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Ashes to dust on GEM

More simulcasts of the Ashes are now out of the GEM schedule.

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Further to a recent cricket amendment on GEM….

Nine has now dropped the simulcast of the Ashes 1st and 2nd Tests on Sunday November 28, Monday November 29, Friday December 3 and Saturday December 4.

This follows dumping broadcasts from GEM for next week on Thursday 25, Friday 26, Saturday 27.

They will both be broadcast only on Nine in SD, replaced by various repeats and movies.

35 Responses

  2. @ Donald

    I agree that having to adjust the volume is annoying even if it happens to be the other way around. As for the B&W or fifties film thing. Then you must not have seen Empire magazine compare Blu-ray to DVD for Psycho that happens to be in B&W. Based on the photos it was improved. Of course the problem isn’t that it can’t have better clarity for some TV’s it’s just they don’t transmit it in Blu-ray quality. I’ll admit as long as I can see a picture and hear a sound I’m not fussed. Especially as mentioned my TVs have much the same look. HD or SD.

    @ steven guy

    The government legislated that the main channel for each of the networks has to be SD and analogue until 2013. So that’s why they are all SD.

  4. A, you can colour me wowed that your HD is quieter. I have the opposite, though we may be in different areas. I really wish the HD channels were at the same volume as the SD ones, as it’s annoying having to change the volume just because you’ve changed channels. It’s not a small difference – for a HD channel I have my volume on “7”, and for an SD channel (and cable) “15”!

    And if you can’t see the difference on your TV, fair enough, but others can. This includes John Howard who made the decision about having HD channels after seeing it for himself, otherwise they would’ve all been SD (more channels if they’re all SD). HD channels are legislated for, and HD channels should be making the most of it (i.e. not showing B&W movies in 4:3 on the HD channel – show sport on the HD channel, and your fifties movie on an SD channel).

  5. @ Ben

    Not all of us have TV’s that make SD look bad. Some of us have TV’s designed for SD and that means HD or SD look perfectly fine (widescreen or fullscreen). Actually HD is more easily interfered with especially Ch 1 (Ten Network). To be honest Ten can often play up if it’s raining and SD has less problems. So I prefer a choice. That’s why I’m happy Eleven will be on SD. As I might still be able to watch it most of the time. Unfortunately it’s near impossible to improve the antenna. So it wont get any better. Unless we move.

    But the main point on my current TV’s HD or SD look the same or near enough to be irrelevant (as mentioned above I have access to a widescreen and a fullscreen TV with a HD Set Top Box). The only difference is the fullscreen has a better sound system. Plus HD is quieter than the SD sound. Colour me not wowed.

  7. @ Jake – that is incorrect. When GEM simulcasts NIne, It’s ratings count towards Nine only, leaving GEM with nothing.

    If the ratings for simulcasts were separated, you would find that Nine’s main channel ratings would dive while GEM’s would increase – like what happened for Ten during the Commonwealth Games on both Ten and ONE.

  8. A, I have a 60″/152cm plasma, a Blu-ray recorder (both of which upscale SD), and I can see the difference between 1080i and 720p (ABC and SBS HD channels are the latter), never mind the difference between 1080i and SD! I wouldn’t go so far as to call SD “blurry”, as some like to do, but it is clearly inferior quality for sure. Just this week I had someone who’s not an NFL fan say to me he could see for himself how much better the NFL looked, though he wasn’t sure why, but it did (it looks better because it’s shot and broadcast in 1080i).

  9. @Browny – I don’t think Nine will lose many cricket fans over this. If you are interested in The Ashes, you’ll prob watch it in 4:3 on a 56cm screen – we all used to and it was fine. As Jake says, they will more (different) viewers for whatever they stick on GEM.

    I don’t think complaining to the ombudsman will do a any good. Better to try your local member or Conroy about amending the stupid legislation that forces the broadcast of the “main” channels to be in SD and/or certain sports and events to be on the main channel.

  10. @Donald thanks for that. That’s a good explanation. I don’t know much about cricket, but can now see why people would want it in HD.I also agree that SD should never have been sold in Australia.

    I’m still a bit disappointed that GEM doesn’t show The View.

  12. I’ll admit on the TV’s we have it doesn’t make a difference if it’s HD or SD. They look perfectly fine on both. I also like choice as well as being able to watch Murder, She Wrote whether the cricket is on or not. So I for one am for different things on Ch 90 and Ch 9. Thank you. I hope it continues.

    By the way I also hope they continue to broadcast GO! on SD so the people that have SD only set top boxes can continue to enjoy it. It isn’t a problem for my household if it was HD or SD. But I’d hate to live in one that had SD also analogue only and be denied being able to enjoy it. So please don’t change them around i.e. HD and SD for Ch 90 and Ch 99. They are just fine the way they are right now.

  13. I don’t see all the fuss, some people don’t get HD commercial channels and some are yet to get channel 10 or even digital. This includes regional SA, regional WA, remote central and eastern Australia and Griffith which gets ch 10 in December

    Sports are still quite clear in SD if you have the right tv, PVR and/or set top box. They play well on an analog tv through a digital receiver and I am quite happy seeing SD stuff on a small tv. The big tvs may not be as clear but are slightly better if you have a PVR or something connected via HDMI and 1080P resolution.

    Gem is better of without the cricket giving viewers extra choice but should air what 9 would normally air without the cricket Ellen and the View. From 2014, Gem can air Nine sport, cricket, rugby etc and we can all be happy.

  14. Beckala, the primary channels (i.e. the analogue channels) must be available in SD until 2013 (so that those who only bought an SD receiver can still get them – they shouldn’t have allowed SD-only tuners to begin with! No problem then), so to make 9 available in HD, they would have to transmit 9 in both HD and SD. They would therefore need to broadcast 4 channels, needing to reduce bandwidth somewhere, or sacrifice Go or Gem to still have 3 altogether. I think Go would be better off being the HD channel than Gem.

    jay jay, sport is shot from a distance, and needs to fit in a wider shot for the most part (e.g. get as much of the field as possible), as opposed to studio shows which are shot close up. It’s not about seeing their sweat, it’s about seeing their faces! Not to mention clear shots of sidelines, etc. as the case may be in whatever sport (determining if a player was in-bounds, etc.).

  16. Grrrr. The anti-siphoning list should include a rule that major sporting events such as the Ashes are shown in HD, and will always override whatever other crap is on 7 Mate or GEM. As things stand, give every FTA sporting event to Ten and One!

  17. The problem is that the HD broadcasts rate almost nothing. Normal Gem programming doesn’t rate very highly, but it rates significantly better than the cricket has.

  20. My issue was with Nine having the cricket on two channels. So in that respect, I’m really happy with that decision. But – I really fail to understand why they are using their HD channel for movie re-runs and things like that. They want to make GEM female friendly – I get that. But why does it have to be the HD channel? I don’t need to see Weeds or Ellen or the Big C in HD!

    Is there some reason they can’t keep/change Nine itself the HD channel? That would please everybody – those of us that would prefer to have alternate viewing options during the long summer cricket months, and the cricket fans who want to see their sport in the best quality. Is it something in the legislation that means their secondary channels have to be the HD ones? I’m just finding this whole thing really confusing!!

  22. I thought that when GEM started Nine promised to show the whole summer of cricket in HD on the channel. Very disapointed that they have gone back on their word – but sadly not at all suprised. FTA TV in Australia is a complete joke.

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