Fox Cricket

Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth all do have big studios. And they also have multiple studios.

So that leaves Brisbane’s Gabba as the odd one out.

And Hobart

But Hobart’s Bellerive Oval had a major reconstruction a few years ago which would have included space for a big studio.

Given last night’s ratings hopefully this becomes a massive loss making exercise for Fox.

No one is subscribing for some measly ODIs and T20s exclusives. This was a vanity exercise for Fox to try and prop up a failing business model.

For CA their year goes from bad to worse and have underestimated the power of FTA TV.

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Fox Cricket is awesome for extra analysis and entertainment shows but I will be watching Sevens Test coverage rather than Fox.

Would there be any chance that CA will go into protective mode following backlash and give way to giving Seven simulcasting rights of Fox Crickets limited over matches?

I though you said you don’t Foxtel to watch the footy, but you’re all gushing over their cricket coverage?

I got t Fox cricket this week so I can watch the cricket but my Dad is only letting me have it for the summer as he loves the cricket and hates footy

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They would have been preparing for (and expecting) the backlash considering ODIs and international Twenty20 matches have/will gone from being on FTA to exclusively airing on Pay TV.

Having said that, CA did stream yesterday’s match for free via their website and app so they’re trying to ‘ease’ that transition (even though it happened because Foxtel haven’t launched ‘Project Martian’ yet)

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Despite poor attendances for years, ODIs have been a strong TV product, last season getting around 1M in metro. Now yesterday’s collapse wouldn’t have been that popular, but the ratings they did achieve were pathetic.

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Except that I’m fairly certain they don’t want to cover the cricket from side on, because that’s where all reconstruction was. There is the media centre at the city end of the ground but it is tiny. Outside of that, I know Ten used to use the media centre off to the side of the David Boon stand but that’s also tiny.

Isn’t there a studio space overlooking the Derwent River? Nine used it for cricket when it was built but it fell out of favour in latter years. I recall ABC also using for VFL matches.

I’m not sure how up with what’s what at Bellerive you are but:
City end of the ground was the main media centre (well, before the reno). ABC/various radio/local tv used to use that (and the official scorers).
Other end of the ground beside the Boon Stand is the spot Ten used (and Nine for internationals). That overlooks the Derwent.
I think these days 7/Fox use the media centre in the Ponting Stand. Problem with that for cricket is that it’s side on.
I’m not certain what Fox/7 will use for cricket. Guess the point is, is that it isn’t a huge area unless they’re using the new one which is in a poor spot.

That’s only happening because I don’t believe FOX can guarantee coverage through the winter with all their sport properties and dedicated channels.

As for the coverage, Mark Waugh was getting towards Ian Healy type annoying levels but at least Warney appeared to be giving some of the insights on the leg spinner (Imran Tahir) that we were craving from him in his 9 years.

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The 4k picture was pretty amazing. The frame rate seemed quite high; was it a real 50 fps picture?

The colours were also far more vivid than the HD picture, despite not being HDR and me only having a side lit LED with average at best HDR.

I think the sound was true 5.1 as well.

The score bar looked pretty bad though; seems to be an awful trend currently with cricket broadcasts worldwide. I wish they’d go back to the simple and unobtrusive score box in the corner. And the handwriting paint font they used for titles needs to be nuked from orbit.

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I reckon the scoreboard would be less intrusive if it was one or two colours, or didn’t take up the entire width of the screen.

When people first switch on, they want to know the score and how that affects the match. That isn’t the most obvious thing from those graphics. Secondary info like on strike batsmen and bowlers figures should be just that, secondary.

I quite like the BT Sport approach to football, less is more then display extra info as you need it.

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Next season is the last year of the ten/fox deal. Supercars has come out and mentioned the move of seasons is due to the decline in the sport. It has nothing to do with the channels on Fox, it has everything to do with the fact they can’t compete with AFL/NRL due to limited exposer. As it has been mentioned on Speedcafe articles.

In relationship to Waugh, was like it at Ten, when he called BBL games it was all about him and that bloody donkey!

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The limited exposure extends to not being guaranteed coverage with all the sports Fox shows during the winter…

BT’s graphics in general are fantastic - they’re simple yet minimalist

I found this from their cricket coverage:

It does look clean, but I think it’s still harder than it should be to glance at the important info. If they extended the yellow to be behind the score, and don’t colour in the Run Rate it would be a bit better.