The Death of HD Sport on TV

[Henry Jr]

Come Jan 11, 2011 when Ch10's new channel 11 takes off, it will officially be the end of HD Sport in this country.

Why is this?

Because, each of the networks get X amount of bandwidth (bit like your internet at home).

And whilst they won't admit, showing a program in HD requires the bandwidth of 2 of the 3 channels.

9 have already shown their hand and not doing Cricket in HD anymore.

And we saw already that Bathurst and both the AFL GF's were only shown in SD.

Its a sad state of affairs for sports lovers....

 

[Woodside Hawk]

I'm pretty sure its more to do with legislation than bandwith.

My understanding is the original legislation allowing free-to-air networks to have multi-channels allows for them to have 1 x HD channel only and 2 x SD channels, hence when they decide they want to have separate channels appealing to separate demographics (or more realistically, once one of them decided that and the others felt they needed to compete) the HD channel ceased being a reproduction of the 'main' SD channel and became another slot for them to use. HD sport was doomed from that point, as they feel they can sell advertising to 'mens' audiences on the main channel during the ashes, but still sell advertising to 'womens' audiences on the old HD channel by showing Ellen instead of HD sport.

They're still filiming it in HD, as the highlights package on Foxtel each night proves - there it is in glorious HD - but they're not broadcasting it.

The poster you need to explain this in more detail is Shwab...he knows this stuff backwards.

(By the way, the first of the AFL Grand Finals was broadcast in HD and in 3D, but the 2nd one was only in SD)

 

[Messenger]

And Channel 9 spend most of the time using Channel 90 to show old movies that weren't shot in HD.

When 11 is up and running, OneHD will still be showing in HD though surely?

 

[Rooney]

Hmmmm... while I think you are half right, I don't think Eleven coming online will mean that One HD ceases to be an HD channel. What is actually going to be lost is the SD version of One... so if you don't have an HD capable TV/Tuner you will lose the ability to watch One at all.

True that the Ashes has already been lost to HD due to GEM. And I'm not sure what Seven's plans are with HD... makes sense to put some HD sport simulcast onto 7mate. (7mate currently has their HD content I think)

 

[grizzlym]

It sucks, hey? Seeing some of the crappy broadcasts of the AFL was embrassing.

Live sport is one of the few drawcards left for free to air. The old revenue model has been smashed wide open. Can anyone remember when they last watched a series on free to air in Australia? Commercial tv is unwatchable - the sheer weight of the advertising, fickle programming (on one week, not the next), the lack of quality content etc. The era of 'appointment viewing' (i.e. iTune store, torrents, new technology recording that skip ads) is over, and the broadcasters haven't adjusted. Live sports is one of their few unique drawcards that bring an audience, so you'd think they would do the best job they could.

 

[Shwab]

Eleven will be SD, ONE HD will remain.

FTA broadcasters have little incentive to broadcast sport in HD. Advertising deals are structured to reward higher ratings results with higher dollars. The networks therefore need to carefully place content to maximise ratings for extended periods, maximising financial performance.

Here's a simple example -

AFL Grand Final (Channel 7)
At the end of the 2010 drawn AFL Grand Final, most of the audience from the SD channel stayed on 7 for the news, however most of the viewers of the HD channel were lost to the network.

For the replayed Grand Final, channel 7 broadcast only in SD, maximising ratings not only for the game, but keeping a larger audience for the rest of Saturday nights broadcast on the main channel.

Channel 10 strategy
For the past few years channel 10 has lost viewers at the 6pm timeslot (audience switching over to 7 or 9 for news block) which it struggles to get back for the rest of the evening - costing the network massive money.

Eleven will broadcast Neighbours and the Simpsons enabling the primary channel to broadcast news / current affair style content from 6 - 7pm, keeping ratings healthy leading into prime time (Masterchef etc).

If you want LIVE HD Sport, pay $20 a week for FOXTEL (yes I work there).

 

[HigginsHawk]

My understanding, talking to a fairly high level ABC exec, is that the HD channels will revert to being the 'main' channels in a couple of years when the transfer to digital is complete. The networks have to retain their analogue stations and these are only rebroadcast in SD. The HD stations will be relatively wasted for a couple of years.