aware of iView? This is the ABC's free online video streaming service, broadcasting on demand in very good quality over the Internet.
They currently have the last two weeks of Shute Shield, and I read today that the ABC are upping their coverage at the pointy end of the season.

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/sport

I'm not sure if they restrict iView to only Australian IP addresses..

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

iView is how I get my weekly fix of grassroots footy. It shits me no end that the ABC have rearranged their channels, but at least I still get to see it. Every now and then I manage to avoid knowing the final score before watching it too!

 

[MrTimms]

I used to get it on ABC HD which on Fox was the NSW feed, since the change to the new24 channel, gone. will have to get on iview. I will rig the network at work so I can watch it on paid time. win win...

 

[Elfster]

I am not certain of the ratings for the Saturday Shute shield, but i have found that on the games I have watched, and based on friend's comments, that it is a most enjoyable product. For those who know rugby, the rugby has been good, and for those who don't the attitude and spirit of the commentary make it a good watch. It is a pity that the ABC seems to be reducing the areas where they show it.

With out FTA tv a sport in Australia can wither...and if a sport is deemed to be withering it is less likely to get FTA. And this leads to circumstances where the media coverage and a sport are intertwined and dependent on each other. A vicious circle. And one reason why the media coverage of certain sports: league, NRL, soccer (football) is so generoulsy hagiographic

 

[Boomer]

Welcome aboard PP.

The tyranny of the marketplace has a lot to answer for but there's not a lot you can do about it. We are extremely lucky that the ABC has been staunch in Sydney but nobody can warrant that it will continue indefinitely.

As for FoxSports: I believe that they buy a package of Currie Cup games from the RSA broadcasters and another one of NPC games from the Kiwi broadcasters. There are no production costs for them, but if they put on Oz rugby games they would have to pay for everything. You could say they could defray their costs by selling the games to foreign broadcasters but the tyranny of the marketplace would take effect again: who would buy them?

It's one thing to discuss this from a rugby tragic point of view, but that is not the same view as that of shareholders.

Lee,

All of what you've mentioned is true and accurate. One point to query... I'm overseas and manage to get a lot of live feeds of a variety of international sports from a range of broadcasters. If the KFC Big Bash, Ford Ranger Cup and Sheffield Shield can find airtime in the UK, NZ and even SA, surely the ARU can package rugby to fill late night programming gaps in the UK, France and maybe NZ, SA.

However, what's really needed is an SA-style Supersports - what a channel. Anyone with a couple of spare bob could do worse than take a look at how these guys do it.

 

[RugbyReg]

Lee,

If the KFC Big Bash, Ford Ranger Cup and Sheffield Shield can find airtime in the UK, NZ and even SA,

The KFC Big Bash is made for tv and is the new 'it' sport at the moment. No surprise its on tv.

The Ford Ranger had to sell its sole and move ALL of its games to Wednesday night. No crowds, just live tv on fox.

The Shield, other than the final, isn't even on tv in Oz. I doubt its on tv in the UK etc.

 

[PeterPiper]

Thanl you Moses for that info and i will use it, however, Lee, I can just imaging the cry of anguish from NZ, who have a population similar to that of Qld if they had to watch the NPC on iView or similar mode of media.

 

[TheRiddler]

Dont forget that from this weekend, Setanta in Australia has the Aviva Premiership and the Magners League commencing. More than enough rugby to fill up the IQ box and relegate Mrs Riddler's recordings of Australia's Next Top Desperate Cougar Bachelorettes Selling Houses to their rightful place.

 

[Lee Grant]

Thanl you Moses for that info and i will use it, however, Lee, I can just imaging the cry of anguish from NZ, who have a population similar to that of Qld if they had to watch the NPC on iView or similar mode of media.

So can I - I lived there for 8 years. But there's is a rugby union country and they have a domestic market to watch it and the rugby is good enough to flog overseas to defray the costs.

You could argue that our domestic comp could eventually stimulate more domestic interest and also eventually be good enough to flog overseas, but the expense of set up and getting a foothold against Aussie Rules in particular, and the NRL, would be enormous. It would run down the cash reserves of the ARU very quickly.

It's all about money. The argument that you have to have money to make money is cruelly true.