An email to 2UE’s Jason Morrison in response to the news that Ten could get the broadcast rights to every bit of Australian domestic and international cricket.
Hi Jason,
I’m sorry but I disagree with your comments about Nine, Ten and the Cricket.
Nine do “get” the game, but I feel that they’ve become very complacent with their coverage of late, in much the same way that Seven were very complacent with their AFL coverage in 2000 before they lost the rights.
When Seven lost the rights to the AFL, the game benefited from a fresh take on covering it by Nine, Ten and Fox, and it made Seven reevaluate how they cover sport and helped lead them to the point now where they make a decent effort with AFL, V8s, Golf, Tennis, Horse Racing etc.
I believe Cricket would benefit in the same way if Nine lost the rights. Ten could on sell to Fox so you wouldn’t lose Fox’s expertise, and you would get a new style out of Ten…then in a few years Nine will have had enough time to rethink how they would cover the cricket and would be able to reclaim some or all cricket rights with a reinvigorated approach.
It also wouldn’t hurt to have something on Ten which could make them competitive again.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra