GF Replay programming

[Tigger]

Ok, so it looks like we won't be getting the game down here in Melbourne til 11.45pm on the 27th April! 

Not good enough I don't think!!

I need someone to please let me know how to bloody contact the programming dept at Nine by email - cos I can't find one on their very own website!!

Also, the only way to contact the NRL from their site is on one of their little crappy forms - I'm pretty sure they still have the whomever @nrl.com addy (well that's the way they've had it for yonks anyway eg.  emaguire@nrl.com) so maybe we could get the name of the person we'd need to be targeting there - Annesley maybe??  Could be possibly go for Gallop? Not sure .................

I'm going to be drafting an email and sending it to a bunch of people in my address book and asking them to copy and paste it into a new message, sign their own names (change some of the wording if they like even) and send it off to Nine and also the NRL.

It may not get anything done but at least I'll know I tried to have the game shown earlier.

Anyone else up for this??

[Surandy]

Call made to SEN, letter to the editor sent to the Herald Sun, count me in.

[Tigger]

Now all I need is those contact email addresses.  I'm sure someone has an addy for the programming at Nine and do ya reckon there's an enquiries@nrl.com ??

[perthstormer]

email me at canonfoods@hotmail.com

I will put a call out to 6pr see if i can rouse perth

[Storm19]

I saw that in the TV Week magazine for next week. What would rate better in Victoria: Pt Adel v St.Kilda (AFL-Ch 7) or Brisbane v Melbourne (NRL-Ch 9). I think the League could out rate the AFL that night only because it is the Grand Final re-match. But looks like it's the good old time of 11.45pm that we have to wait for next Friday night to watch the game.

[Mini Chick]

This makes me soooo mad.....
Have checked Ch 9 site and no e-mail contact to be found, only phone and postal address. Thinking I might give them a call tomorrow

[Surandy]

Okay, email to NRL using their form feedback thingy got a response, I have sent back a reply asking if they have any contact details to push this issue.

Dear Andrew - Thanks for the email.
I appreciate your frustrations on this issue. Please be assured we are
no happier about the timeslots given in Melbourne than you are.
The ratings results of a live Melbourne Storm match earlier this season
were encouraging and like you, we would like to see Channel Nine
continue to broadcast the matches live.
We continue to hold direct talks with Channel Nine to lobby for
improvements.
We have provided a number of online services through nrl.com in relation
to live radio calls and delayed replays, but like you we would like to
see more live free to air coverage in your region. I can assure you that
the situation is not being ignored.
Again, thank you for your feedback.

I also wrote emails to RLW and a couple of other contacts. One contact is going to try and find some contact details and will get back to me.

[Stormwarning[c]]

Dear Andrew - Thanks for the email.
I appreciate your frustrations on this issue. Please be assured we are
no happier about the timeslots given in Melbourne than you are.[\quote]

Hang on....YOU GUYS WROTE THE FRICKEN CONTRACT OF WHAT YOU WANTED!

The ratings results of a live Melbourne Storm match earlier this season
were encouraging and like you, we would like to see Channel Nine
continue to broadcast the matches live.
We continue to hold direct talks with Channel Nine to lobby for
improvements.

Why hold talks to lobby for improvements just becaused you can't do crap and look after what your meant to be looking after in the first place.

Thanks Andy for posting this.......it shows that the NRL and Gallop and the biggest sporting TOOLS in the country...yes bigger than Sutherland and Cricket Australia

[perthstormer]

Dear Andrew - Thanks for the email.
I appreciate your frustrations on this issue. Please be assured we are
no happier about the timeslots given in Melbourne than you are.[\quote]

Hang on....YOU GUYS WROTE THE FRICKEN CONTRACT OF WHAT YOU WANTED!

The ratings results of a live Melbourne Storm match earlier this season
were encouraging and like you, we would like to see Channel Nine
continue to broadcast the matches live.
We continue to hold direct talks with Channel Nine to lobby for
improvements.

Why hold talks to lobby for improvements just becaused you can't do crap and look after what your meant to be looking after in the first place.

Thanks Andy for posting this.......it shows that the NRL and Gallop and the biggest sporting TOOLS in the country...yes bigger than Sutherland and Cricket Australia

SW I agree with you there with nine losing AFL rights it has given the NRL a really good chance to make some kind of impact in the market outside of NSW and QLD.  They are miles behind in the way the AFL markets there game outside of Victoria

[mb09]

I have also wriiten to the NRL via their feedback.Looking forward  to their response.

[Surandy]

So much for Eddie and using the NRL product in an all out attack on the coverage of AFL.

He puts Lay Down Sally to shame!!!

[mrpc]

NRL (who sold the TV rights to Nein without stipulating that Storm games be shown live or very-near-live in their home market)
http://www.nrl.com/ContactUs/tabid/62/Default.aspx

Channel Nein (which refuses to onsell the live rights they own but sit on - presumably out of either spite or lack of competence)
http://help.ninemsn.com.au/support/chan ... rogramming

Foxtel (25% owned by Nein, who could at the very least put out a few media releases calling on Nein to do the right thing)
http://foxtel.com.au/CustomerAdvocacyProgramming.aspx

Fox Sports (50% owned by Nein, who could at the very least put out a few media releases calling on Nein to do the right thing)
feedback@foxsports.com.au

Senator Helen Coonan (Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts; who ought to put a "use it or lose it" provision for live sports in markets where a FTA network owns rights but refuses to show games live or very near live, so that other TV providers like Foxtel can automatically show the games live)
http://www.minister.dcita.gov.au/

Senator George Brandis S.C. (Minister for the Arts and Sport; who ought to put a "use it or lose it" provision for live sports in markets where a FTA network owns rights but refuses to show games live or very near live, so that other TV providers like Foxtel can automatically show the games live)
http://www.minister.dcita.gov.au/brandis

[Buzz]

New website to be launched soon. If they don't respect us, we won't respect them! It's all out war now! More when it's ready (hopefully by the weekend).

