Nine CEO David Gyngell concedes Nine went too far with Tom Waterhouse
David Gyngell speaking to John Steedman at Mumbrella360
Channel Nine CEO David Gyngell has conceded mistakes made by allowing Tom Waterhouse to spruik live odds with commentators during NRL matches.
Waterhouse had become the lightning rod for the debate, Gyngell told the audience, however he also argued that it was not the network’s place to be “wowsers” when it came to legal activities such as gambling, smoking and alcohol.
“We believe we have got a moral compass to provide to the community, but at the same time we don’t have a wowser barometer either to tell you all to suck eggs, it is a free world you should be able to smoke, drink and gamble whenever you want to or do whatever you think, within the laws,” Gyngell told GroupM’s chairman and CEO John Steedman during a discussion at the Mumbrella360 conference this morning.
What about how virtually every sports caster on Chan9 would throw to Tom as the “expert” on whatever sport was playing? He was never an expert, he was the guy who was paying 9 to talk us out of our money. Horses I may believe but League and Union? It’s insulting that David thinks we are dumb enough to buy this.
I agree that within limits most of us SHOULD be able to gamble etc but we recognise gambling as an addiction so does that mean people who might have a gambling problem simply shouldnt watch sport on TV?
It’s not just about children, its about good governance and not grabbing at cash no matter what the cost for the community as a whole. But broadcasters wouldn’t understand that.
Gyngell is on the wrong tram regarding the astronomical amount he (and TEN) paid for the cricket. Cricket is a summer sport played during the non-ratings period, a time when there are no reliable figures for ad reach and impact.
I found the comments by the Cricket Australia CEO to be telling. He said his kids would like the Big Bash League being on free-to-air (TEN) rather than Foxtel because now his kids would be able to watch it on holiday at the beach. And that’s the problem. It’s the silly season, everybody is lying on the beach and TV takes a back seat. For a TV network which regularly comes in fourth behind the ABC to throw money (and hours of prime time viewing space) at a second-string cricket contest which nobody is interested in is symptomatic of the current malaise at Network TEN and why you should avoid them like the plague when allocating ad spend.
So why if Tom is pulling back was he all over origin last night? That matched with trying to spruik No Direction tickets to avid origin fans. Channel 9 what are you thinking.? Sorry Channel 9 and Thinking in one sentence. Oxymoron!!