Hell has frozen over!!! Live Footy in Melbourne!!!

[adamkungl]

Fatty on the Footy Show last night after announcing this: "Nine are the best... the best!" I know it's his job but still he must know what utter bollocks that is.

What an idiot.

 

[Butters]

Fatty on the Footy Show last night after announcing this: "Nine are the best... the best!" I know it's his job but still he must know what utter bollocks that is.

Anyone on commerical TV is a soulless, talentless, corporate hack so yeah i'm pretty sure he know's what he says is bullsh*t, but he don't care.

Good to hear Melbourne are finally getting games live, doubt it'll be a regular occurrence though.

 

[CowboyFuriousFury]

About time too bad if it's a one-off which it is I mean up in QLD the AFL shown Lions/Suns games live along with some Victoria games live that no-one gives a damn about yet they promoted the hell out of it. Same applies in NSW with the Swans they get promoted like no tomorrow and struggle to beat Iron Chef LIVE.

It be nice if the Storm get the same media treatment as the Suns/Lions/Swans in Victoria with live coverage consinently not an one off but this is the RL admin we're talking about.

 

[undertaker]

Doesn't even matter if there are 0 people at the ground.

The reason channel 9 is doing this is to DEVALUE the product for renegotiation. It's not because they're scared at all.

All they want to do is show the NRL live into Melbourne on a Sunday afternoon, get a terrible audience there, and then say 'see - why should this thing be worth bidding on channels 7/10?'

A second bonus for nine is that they can then say 'see - Sunday afternoon LIVE footy doesn't rate well -let's keep the delayed broadcast' [which they prefer since it leads into the news]

Scumbags!

True. That's why I said in my post that the real test would be whether or not Ch9 Melbourne would be prepared to show a blockbuster game (Storm/Broncos or Storm/Dragons) live on a Friday Night? They'd know it'd at least get double/triple the ratings in Melbourne than any Swans/Lions match in primetime in Sydney/Brisbane, as has been shown by statistics in the past (e.g. Rd 1 2007 vs Wests Tigers, 2007 vs Brisbane, 2008 Centenary Test, 2008 RLWC Final, State of Origin, and 2010 ANZAC test: all matches that were shown live into Melbourne in primetime that rated well)

 

[El Diablo]

Doesn't even matter if there are 0 people at the ground.

The reason channel 9 is doing this is to DEVALUE the product for renegotiation. It's not because they're scared at all.

All they want to do is show the NRL live into Melbourne on a Sunday afternoon, get a terrible audience there, and then say 'see - why should this thing be worth bidding on channels 7/10?'

A second bonus for nine is that they can then say 'see - Sunday afternoon LIVE footy doesn't rate well -let's keep the delayed broadcast' [which they prefer since it leads into the news]

Scumbags!

if that were the case then the AFL rights would be worth $2

the pink poofs and bears can't get 100k in prime time up against 20 year old movie repeats

 

[babyg]

At least it will an entertaining game for Melbourne followers. Should be a few tries scored by Slater and co.

Only problem is that no one will know it's on.

 

[docbrown]

This was in the works since the tv line up for the round was announced. I found it amusing that Melbourne rugby league fans are supposed to worship 9 for screening this one match when they're screwed over the rest of the years.

I hope Penrith fans really turn up in numbers for what should be a really great match on a Sunday afternoon. I also hope Storm fans spread the word around and get people tuning into the match.

Most programs on digitals rate sub 200k. If Melbourne can pull in around 100k it would actually be a strong example of why the Southern States should get the live feed, considering that no other Sunday afternoon digital programming would even come close to matching that.

Also it's the best opportunity for Storm fans to show the club support is still strong.

 

[Lowdown]

I also hope Storm fans spread the word around and get people tuning into the match.

One would hope the broadcaster does their bit by promoting it over the next 48 hours.

Even if you had a few hundred Storm fans telling people telling mates and family members to tune in to Ch.9 - it makes little difference unless they have an Oztam device on top of their box!

Therefore - a more effective campaign would be to drive around to all Oztams in Melbourne, , knock on the door and ask them kindly to tune into Channel 9 for 2 hours on Sunday afternoon.

 

[docbrown]

Even if you had a few hundred Storm fans telling people telling mates and family members to tune in to Ch.9 - it makes little difference unless they have an Oztam device on top of their box!

Therefore - a more effective campaign would be to drive around to all Oztams in Melbourne, , knock on the door and ask them kindly to tune into Channel 9 for 2 hours on Sunday afternoon.

If you know their addresses then feel free.

Otherwise the best thing Storm fans can do is actually tell people to watch the game and chances are those with peoplemeters will be amongst them.

He who whispers down a well
About the things he has to sell
Will never make as many dollars
As he who climbs a hill and hollers

 

[juro]

The Storm vs Tigers game is a Sunday game for channel 9. Will they be doing the same thing that week?

 

[undertaker]

how about the Storm game vs LOL@50ouff$? I believe that is also on Ch9 as well

 

[Gippsy]

Yeah, things are a bit strange to start showing the game live when they have treated Vic fans with absolute disdain for years.

