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Commercial TV pushes for sports on digital channels

Commerical networks served up one more message on the day that public submissions closed for the anti-siphoning list review.

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RafaelSeven, Nine and TEN have again pushed for sports on the anti-siphoning list to be played on digital multi-channels.

Their plea came yesterday following the end of public submissions to the review being conducted by Senator Stephen Conroy.

Wayne Goss, Chairman of Free TV said “The public policy principle underlying the antisiphoning rules remains sound; that all Australians are able to watch major sporting events on TV for free.”

“The current review is a great opportunity for the government to allow more sport for free on television.”

The Pay TV lobby via ASTRA has lobbied for a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ approach. Its campaign is not looking to shift current sports from Free to air to Pay Television, but to have access to those sports which are not aired by free to air networks. Last month viewers in Melbourne were furious when the Nine Network denied them the chance to watch the NRL Grand Final Presentation after Melbourne Storm won the premiership trophy.

Pay TV also says it is denied an equal seat at the table when bidding for rights. Indeed, the Productivity Commission has slammed the list of sports offered first to free-to-air networks as “inherently anti-competitive”.

But Free TV Australia says the public interest in free access outweighs the claims of Pay’s profitable business models and encourages digital take-up.

“Now that more than half of Australian households have converted to digital television it’s time to remove the restrictions on free to air broadcasters showing listed sports on their new digital multi-channels”.

“This will not only provide more choice for viewers, but will help drive digital take-up as Australia starts the move to digital only services from next year,” Mr Goss said.

Seven is yet to launch its digital channel.

30 Responses

  1. I am somewhat confused by nomenclature. “Digital” is being used slightly misleadingly. Let me see if I have this right.

    There is free-to-air, and there is PayTV.

    There is analogue/digital, there is digital-only, and there is cable/digital.

    PayTV (cable/digital) wants to have all sports, live, HD, 3D, 6.1 surround, for itself.

    Free-to-air (analogue/digital) wants the status quo.

    Is that right?

    As a non-sports fan, all I want is for televised sporting events to stop pre-empting scheduled programming. So I say let each Network have their own digital sports-only channel (SD, HD, don’t care which), a-la OneHD, and leave the default free-to-air channels without sports entirely.

    I think this arrangement is inevitable, and will happen within 10 years.

  2. @ William Walker. Just once I would love to see a post of yours that is not about “poor Darwin”!

    If you have a problem with missing out on things, I suggest you move to a larger city. Do you also complain that Darwin misses out on world class opera. European designer stores and concert tours from U2, Kylie and Madonna? These are things that exist when a market is large enough. The same as TV stations. Darwin is a small TV market. TV stations are businesses, not government services.

    And we are talking about a niche sports network here. Not a national broadcaster. It’s not the networks responsibility to beam their signal to Darwin, but the local affiliate. And when they feel they can make a profit doing so, they will.

  4. I also agree with Barrett. When did Australians have the right to watch for free. I say get rid of the list as well. We are very lucky in this country at the amount of sport that is on free to air as it is. In the US you have to sometimes pay to watch your team in some of the sports over their. And the UK you have to pay to watch their domestic tests and one dayers. Same goes for the premier league. Yes get rid of it.

  5. Listened to Wayne and a paytv bloke on ABC radio this week and apart from the typical cheapshots Wayne still had the politicians touch; i.e. avoid the question and talk about another topic when the question was too hard to give a genuine non self serving answer. BTW, pay tv people please stop using “old television” to describe FTA because believe it or not people aren’t dumb or looking for smart arses to listen to.

    And Wayne, cut the bogus line that people will lose sports if Paytv get them when FTA warehouses them or shows a Friday night AFL, NRL or whatever sport game near midnight and use the varying timezones as an excuse. If as you say it’s hard to manage then do the Institute of Management / CD courses or p**s off and let us doers do it instead of you collecting money as the mercenary you are.

