Why Free To Air TV And Sport Don't Mix

Example #1:

After being run into the ground by this guy;

Former One HD head of programming, let's call him Clive.

One HD have totally given up on sport. Rather than ask why their ratings sucked balls, they have decided to go in a different direction. Whilst mildly interesting, I'm pretty sure Ice Road Trucking is not a sport. If they had of perhaps listened to viewers, or rather had the intelligence to provide some sort of forum for disgruntled viewers to easily share their grievances, if they had of held that anonymous someone responsible for their insulting programming accountable rather than making Clive the scapegoat, if they just had of shown any aptitude for covering sport, surely things could have been different. Sport is hard to fuck up. You just have to give the people what they want. Yes, live sport is good, but you know what, I can't watch a midday Lakers game on a Wednesday because I, like most people, go to work. And I'll be fucked if I'm going to get up at 3am the next morning to watch the replay. I'm not going to spell it out for you how it should play out, hell, I've done that enough times, but all I'll say is that I probably wouldn't be showing Recruits at prime time. Again, it's arguable as to whether Recruiting/Being Recruited could be classified as a sport...

Anyway, the final chapter of my One HD bashing concludes by simply saying that sport is hard to fuck up if you do it right. Just ask Foxsports. And yeah;

Right back at ya "Clive"...

Example #2:

Delaying the blockbuster Broncos vs Bulldogs clash by an hour for the Royal Wedding! When it's on the ABC, Channel 7 and Channel 10 as well! I don't think I'm alone in saying that I'm fucking outraged! Enough said!!!!!!!!

ONE HD - No Fucking Idea

For some horrifying reason, OneHD had sole coverage of Monday morning's NFL Playoffs. The staff at OneHD were giving themselves a pat on the back no doubt for airing these games live. The first game was at 5 am AEDT. I would suggest that most people are asleep at that ungodly hour on a Monday morning. The next game was 8:30 AEDT. May I boldly suggest that most people are at work/commuting to work around then. So basically, hardly anyone can watch these games live. OneHD's solution is to replay one of the four games from the weekend on Monday evening. Whatever gets the most votes on a poll on their website. So instead of doing what any decent sports channel would do, i.e replay both of Monday's playoff games, they leave you with a lucky dip, possibly involving one of Sunday's games! Fucking brilliant! Not seriously half-assed at all. They wax lyrical about everyone's right to free sport and then dish up abject sloppiness through insulting programming. Who does their programming? Someone with half a fucking clue would be a step in the right direction. It's the same bullshit with the NBA "coverage". It's more like a lack of coverage most of the time. They show a double header every Friday *live* during the middle of the day when we're all at work, but show replays at 4 am the next morning sometimes! They must be happy with the Friday viewing audience made up primarily of dole bludgers! You'd think replays of important games would take priority over Sports Tonight and documentaries you can show any old fucking time. Yep. Free to air sport is the way to go...

I guess you get what you pay for in life...