Australian Open switches to 7TWO, but…
Seven exercised its right to switch an Australian Open tennis match to 7TWO. But it seems not everybody is happy.
- Published by David Knox
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Last night Seven exercised its right to switch an Australian Open tennis match to 7TWO when the Jelena Dokic vs Zuzana Ondraskova match ran late. Viewers in Sydney and Melbourne were able to keep watching as play stretched across its 6pm News deadline.
The historic move, which follows Medibank International and AAMI Kooyong Classic games switching to 7TWO last week, was made possible thanks to a relaxing of the Anti-Siphoning rules by Senator Stephen Conroy.
“Viewers were able to see Seven News at 6pm on Channel 7 and the Dokic match on 7TWO meaning viewers had the best of both worlds,” said Seven CEO David Leckie.
Seven has now committed to scheduling matches on 7TWO where matches run over and clash with its regular programming.
But the switch to 7TWO doesn’t mean interstate viewers will start seeing all their games live, and looks set to only be used where a broadcast that has commenced runs over.
Daylight Saving means viewers in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia are subjected to delays for evening matches. And that’s already attracting some ire as these TV Tonight readers demonstrate:
– So apparently Seven is allowed by the government to show matches on 7TWO but insists on showing it delayed in states other than Vic and NSW. What a Shame! Would Love to have Fox Sports at times like this but too bad i couldn’t afford it.
– Why isn’t 72 currently broadcasting the Groth vs Wickmayer match? Today Tonight is currently aired whilst this match is taking place, and now QLD viewers have just missed an entire set of live tennis?
– Firstly, I’m loving Channel 7′s new technique of splitting the screen in 8 to show simultaneous matches then zooming in and out – it adds to the excitement. However, I so wish they’d show games live into QLD. Their argument is always that the viewers would prefer to watch a full game from the start so they are simply giving viewers what they want. Rubbish. I’d prefer to come straight into the middle of a game after the news and watch it live. I just made the mistake of perusing news headlines on my iphone during an ad break and it said who won the game I was watching.
– The Jammilla Groth game is well finished and guess what, Seven Perth is still telecasting the event and we already know the result.
– Great! Australian playing Rod Laver Arena at 7 pm (EST) and what does Channel 7 give WA viewers- a delayed telecast at 10pm EST! Dont you get it we want it live!!!! !! Jarmilla’s game has started and we are watching re-runs of some crap! At least put it on 7-2 so those of us interested can watch it live!! After all we can get live scores on the web of your website or the Australian Open website- this is the 21st century!! Common 7 Perth!!!
It could be a long two weeks….
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- Tagged with AAMI Kooyong Classic, Australian Open, Medibank International, Seven News
53 Responses
Donald, I’m sure it also gets to 43C in Tasmania too.
We’ll take more melanomas to be two hours behind instead of three…
And Seven would still delay telecasts. Yep, shouted it 🙂
i wanna vomit on channel 7 again
The funny thing is that Seven broadcasts the tennis in HD, sends it to overseas broadcasters in HD, sends it to Foxtel in HD, and sends it to locals in C r a p O v i s i o n SD as always with Seven Sport, be it the AFL.V8 Touring Cars, Tennis etc
Just play the tennis live – it is blatantly disrespectful – now that seven have multiple channels not to show the tennis live in all states is contemptible – I listened to hewitt match live on the ‘AO official website’ and able to access live scores – as Aussies can”t access the ‘official’ user pays tennis online – which I would be happy to pay for if it means being able to watch the tennis Live as an aussie resident – you don’t even allow the choice – Archaic thinking and behaviour –
Tennis Australia wake up – you need to serve all of Australia with Live tennis especially in this advanced technological age – the stands will still be filled in which ever the tennis is playing – nothing like it – however we are not all priviledged enough to be able to fly around Australia to get to the various tournaments !!!
seven you simply do not deserve the rights when you treat your audiences with such derision!
And re Leckie saying “best of both worlds” – both worlds are SD? I could’ve sworn as far as sport is concerned that the 2 worlds are live and HD…
Actually Josh, Tasmania has the most sunlight in summer (further south than WA), and they have DST.
We are missing something special cause this Hewitt vs Nalbandian is a thriller! And it’s still not over yet!
Damn you Channel Seven. You just made me hate you more!
