Oh, I didn’t get that bit.
Surely we don’t need 3 broadcasters going forward. My tip would be MMM dropping off. ABC have got regional listeners covered, and SEN have the app and their syncing options.
Listening to Alison Mitchell and Boof this afternoon, interesting discussion about slow over rates. In saying that however, Boof is sadly not polished enough to be a commentator.
Boof’s a good guy and knowledgeable about cricket, but agree he’s not in the top echelon of commentators.
I quite like SEN’s lineup - clearly gone more the journo route than greats of the game (with the exception of the likes of Flem and Kat obviously), but that’s a good point of difference to the MMM style of call.
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Yeah I tend to agree about SEN’s cricket commentary. I’ve had a lot of 20-30 minute drives to do in the last couple of weeks and have found SEN’s coverage very easy to follow. It is very focused on the game and rarely on unrelated conversations, which makes it good for getting in the car and knowing exactly where the game is up to in moments.
Whateley on pbp is great. The other pbp callers seem to follow Whateley’s no-nonsense style.
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Triple M re-signed for a further seven years this summer.
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Yes he is very good. SEN is great if you’ve been somewhere, you just hop in the car and immediately want to know the score. You’re going to get the the score and other important info much more regularly than on the ABC (or MMM, of course).
As a listener, that’s actually one of the benefits of ads.
But more broadly, do we really need commentary that possibly over-supplies us with stats these days when we can freely access so much information ourselves?
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I would think the opposite. Triple M is only surviving because advertisers are jumping on to their AFL, NRL and cricket coverage.
Repetitive music and the same old male comedians hosting breakfast/drive is my tip to drop off!
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Yes. Live sport is something that radio can still do well.
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I am a little surprised the next cricket deal seems to still not include the regional network, like the AFL one does.
With cost cutting inflicting the industry as a whole to allow survival, I would have thought this a no brainer.
In Hobart we don’t even get a Triple M Cricket pop-up stream on DAB…Normally Hobart isn’t considered part of the metro network, but I would have thought a DAB stream in Hobart and the GC wouldn’t have cost SCA a cent more in rights…
Yes. I agree.
Interestingly, in the early days of the MMMs doing cricket, the metro DAB+ stations played music while the FM station called the match.
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I’d assume they have the rights nationally, but in a regional market I don’t think you can use up a full daytime on test cricket. Footy for a few hours on the weekend is a bit of a different proposition.
It would make sense to me if they had a host on the regional network during the matches and dipped into coverage occasionally, playing back wicket replays etc, but otherwise having music. Would be a good way of leveraging the rights regionally without being wall to wall cricket.
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Really? Is CA that hard up for cash it’s willing to sell itself out that much?
I remember back in the 2017-18 Ashes series the regional Triple Ms took the cricket all day. Given that regional areas usually already have a dearth of variety when it comes to music radio in particular, I don’t recall it being overly popular.
I think that would work quite well especially with people who might not necessarily be massive cricket fans but still have a passing interest- would take advantage of having the rights while also providing an alternative to the ABC’s ball-by-ball coverage.
I suspect the appeal for CA is that Triple M gives them an FM platform in metropolitan areas (given that the ABC and SEN are both only on AM/DAB+).
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Yeah, I drove through SCA solus market country a fair bit that summer and felt for the locals - cricket on ABC and Triple M, it left Hit and Triple J as the only two stations in market with music (unless they were lucky enough to have a community broadcaster as well). Not much for the over-35s…
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Now that the home Test summer is done and dusted- wonder if anyone will be broadcasting the upcoming series against Sri Lanka?
SEN had the rights to the previous tour back in 2022 so I would hope that they might be able to pick it up again.
The ABC doesn’t seem to really be interested in any overseas tours aside from the Ashes in England these days (and that’s probably only because they can just relay the BBC’s coverage).
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ABC Radio is doing a 90-minutes talkback broadcast live from the commentary box at the SCG, from 3.30pm to 5pm AEDT. It follows the regular Grandstand at Stumps show which includes the post-match presentation.
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ABC Radio is broadcasting every match of the Women’s Ashes series between Australia and England, starting with the 50-over Governor-General’s XI tour match from North Sydney Oval this Thursday. It will be available via a pink ball button on the ABC listen app.
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SEN celebrates record-breaking performance across the Test summer of cricket
Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) is celebrating unprecedented growth in its digital performance across the Australian Test summer of cricket.
Across the six weeks of the enthralling Border-Gavaskar Test Series between Australia and India, SEN’s platforms achieved extraordinary engagement figures, demonstrating a sharp rise in fan connection and participation, and solidifying SEN’s position as a leading destination for cricket coverage.
During this series, SEN’s platforms recorded 1.2 million streams across its website and mobile applications, 175,000 streams using SEN Sync, and 100,000 using SEN Stadium – two features exclusive to the SEN app that enhance fans’ broadcast experience both at home and in-stadium respectively.
This has equated to a massive 37 million minutes of content streamed across SEN platforms, on top of 20.5 million video views across SEN Cricket’s social media channels, demonstrating the growing popularity of SEN’s cricket content among a digitally savvy audience.
Not only are these numbers significant, but they reflect significant growth of consumption and engagement with SEN’s various platforms compared to the same time last year. Among the standout growth figures include a 713% increase in SEN Stadium users and a 388% increase in website and app streams compared to last year’s Test Series.
SEN CEO, Craig Hutchison, said he was rapt with how his network’s coverage of the summer of cricket had been received thus far.
“These record-breaking numbers are a testament to the passion of cricket fans and the exceptional work of the SEN team. The Border-Gavaskar Test Series provided so many iconic cricket moments across the summer, and we are proud to have been the digital platform that fans turned to for comprehensive and engaging coverage.
“Our commitment to providing a first-class digital experience for sports fans has driven these incredible results, and we’re excited to continue innovating and growing in 2025.”
SEN will continue its coverage of the Australian summer of cricket, with coverage of the Big Bash League as it reaches the pointy end of the competition, and the Australian Men’s upcoming Test tour of Sri Lanka.
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