  6. What if ONE HD never makes to Darwin? I have a feeling inside ONE HD may never come to Darwin, I hope i am wrong, but what if I am right? All the media organisations and TV networks are too city centred, and they are calling for all such things just to satisfty the southern population while people north and west of the divide and outside the metro areas will always miss out. The Australian government must listen to All Australians not just the southern population. I rest my case to make sure the people north and west of the great dividing range and outside the metro areas are heard and represented at last.

  7. well if they want to keep soo bad. they better start covering sports a hell of alot better than what they are doing now. the government will scrap it i reckon

  9. “So Wayne Goss believes that the FTA’s allow ‘all Australians…… to watch major sporting events on TV for free’. So long as its 1am and three days late right Wayne. The holier than thou attitute of the fta’s is breathtaking.”

    Perhaps if they were able to show them on multichannels when they clearly don’t rate on the main station you wouldn’t need to wait until 1am.

  10. although i can understand the logic behind foxtel (although it should be use it or loose it) sports should be able to be shown on digital multichannels, their logic is that people without digital will miss out, but the fact is the networks aren’t going to move a high rating event from their main channel to their 2nd digital channel , all they want to do is be able to show sports that would not rate high enough to air on the main channel, so that those who do want to watch it can (such as nrl in Melbourne) what wrong with that/ beside aren’t they trying to get more people on digital. anti siphoning is meant to protect the viewer but it is the viewers who suffers

  11. Forget Foxtel, think they need to re- think there pricing for watching paid TV , it’s getting more expensive all the time.
    Keep Sport free to air TV like the digital TV channels.

  12. i think that the extra digital channels should be allowed to show anti-siphoned sports event but only if they are shown live in all states, if not they should go to pay-tv and if they dont want to show them live the FTAs should get them, could someone tell me if pay-tvs trying to push for if something is shown in meb live and not in syd for example that it could be shown in meb on 7 and foxsports live also in syd?

  14. If they were serious about digital take up in Australia – which after nearly 9 years is at a pathetically low 53% – then they would straight away modify these laws to allow the use of digital multi channels for sport without having to show on the main channel.

  15. If FTA Digital channels are allowed to broadcast sports from the list TEN/ONE are going to have an absolute ball.. I can see them sparing no expense to get as much of that sport as possible. 😛

  16. I loath sport, bring forward the digital switch over date to say 2011, this should go hand in hand with the anti siphoning list, then there would be more clarity with the FTA second sd channels and hd channels.

  17. The FTA networks should not have access to more sports. Instead the government should change the rules so that the FTA networks must have a minimum of 80% non sports content on their additional channels.
    Then maybe the networks will be forced to actually do what the FTA was originally intended for, educating and entertaining the Australian public.

    If the AFL & NRL want to be taken off the list they should just do what happened with soccer(football), just change the name and structure of your comp (A-League), and you are free from the anti-competitive list.

  18. Use it or lose it – i agree totally and will add to that – show it live,show it till completion.

    Best result would be to get rid of the stupid list totally and let the market place rule.

  19. So Wayne Goss believes that the FTA’s allow ‘all Australians…… to watch major sporting events on TV for free’. So long as its 1am and three days late right Wayne. The holier than thou attitute of the fta’s is breathtaking.

  20. Agreed!! The extra digital channels should be allowed to show the anti-siphoned sports events. There is no reason why a viewer should not have a digital TV or set top box now days so it’s now time to update the rules for the environment where the majority of people now access their TV digitally.

  21. Why don’t they just make Australian TV full of sport 24/7… since it seems that it’s heading that way. I am sick of watching weekend TV and every channel i turn to there is sport. And they’re complaining there isn’t enought. argh!!!

  23. Why don’t get it. Why don’t sports just go to the highest bidder? I don’t understand the concept that Australians have a god given right to watch sport for free.

    Nine, Fox Sports, One, Go!, ESPN, Mate! what does it matter? The NRL, AFL etc are all commercial enterprises. They should be able to sell rights to their sports to whomever they wish.

  24. TEN has the most to gain from this since they have the only FTA 24/7 sports channel.

    ITA with it but I also agree they need to use it or loose it! Why do networks insist on buying the rights to things they have no intention to air in a timely manor?

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