Clijster’s match started and finished before QLD’s one hour delayed night coverage began. Channel 7 should have just broadcasted Hewitt’s match live, and then replayed the women’s match after-wards. There is no point in replaying Clijster’s1st round encounter that was largely lop-sided, before a match that should have and could have been broadcasted live. This is Lleyton Hewitt playing for gosh-sake!
@Gary it would hurt them more if you boycotted these shows they have been flogging like a dead horse
Treating Australian sport lovers with contempt is what 7 does best after the “Bathurst” debacle and numerous scheduling back flips,a conscious decision on my part to only watch sport live has left me with very little time for 7.
Watching the Match live tonight would have been enjoyable but I will choose instead to do what many will also continue to do…enough said.
I hear ya Fedexeon. I actually used to like channel 7 back in the day, but over the last decade they have gone downhill and they have pi**ed me off with their pathetic broadcasting of the Tennis and AFL and now I try to boycott them as much as i can (ie. i’ll watch CH9 news instead of CH7 news and A Current affair instead of Today Tonight). I know it doesn’t really make a difference since i don’t have one of those rating boxes but that is how much I hate channel 7.
So sick of Channel 7 right now. It’s not fair that people from other states have to watch the night sessions delayed, as it is the Australian Open afterall, not Melbourne Open.
Trust me, i would just stop watching Channel 7 after the tennis is over. Yeah, I don’t think it would change much since the lack of competition in FTA TV allows big players such as 7 or 9 to run away unharmed even with poor quality of broadcasting but at least i feel better.
Delayed telecast of Hewitts match in Queensland. The match is one hour behind live. Channel 7 is a joke. Boycott the sponsors, it is the only way to get the message thru to them.
we love you channel 7. seriously. love u so much. thank u for ur awsome coverage….oh wait, i need to go vomit!!
@Emjay – the clijsters match was 6-0/6-0 whereas the ivanovic match was 8-6 in the last set – so i think they made the right decision to show that match instead of the one sided clijsters match.
Cant qld ppl not look at the internet if they are interested in the tennis? (harder for WA b/c 3 hrs behind) I know its not ideal but if u really dont want to know the score just dont look at the net! or at least news/sport websites!!! We do it for the footy during the season
Unfortunately, channel 7 have the rights to the Aus Open until at least 2014…sigh…I hate channel 7 with a passion.
Still no signs of the Lleyton Hewitt-David Nalbandian match on 7Two in Perth with Hewitt leading Nalbandian 4-3 in the first set. Rights should be sold to TEN/ONE for the 2012 event.
What about the people who can’t get digital TV?
I know they cant please everyone. but it is unfair.
it’s more embarrassing that sporting organizations like tennis australia allow this to happen. but money talks and they need it
What about tonight. Big feature match Kim Clijsters. We saw the first set. Then they switched over to another match which I’m sure very few people were interested in. About a half hour after the Clijsters match was over, they showed us the last point. Big deal.
Seven in QLD will have problems resisting viewers fury. There will be people already angry at 7 for numerous reasons, add delayed tennis to this… I’d prefer if they ran what game Syd/Melb were watching at 7pm, during the 6-7 hour on 7Two in QLD.
Is there anything we can do to get Channel 7 to change things around with their broadcasting? I mean, two weeks of one hour delayed night coverage is going to be hell. And the fact that they are surely capable of broadcasting it live for interstate viewers makes it even more frustrating.
Seven resisted the fury last year. You could try turning Seven off altogether, that’s what unnerves them the most, but unless you can get the rest of the your city to do the same I don’t like your chances of having any effect. Advertisers are paying for primetime rates. Seven wants the eyeballs in primetime not the arvo.
Now that Channel 7 has gotten everyone in Australia psyched up for Lleyton Hewitt’s match tonight, us Queenslander viewers won’t be able to see it live, but instead be shown a one hour delayed night session coverage. Might as well not even watch the night session, since we’re living in an era where live results are instantly shown on the internet.
Channel 7 just continues to disappoint…
WA gets more sunlight than any other state. We don’t need DLS, even with DLS, we’d be 2 hours behind.
Typical eastern states with their heads buried in their…
We had floods and deaths to FYI, where’s our telethon? Didn’t think so.
And 7 will continue to disappoint us forever, live? Yeah right
And the host broadcaster happens to be one which chooses to show completed matches over matches that are in progress.
Currently i’m watching Chardy vs Tomic for the 2nd time today instead of other live matches going on. Ivanovic, Baghdatis and Tsonga are playing and i get nothing of them.