If you happen to have a contact email address for one of these organisations: Nein, Foxtel, NRL, ARL, PBL etc, please forward them to me via PM. This is a whole of sport issue. Every sport has their grievance. It'll be shortly time to let them know in no uncertain terms.

[Stormwarning[c]]

Now this will be an interesting ruling today.

THE interests of the public in being able to access a "fair" amount of rugby league footage as part of a news report might override any commercial deals made between organisations, a Federal court judge indicated yesterday.

Justice James Allsop's interim ruling, to be handed down today, and the end result of a full hearing in the next few months, may show that an important component of the NRL's six-year $90 million sponsorship deal with Telstra was not the NRL's to sell.

At the heart of the case is the extent to which "non-rights" organisations can use footage for news purposes under fair dealing provisions in the Copyright Act.

Telstra claims it paid a high price to the NRL for the "new media slice", which included exclusivity to five minutes of footage for its internet and mobile network in the 24 hours after games. But it has found rival websites and telecommunications companies showing about two minutes of footage straight after games.

Yesterday Justice Allsop said fair dealing was for the communication of news and was not the commercial equivalent of a fair share of contractual rights.

Telstra is seeking to restrain Premier Media Group (PMG), known as Fox Sports and owned by News Corp and PBL, from broadcasting more than 45 seconds of footage from an NRL match or a total of 90 seconds from a combination of matches on its associated websites under the fair dealing provisions.

But the court has heard that in earlier negotiations with the AFL, Telstra had made a clear distinction between the extent of football footage available to all media outlets to report the news and that which was available to be sold to Telstra.

In December 2005, Telstra's then head of new media development, Ian Davis, sent an email to then AFL operations executive Ben Buckley noting their discussions about a "clear difference in the mobile rights we would pay for and the rights other parties can use [to report news under fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act]."

The email shows that Telstra and the AFL agreed that one minute per quarter and two minutes at the end of each game would constitute a news report allowed under the Act. This means news organisations would be allowed to broadcast up to two minutes of each game as part of a news report. But the parties agreed that Telstra would be allowed to show extra footage, up to four minutes per quarter and eight minutes after the game, as part of its sponsorship agreement.

In its negotiations with the NRL, Telstra agreed it was allowed to show show five minutes of footage from each match. It is unclear whether Telstra differentiated between the fair dealing provisions and the extra footage for a highlights package in its NRL contract, which has been kept secret.

Court documents show that Telstra, when it is a non-rights holder in the case of cricket, uses up to two minutes of footage from each session using Channel Nine footage under the fair-dealing policy for its website and mobile network.

PMG's counsel, Tony Bannon, said it was common among sporting news services to include non-rights footage to deliver news, reviews and analysis. He used examples such as smh.com.au, theage.com.au, ninemsn.com.au, abc.net.au, bigpond.com.au as well as free-to-air and pay TV channels, and mobile phone services. He said the view of the key players in the sporting and media industries, including Telstra, was that two minutes was fair and reasonable.

[Diehard_Storm]

I posted this letter to NRL.com - and got exactly the same response as Surandy - albeit very quickly:

To whom should be concerned:

I am Melbourne Storm member, and have been for a number of seasons.  During this time I've seen the great efforts the Storm administration have gone through to make the Melbourne Storm an established force in the NRL.  I've seen quality players developed, recruited and retained.  I've seen consistency on the field and superb role model behaviour off the field.  I've seen the steady improvement in our crowd numbers, despite a stadium well below the level demanded by the Melbourne sporting public.

I am thankful to the support provided by the NRL/ARL in allowing Melbourne to host a State of Origin, as well as a Tri-Nations test last season.  The crowd numbers were fantastic, and the television ratings proved (without doubt) the existence of a viable and willing audience in Victoria.

However, as hard as the Storm players, coaching staff and their diligent administration have worked, sadly there are fundamental barriers to success that they have little control over - free to air television.

I find it hard to believe that last year's benchmark team, minor premiers and now in 2007, the premiership favourites, are being blatantly excluded by the lack of coverage on Channel 9.  In fact, Channel 9 seem to have a clear agenda to not support nor grow a product which they've invested millions of dollars in order to secure television rights.

From a business perspective, I understand ratings and the advertising dollar.  I also understand that if you purchase stock, and don't put in on the selves, no-one will buy it.  Instead it sits in a storeroom, either depreciating in value, or approaching it's use by date.  In other words - it's being wasted.

The fact that Channel 9 are refusing to broadcast the ANZAC Test on Friday night in Melbourne is such as example of waste.  By choosing not to televise this game, Channel 9 are guilty of pure short term and blinkered mis-management.  What's just as inexplicable is their decision to not promote nor televise the Grand Final rematch next Friday night at a reasonable hour. 

The times we are in right now, with the momentum the Storm have, the quality of their playing roster, the healthy crowds in attendance, are exactly the right time to be promoting Rugby League into Melbourne.  The adage of 'making hay when the sun shines' is an obvious one - but sadly seems to be ignored by key decision makers involved in promoting this game - both at Channel 9 and the NRL who granted them such rights.

I fear ten years from now, that we will look back at this time and shake our heads knowing we had a quality product, a willing market, and the opportunity to do something about it and turned the other way. 

From a marketing perspective, one thing a marketer should never do, is label their product or brand as something it cannot deliver.  Sadly, the National Rugby League is not National and may never be, a National sport.