Surely that has to be a send-up? Because I can’t imagine proper team/player lineup graphics being THAT expensive!
Also the desk looks pretty poor as well. You can’t blame the tiny space allocated at ANZ Stadium for that amateur hour presentation, because other broadcasters have managed to present effective and professional-looking sports coverage from that exact same space before!
If they wanted serious they’d have done something like the Asian Cup coverage. Surely Whately isn’t that water tight on 360.
Didn’t watch myself but sounds like they left serious for the match coverage and light heated for the build up and half time.
The coverage has been brought up in Senate Estimates:
Isn’t the first time the ABC is panned for handling coverage. It’s NYE coverages from 2013-14 to present are often criticised.
Fox Sports’ Robbie Slater isn’t happy at all
Perth viewers showed it on delayed coverage of this #LIVSYD match. Why do we wait for two hours until 7:30PM. This is an embarrassment to your network. #ShameonyouABC
Because of children’s programming
Also the match was streamed live in WA on iView and Facebook.
SydneyCityTV is right - it was part of the pre-game ‘humour’. Watched the beginning of the match and there was a proper team line-up graphic after the teams walked out
Someone isn’t getting A-League rights
so that will mean the A-League will be EXCLUSIVE to Foxtel come October!
Even though last night was just a friendly, I’d go as far to say that cost them the A-League FTA rights. They can’t give them the rights after seeing that. It was worse than a horrible broadcast, it was an insult to the sport and its fans locally. I think a lot of criticism of the ABC in general is unwarranted and unfair, but they absolutely deserve it for this.
I do feel a little sorry for Jules and Tegan though. They’re both pretty decent comedians/entertainers, and they get pushed into something which they didn’t seem comfortable with. It could’ve worked as an ‘alternative’ broadcast, but treating sporting events like a variety show simply does not work. Whoever saw Aaron Chen do his thing late nights on ABC2 and thought he’d make a decent sideline reporter was rather doped up, to put it lightly.
For that matter, whoever within the ABC thought that it would be a good idea to treat a major sporting event like a variety show should be punished, preferably by having to watch the whole broadcast again!
What it does prove is that the ABC no longer has the resources to do live sport, and thus should leave it alone altogether, unless they’re grabbing a feed from an overseas broadcaster.
No. It will be on FTA as well. It is guaranteed to be on FTA.
It says here:
And, in a separate deal to be negotiated in the new year, for the first time ever a Hyundai A-League match will be also shown live on free to air television in prime time on Saturday nights.
In this case though, it’s completely justified. They completely ignored the fact that most people watching are NOT the ABC’s typical audience.
Making it into a comedy program clearly was not the right move. It makes the soccer-loving audience think that the ABC isn’t taking their sport seriously.
Peter Wilkins’ recent retirement could not have come at the worst time for the ABC. He could have been asked to host last night’s coverage.
Perhaps the reaction wouldn’t have been as bad if the segments were even slightly funny but it was cringe -worth and the production values non-existent. I don’t think that Aaron Chen finished a single sentence in that cross, contantly stalling as someone was taking in his ear.
PS - ABC2 super!
Overall the ABC are not bad broadcasters, infact they do plenty of things that Australians can be proud of.
But it’s becoming rather obvious that live broadcasts for sport (and other major events, like NYE coverage) aren’t one of their strengths. Any future coverage for the A-League probably should be left to networks who are more established in the area of coverage for live sports and other major events.
I think the ABC are more than capable of handling A-League matches. Their Asian Cup coverage last year was fairly good from what I remember. It’s just that they need to leave the coverage entirely in the hands of their sports department rather than giving the work experience kids at the entertainment and comedy departments free rein with it.
That Aaron Chen segment basically epitomises one of the problems of the ABC’s live entertainment production are - including way too many inside jokes and obscure ABC references which alienate the majority of viewers.
ONLY people who constantly watch ABC2 will know who the hell this bloke is, and what his schtick is - that is, a comedian who creates extremely awkward and uncomfortable situations for us to watch him in (like Andy Kaufman’s antics if you’re familiar with him). 99.9% of people watching last night’s match would have had absolutely NO idea what was going on, and have automatically assumed that they got the work experience kid in to cover the match.
I understand the ABC were only given short notice about the match, but that’s really no excuse for the lack of professionalism shown. What should have happened was they should have broadcast just the match, with 10 minutes pre-game, 10 minutes post-game. Perhaps even go to a promo break during half time to fill time. Because as far as I can tell, the actual commentary and broadcast of the match was fairly decent. It’s the horrendous attempts at comedy that have turned the nation against the ABC…again.
The News Corp papers are coming out swinging against the ABC after last night. David Gallop has ruled out the ABC as a potential bidder for the FTA A-League rights.
7 did cover a few international friendlies in the past. Although they’ve copped a bit with the fans, their coverage was better than ABC2’s effort.