Might also be a case of "hey Dave ol mate, we're the best network to get the TV rights. After all mate, we show the game live in Victoria".

 

[undertaker]

I found it amusing that Melbourne rugby league fans are supposed to worship 9 for screening this one match when they're screwed over the rest of the years.

Well said

 

[Ray Mosters]

Nah, what it is is a bargaining tactic

Its a single game, there will be no promotion, no warning, and as it is going up against AFL and features the Panthers there will be terrible ratings.

Ratings numbers which will be fabricated evidence that the NRL wont rate in Melbourne, and by implication anywhere else. This serves 2 purposes

- it will skew ratings/advertising/revenue projections done by 7 and 10 for non-heartland games, making them seem more costly in non-heartland areas than they are, making a large bid seem more risky

- it will be a bargaining tool used in negotiations with the NRL, that being that if they want guaranteed games in non-heartland areas they are going to have to give up alot of cash, as the network will be taking a massive hit. Ultimately the intention is that the independent commission not insist on having them, the status quo is kept, and they stay on foxtel.

To be honest, this wont effect the overall cash value of the rights too much. The fact is guaranteeing coverage of games in non-heartland areas IS a losing proposition for any network, and is going to cost us.

Doesent mean its not important though, as I have said many times it should be the number 1 priority of the upcoming TV rights negotiation.

In the long term, it will come back to us 10-fold

(incidentally, I think the only place in non-heartland areas that will get genuinely good ratings and will run profitably will be Perth, but thats just my gut feel)

 

[joel caine number 1 fan]

this is stupid,most of us will be watching the 2-4pm game :crazy:

 

[miguel de cervantes]

Could be related to this, maybe: http://www.mediaspy.org/report/2011...dtwit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wordtwit

"Nick Evans, the Nine Network's director of production and programming in Melbourne, has resigned after a nine-year stint with the broadcaster."

Good find. May well be pertinent. We shall find out in the coming weeks.

 

[docbrown]

Nah, what it is is a bargaining tactic

Its a single game, there will be no promotion, no warning, and as it is going up against AFL and features the Panthers there will be terrible ratings.

Ratings numbers which will be fabricated evidence that the NRL wont rate in Melbourne, and by implication anywhere else. This serves 2 purposes
to have to give up alot of cash, as the network will be taking a massive hit.

Screening a Storm game actually attracts a decent Qld audience given their playing roster.

The last Melbourne sunday afternoon game rated 90,000 (Mel v Bri) - and that was about 2 weeks after the Salary Cap saga (so for no points)

That game rated:
Syd - 250,000
Mel - 90,000
Bri - 265,000

If NRL matches were shown at decent hours in the Southern States they could pull another 125-175k viewers, spiking higher for Storm & potential Reds games.

That would put it in the Top 3 to 5 digital channel shows for the week.

 

[babyg]

Could be related to this, maybe: http://www.mediaspy.org/report/2011/04/14/nines-melbourne-production-and-programming-director-resigns/?utm_source=wordtwit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wordtwit

"Nick Evans, the Nine Network's director of production and programming in Melbourne, has resigned after a nine-year stint with the broadcaster."

Maybe he didn't walk he got pushed after putting the Nrl on.

If this is tv rights maneuvering then the Nrl should put out ads in All Melbourne newspapers to tell the world that the game is on tv. Would be worth the expense.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Screening a Storm game actually attracts a decent Qld audience given their playing roster.

The last Melbourne sunday afternoon game rated 90,000 (Mel v Bri) - and that was about 2 weeks after the Salary Cap saga (so for no points)

That game rated:
Syd - 250,000
Mel - 90,000
Bri - 265,000

If NRL matches were shown at decent hours in the Southern States they could pull another 125-175k viewers, spiking higher for Storm & potential Reds games.

That would put it in the Top 3 to 5 digital channel shows for the week.

very good point, it's not so much about non heartlands, it's actually about what they can add to the heartlands. but getting decent ratings in melboring is a bonus.

 

[docbrown]

very good point, it's not so much about non heartlands, it's actually about what they can add to the heartlands. but getting decent ratings in melboring is a bonus.

Well I can tell you that the Melbourne vs Brisbane game had the largest metro ratings for Sunday football last year - without a Sydney team featured it pulled 250,000 in Sydney and 611,000 in the 5 capitals.

I have long advocated a Sunday double header on FTA running from around 1:30pm/2:00pm through to 6 pm if we go to an 18 team comp with 4 QLD teams.

With 4 teams on show every Sunday you could feature a Qld team every week, 2 NSW teams and have the final spot for either a VIC/WA/ACT/NZ side. 4 sets of fans will be inclined to watch both games (much easier to do during the day time) but also more general rugby league fans will be drawn in to watch as well.

Under this system they could regularly draw:
Sydney - 350,000+
Brisbane - 250,000+
Melbourne - 60,000+
Perth - 40,000+
Adelaide - 20,000+
Regionals - 550,000
Total - approx 1.1-1.2 million+ - but across both games.

It would be on par with the live 7:30pm Friday slot and would dominate Sunday afternoon television. Any network that had that as its lead in would tend to win Sunday news & Sunday nights.