Channel Seven Olympic Coverage
All we ask, is for a FAIR GO
As we all know, Channel 7 is the Australian broadcaster for the Olympics, as they have been for the past 3 or 4.
For us football fans the bells have started to ring again. I assume most of us remember the NSL. So then most of us remember when channel 7 had the rights to broadcast teh NSL matches. Problem was we had to stay up till midnight to get a glimpse of a highlights package.
It appears we may be duded yet again. The chance to have uninterrupted LIVE coverage of the Olyroos opening match against Serbia the night BEFORE the Olympics start has been lost on 7. Instead they will delay it by 2 Hours so they can cross to the announcement of the Flag Bearer. Now this is a very important announcement, no doubt. And I am very interested myself in who will get the job. (James Tompkins is my bet). However I am sure that 7 could have filled time with many other hours of Olympic stuff after the Football in the lead up to the announcement. Perhaps it is because it will be in Prime Time at 7pm that 7 think they will not get enough viewers and instead show “Today Tonight”, as well know is compelling TV.
Our next match is against Argentina, and Hooray, it will be live at 7pm, but there is a chance that they will cut to Swimming 15 minutes before the end. Argentina are equal favorites to win the thing, and the last 15 minutes may be critical for Arnie’s men.
Then to add the final insult, our match against Côte d’Ivoire will be interspersed with Basketball.
Now I do not begrudge any of the other sports their time in the sun and be on TV for their family and fans. However, there is a “Spill Over” broadcaster in SBS who are the spiritual home of Football Coverage in Australia. We would be able to watch a full 90 mins of Uninterrupted coverage with quality, knowledgeable commentators. Instead we will be stuck with Gordon Bray, a Rugby commentator.
Fair Go Channel 7, we have a true 90 minute sport here that deserves just as much right to be shown as any other sport in ist entirety. The point is many other sports such as swimming, athletics etc have many breaks for adds and switching to other venues. I suspect you know that Football is a growing popular sport here in Aus and you want that, but are unwilling to give it the true coverage it deserves.
Please prove me and other bloggers wrong Channel 7. All we want is a Fair Go
For more commentary on this, try these links
Cheers
Terry
July 24 2008 07:52 pm | General
Matt Rankin on 28 Jul 2008 at 10:28 pm #
Nobody Screws Football like 7.
Terry on 29 Jul 2008 at 7:28 am #
Nobody, is right Matt.
Andrew O on 10 Aug 2008 at 10:53 pm #
Why aren’t Channel 7 using their multichannelling capabilities? Digital TV is so widespread now, and multichannelling laws have been relaxed – this seems like a perfect opportunity to launch Seven 2! Is it a bandwidth issue? Grrrr.