Sports Media
Media coverage of Australian sport and athletes predates 1876. The first all Australian sport publication, The Referee, was first published in 1886 in Sydney. The major newspapers for sport coverage in the country include the Herald Sun and The West Australian.
There is a long history of television coverage of sports in Australia. From 1957 to 2001, the Seven Network was the network for the Australian Football League. The only year that Seven was not the network for the league was in 1987 when the AFL was on the ABC. An exclusive deal was agreed upon by Seven in 1976 for a five-year deal worth A$3 million. Not all sports have had favourable deals with network. The first television offer for the National Basketball League was worth A$1 in an offered made by Seven that the league accepted. The deal made by Ten Network to the New South Wales Rugby League was worth considerably more, worth A$48 million for a five-year deal that also included broadcasting rights for the State of Origin and the Australia national rugby league team. This deal was terminated early because the network could not afford to pay out.
The 1967 NSWRFL season's grand final became the first football grand final of any code to be televised live in Australia. The Nine Network had paid $5,000 for the broadcasting rights.
SBS and FoxSports are two of the most important television networks in Australia in terms of covering all Australian sports, not just the popular professional leagues. Administrators for less popular spectator sports, such as basketball and netball, believe that getting additional television and newspaper coverage is fundamental for the growth and success of their sports going forward.
Anti-siphoning laws in Australia regulate the media companies' access to significant sporting events. In 1992, when the country experienced growth in paid-subscription media, the Parliament of Australia enacted the Broadcasting Services Act that gave free-to-air broadcasters preferential access to acquire broadcasting rights to sporting events. The anti-siphoning list is a list of major sporting events that the Parliament of Australia has decided must be available for all Australians to see free of charge and cannot be "siphoned off" to pay TV where people are forced to pay to see them. The current anti-siphoning list came into effect in 2006 and expires 31 December 2010. The Minister for Communications can add or remove events from the list at his discretion. There are currently ten sports on the anti-siphoning list plus the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Events on the anti-siphoning list are delisted 12 weeks before they start to ensure pay TV broadcasters have reasonable access to listed events, if free-to-air broadcasters decide not to purchase the broadcast rights for a particular event. Any rights to listed sporting events that are not acquired by free-to-air broadcasters are available to pay TV. For multi-round events where it is simply not possible for free-to-air networks to broadcast all matches within the event (e.g. the Australian Open) complementary coverage is available on pay television. The Federal Government is obliged by legislation to conduct a review of the list before the end of 2009. The current anti-siphoning list requires showing listed sports on the broadcaster's main channel.
Sport is widely televised in Australia. The table below contains ratings information for 2011 and 2012 matches and television shows for the Australian Football League and National Rugby League and other sporting events.
| Match | Network | Air date | OzTam Five city Live | Sydney | Melbourne | Brisbane | Adelaide | Perth | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 | Seven | 9-Oct-11 | 1212000 | 384000 | 302000 | 287000 | 153000 | 86000 | |
| 2011 NRL Grand Final | Nine | 2-Oct-2011 | 2027000 | 1021000 | 347000 | 524000 | 48000 | 87000 | |
| 2011 NRL Grand Final Presentation | Nine | 2-Oct-11 | 1548000 | 893000 | *** | 511000 | 60000 | 84000 | |
| 2011 AFL Grand Final | Ten | 1-Oct-11 | 2595000 | 258000 | 1367000 | 308000 | 297000 | 365000 | |
