Can sport save Ten?
First there was the Grand Prix. Next came the reported $500m bid for cricket rights, then Ten secured the 2014 winter Olympics. So, can sport save the ailing network? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen investigates.
The television sports rights bidding process is a bit like a game of poker.
Check, fold or bet. Those were the options for the Ten Network last week when it had to finalise its bid for the cricket rights.
While many had expected the struggling network to raise the bet and challenge the incumbent Nine Network, few insiders tipped Ten’s new CEO Hamish McLennan to go all in with a reported $500m bid, over five years, aimed at prising one of Australia’s most beloved sports away from the network where it has been for 32 years.
If TEN give other sports as much “love” as they do F1 (play it in the wee small hours after everyone knows the result anyway) then we’re all doomed!!!!!
Hi JB,
You can’t entirely blame Ten for putting F1 in “the wee small hours” when it’s live (I share your frustrations on the occasions they timeshift it..)
Cheers,
Tim – MUmbrella
Not sure where JB lives but F1 races are live on Ten and qualifying is live on one.
For the Euro & Asia races the timing is not too bad at all. It’s only the races in Canada and South America that are in the “wee small hours.”
Tim, I admit they have improved this year, but a lot of races are on Sunday afternoon Australian time – Malaysia, Japan, Brazil etc and they still play them after my bed time. Up until recently most, if not all, were delayed telecasts…
Hey Anthony, I think Ten would like you to think they were live. But I’d often get the result online while the race was still going on my TV in the background. But again, they do appear to have improved this year…
JB, I use the F1 app to accompany the tv broadcast and it’s certainly been live on either ten or one for the last 3 years.
Hey JB. Brazil eh? It’s afternoon here as I type (2:30pm Sydney time) and it’s 1:30am in Rio. When was the last time you saw a F1GP run at 1:30am local time? Or to use a motor racing analogy – engage brain before engaging fingers on keyboard.
No way. As an example, when Webber won in Monaco, I was watching it live online. Ten was a good hour or more behind. Fact.
Cricket may well be “a valuable property”, but has Channel 10 considered that its involvement can either enhance or detract from said property? The impact of shifting the broadcast rights to Channel 10 is more than simply writing a $500 million cheque. In securing the rights, Channel 10 would become the chief marketer of the product. Granted that a $500 million commitment is incentive enough to promote the crap out of the sport, but the challenge is not one of incentive. It’s an issue of effectiveness.
Much as I have no personal problem with Tim Webster and co, I don’t want them telling me about cricket. Channel 10’s commentators – much like many from the Channel 7 stable – will continue to be a major turnoff for viewers. The Wide World of Sports team, with the exception of the repetitive Mark Taylor and the perpetually grumpy Ian Chappell, have the proberbial runs on the board. Aside from the intrusion of cross promotion into live cricket, the sheer embarrassment of Richie Benaud spruiking a program targeted at those 3-4 generations below him, and the years of not covering the northern summer Ashes tours, Channel 9 has largely advanced the cricket brand.
It’s debatable whether Channel 10 can grow the cricket brand. I expect it will lose ground under Channel 10’s watch. If that’s true, then the $500 million may as well be flushed.
JB, Ten have been broadcasting F1 Live on One or Ten since 2009.
I hope Ten do get the rights to Cricket, V8 Supercars, F1, MotoGP and RU
@ John Grono… sorry, I meant Dubai… Again, most, if not all the races are not live….
Tim Webster (a great talent) has not been with TEN for many years now….
JB,
They don’t run the Brazilian GP at 1:30am local time! It’ll start at 2pm in Sao Paulo which when daylight saving starts is 5am on the east coast of Australia and that’s when Ten screens it.
Who needs to engage their brain now?
So, let me get this straight … the new owners sacked the previous management for pursuing an ‘expensive’ sports strategy (One HD) whilst neglecting the traditional Ten youth market. Now two years later they are back pursuing expensive sports and have realised that the youth market isn’t there any more (they’re online). Meanwhile the ratings and share price of Ten have tanked. Backslaps and gin & tonics all round!