Nine dumps Wimbledon
The Nine Network has dumped Wimbledon after almost 40 years as it readies for a bidding war for AFL rights.
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The Nine Network has dumped Wimbledon after almost 40 years as it readies for a bidding war for AFL rights.
“Unfortunately, it (Wimbledon) hasn’t rated well in recent years and we think that money is now better invested on other sporting properties,” GTV9 boss Jeff Browne told the Herald Sun.
The move is tipped to save Nine about $15 million in licence fees and production costs, money it can now throw at the AFL and NRL.
Nine is believed to be particularly keen on pioneering Monday night football and is also committed to showing all games live, which Seven has shied away from doing.
But AFL TV audiences have been on a slide.
Seven’s Friday night football audiences are down 8.9 per cent, from an average of 462,000 last year to 421,000 this season. TEN’s Saturday night audiences dropped from a Melbourne average of 374,000 last year to 283,000 this season.
“Some slots are up, some are down. The ratings are still generally good, and we are certainly pleased that we are on track to break the attendance record and the club membership record,” AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan told the Herald Sun.
Source: Herald Sun
62 Responses
Give it to ONE!!!
Chris – that assumes that Nine still have the rugby league rights. The NRL has its rights up for negotiation at the same time as the AFL’s, so it’s quite possible that Ten or (god forbid) Seven might pick them up, which would leave Nine free to show the AFL in all markets – although given the AFL’s ratings in Sydney and Brisbane it’s still unlikely that they’d do so unless they were contractually obliged to.
Hopefully who takes up the rights can show the premier matches live instead of being on delay as has been the case with a few matches from Nine over recent years.
also this years ratings were softer as it was competing with the world cup
Australia is one of few countries in the world that still have free-to-air coverage of Wimbledon (I know NBC in the US show the tennis from semi-finals onwards, and Hong Kong’s TVB dropped its coverage this year after 20 years). I also feel ONE HD should pick Wimbledon if it can afford the asking price of US$20 million as demanded by sports management group IMG, which is doing the negotiations on behalf of the All-England Club.
Less sport, im ok with that
Not happy with this I look forward to seeing “Newk” “Firey” and the boys every year on Nine. I just hope whereever it goes they keep the same commentary team.
I wish football codes would stick to their respective channels- NINE: NRL, 7:ARU, TEN: AFL.
Having them dispersed over the 3 fta channels usually results in poorer overall coverage for the sport. Nine does so well with nrl, if they were to lose that, or part of, or show afl on Friday nights in sydney instead of nrl, a lot of people would be unhappy.
the game has to be a sell out and agreed on by the afl before it can been seen live on f2a i can really see eddie going live against the gate for a collingwood game cant you and as we ve seen this year tv ratings are down way down for the afl thanks to mc if nine want it so bad how are they going feel when monday night football rates lower than a repeat of 2 and half men or BBT give all sport to onehd and give them another 2 hd channels problem solved
I also think it would be stupid for the afl to give 9 the afl rights because they already have the nrl rights and therefore nrl will always take precedence over afl in syd/bris which means afl will always be shown very late into these areas (which is not wanted by the afl).
I know 7 only show it at about 11.30 on fridays but during the finals I know they showed brisbane game live, which ch9 wouldn’t be able to do due to nrl games.
Also on sundays the nrl and afl games are on the same time, so couldnt be shown on ch9 either!
Yay. Not. Channel 9 suck. I loved the opportunity to watch Wimbledon.. hopefully One or someone else will take it over.. and as for 9 getting the AFL, that would be the worst possible outcome for Brisbane/Sydney. They would never show games live in Bris (especially Mon night)… plus last time they had the rights they had the most deplorable commentators… Brereton anyone? Here’s to hoping 7/10/1 get everything and 9 can have that simple ball tossing and catching game they call rugby.
@Craig and ryaneco it would be a great addition to ONE HD however they wouldn’t be allowed to show it on there, unless they showed it on ch10 as well due to anti-siphoning i believe? Although, maybe if it did go to 10/one, then one would show replays during the day which would be great!
My father loved boxing and they took that of tv.
My mother loves tennis, now that is being taken of tv.
Thanks for nothing
With Ch9’s lackluster airings on sports in recent times.. I hope they lose all three!
AFL/NRL/Wimbledon can goto “One” that way Ch10’s sports channel gets the expanding it needs!
hopefully this means Fox Sports can multichannel it and show more matches now.
What drove Nine over the line with Wimbledon?
Was it the match that went on and on and on and…
Typical…. No class.. appeal to the masses and forget about the others.
Ok 9 now I seriously dislike you. I love when wimbledon comes around every year. Its a special tournament. It doesn’t usually begin until 10:30 sometimes later so how do you expect it to rate. Also maybe if you just showed the tennis instead of just showing one match then cut to the cricket. which was very annoying by the way.
Very disappointed
Does the Ten Melbourne Saturday figure include the audience watching on ‘One’… Cause I cannot fathom the audience for Saturday night football (in Total)) being That dire. ?
If it is the networks would be stupid to be throwing so much money at this game.
They have had some ordinary games on TV this year.
Crowds and memberships (two things the NRL can only dream of) are up but the cushy deal Fox got has hurt free to air footy this year.
And after the Sainters crush Collingwood today we will have our rightful ladder position back.
Speaking of hurt, I bet Kenny Sutcliffe is quietly weeping in a corner right now. 🙂
When Nine say they will show all games live, I assume that excludes Sydney and Brisbane. The games here simply don’t rate (even if shown live), and there is no way I’m giving up Friday Night NRL on Nine so the two AFL fans in Brisbane can watch Aussie Rules.
Normally I wouldn’t give a toss about sport and televised sport, but Wimbledon is a classic and historic, in a way few sporting events are. 9 will lose more viewers with this decision.
ONE HD is the logical successor since it is the only channel that seems to care about quality HD broadcasting.
So will ABC or SBS pick up the FTA rights?
This would be a fantastic addition to ONE HD.
It doesn’t rate well because its on overnight.
I hope ONE pick up the rights would give them for first rate sport for primetime spots.