| 2011 AFL Grand Final Post Match Presentation | Ten | 1-Oct-11 | 2106000 | 187000 | 1114000 | 257000 | 276000 | 271000 | |
| 2011 AFL Grand Final Pre Game | Ten | 1-Oct-11 | 1932000 | 141000 | 1096000 | 229000 | 204000 | 262000 | |
| 2011 AFL Grand Final Pre Match Entertainment | Ten | 1-Oct-11 | 1405000 | 800000 | 863000 | 151000 | 147000 | 164000 | |
| The Footy Show (rugby league) season final | Nine | 29-Sept-11 | 973000 | 152000 | 507000 | 116000 | 128000 | 71000 | |
| 2011 Singapore Grand Prix | One | 25-Sept-11 | 280000 | 55000 | 84000 | 50000 | 40000 | 52000 | |
| 2011 Brownlow Medal | Seven | 26-Sept-11 | 1130000 | 16000 | 743000 | 6000 | 156000 | 210000 | |
| Rugby League Final Series Pf2 | Nine | 24-Sept-11 | 1174000 | 619000 | 274000 | 274000 | 4000 | 2000 | |
| Ten’s AFL Finals 2011: 2nd Prelim. Final Geelong V West Coast | Ten | 24-Sept-11 | 1095000 | 57000 | 556000 | 79000 | 118000 | 284000 | |
| 2012 State of Origin | Nine | 13-Jun-12 | 2,472,000 | 1,185,000 | 366,000 | 774,000 | 68,000 | 79,000 | |
| Edited: LONDON GOLD: OPENING CEREMONY Overrun | Nine | 28-Jul-12 | 2,025,000 | 608,000 | 706,000 | 365,000 | 200,000 | 146,000 | |
| LONDON LIVE: D1 EARLY EVENING | Nine | 28-Jul-12 | 1,968,000 | 624,000 | 536,000 | 391,000 | 222,000 | 195,000 | |
| LONDON LIVE: D1 EVENING | Nine | 28-Jul-12 | 1,795,000 | 559,000 | 499,000 | 326,000 | 214,000 | 197,000 | |
| LONDON LIVE OPENING CEREMONY | Nine | 28-Jul-12 | 1,721,000 | 520,000 | 564,000 | 385,000 | 143,000 | 109,000 | |
| TWENTY/20 – AUSTRALIA V INDIA GAME 1 | Nine | 1-Feb-12 | 1,462,000 | 447,000 | 452,000 | 253,000 | 148,000 | 162,000 | |
| LONDON GOLD: OPENING CEREMONY (R) | Nine | 28-Jul-12 | 1,313,000 | 352,000 | 436,000 | 213,000 | 141,000 | 171,000 | |
| ONE DAY CRICKET -FIRST FINAL SESSION 2 | Nine | 4-Mar-12 | 1,285,000 | 414,000 | 391,000 | 235,000 | 143,000 | 102,000 | |
| LONDON LIVE: D1 LATE | Nine | 28-Jul-12 | 1,155,000 | 335,000 | 381,000 | 164,000 | 140,000 | 136,000 | |
| ONE DAY CRICKET -FIRST FINAL SESSION 1 | Nine | 4-Mar-12 | 999,000 | 298,000 | 295,000 | 214,000 | 92,000 | 101,000 | |
| SEVEN’S AFL: FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL FINALS | Seven | 7-Sep-12 | 981,000 | 0 | 604,000 | 0 | 196,000 | 181,000 | |
| CRICKET TWENTY/20 LATE (10.30-11.15 AEDT) | Nine | 1-Feb-12 | 974,000 | 299,000 | 299,000 | 174,000 | 137,000 | 65,000 | |
| Seven's AFL: Saturday Night Football Finals | Seven | 8-Sep-12 | 931,000 | 0 | 515,000 | 0 | 139,000 | 277,000 | |
| RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES QF1 | Nine | 7-Sep-12 | 856,000 | 589,000 | 0 | 267,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Seven's AFL: Saturday Afternoon Football Finals | Seven | 8-Sep-12 | 749,000 | 143,000 | 297,000 | 52,000 | 165,000 | 93,000 | |
| Rugby League Finals Series QF2 | Nine | 8-Sep-12 | 718,000 | 472,000 | 0 | 246,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Rugby League Finals Series EF1 | Nine | 8-Sep-12 | 672,000 | 392,000 | 0 | 280,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| SEVEN’S AFL: FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL FINALS – PRE MATCH | Seven | 7-Sep-12 | 597,000 | 0 | 394,000 | 0 | 109,000 | 94,000 | |
| SEVEN’S AFL: THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL | Seven | 5-Apr-12 | 519,000 | 0 | 293,000 | 0 | 126,000 | 101,000 | |
| LONDON LIVE: D1 OVERNIGHT | Nine | 28-Jul-12 | 468,000 | 132,000 | 180,000 | 66,000 | 47,000 | 43,000 | |
| NINE’S SUNDAY FOOTBALL | Nine | 4-Mar-12 | 440,000 | 241,000 | 56,000 | 119,000 | 10,000 | 13,000 | |
| SEVEN’S AFL: SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL | Seven | 28-Jul-12 | 360,000 | 0 | 238,000 | 0 | 62,000 | 60,000 | |
| CRICKET OVERRUN-6PM | GEM | 4-Mar-12 | 339,000 | 180,000 | 154,000 | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | |
| Paralympics London 2012 Highlights: Day 9 | ABC1 | 8-Sep-12 | 324,000 | 89,000 | 119,000 | 53,000 | 35,000 | 28,000 | |
| 2012 Wimbledon | 7Two | 26-Jun-12 | 276,000 | 76,000 | 93,000 | 40,000 | 33,000 | 32,000 | |
| Paralympics London 2012: Day Nine Evening | ABC2 | 7-Sep-12 | 207,000 | 55,000 | 58,000 | 36,000 | 25,000 | 34,000 |
The table below gives an idea as to the viewing audience.
| League | Aggregate audience | Year | Total television viewers | Year | Average per game | Year | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Basketball League | 6,061,679 | 2010/2011 | 33,815 | 2010/2011 | |||
| National Rugby League | 128,500,000 | 2009 | |||||
| Women's National Basketball League | 1,352,096 | 2010/2011 |
Rugby league, which includes NRL, State of Origin and national team matches, had the highest aggregate television ratings of any sport in 2009 and 2010. Also, in a world first, the Nine Network broadcasted free-to-air the first match of the 2010 State of Origin series live in 3D in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
There are a number of Australian sport films. They include The Club. The film was based on a play produced in 1977, in Melbourne. It has been in the senior English syllabi for four Australian states for many years. The film was written by David Williamson, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring John Howard, Jack Thompson, Graham Kennedy and Frank Wilson. Another Australian sport film is The Final Winter, released in 2007. It was directed by Brian Andrews and Jane Forrest and produced by Anthony Coffee, and Michelle Russell, while independently produced it is being distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was written by Matthew Nable who also starred as the lead role 'Grub' Henderson. The film, which earned praise from critics, focuses around Grub who is the captain of the Newtown Jets football team in the early 1980s and his determination to stand for what rugby league traditionally stood for while dealing with his own identity crisis. Other Australian sport films include Australian Rules and Footy Legends.
Sport is popular on the radio. This Sporting Life was a culturally iconic Triple J radio comedy programme, created by award-winning actor-writer-comedians John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver, who performed as their characters Roy and HG. Broadcast from 1986 to 2008, it was one of the longest-running, most popular and most successful radio comedy programmes of the post-television era in Australia. It was the longest-running show in Triple J's programming history, and commanded a large and dedicated nationwide audience throughout its 22-year run. 2KY is a commercial radio station based in Sydney, broadcasting throughout New South Wales and Canberra on a network of over 140 narrowcast transmitters as well as the main 1017 AM frequency in Sydney. 2KY broadcasts live commentary of thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing. Over 1500 races are covered each week, including the pre and post race form and TAB betting information.
There are a number of Australian sport magazines. One is the AFL Record. The magazine is published in a sports magazine style format. Eight different versions, one for each game, are published for each weekly round, 60,000 copies in total, and Roy Morgan Research estimates that the Record has a weekly readership of over 200,000. As of 2009, the week's records are published and are able to be viewed in an online magazine format. Another Australian sporting magazine is Australia's Surfing Life, a monthly magazine about surfing published in Australia. It features articles about surf trips in Australia and overseas, surfing technique, board design and wetsuits. The magazine was founded in 1985.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Australia
Famous quotes containing the words sports and/or media:
“Come, my Celia, let us prove
While we may the sports of love;
Time will not be ours forever,
He at length our good will sever.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
“Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of an intolerable world, words appear to change very little. State power has become congenitally deaf, which is why—but the editorialists forget it—terrorists are reduced to bombs and hijacking.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)