NINE BECOMES HOME OF SURFING AUSTRALIA
WITH TWO YEAR BROADCAST DEAL
The Nine Network and Surfing Australia are excited to announce a new two year partnership that will see exciting activations across free to air television and digital channels.
The partnership confirms the broadcast of 15 half hour episodes of mySURF.tv plus the broadcast of 12 monthly half hour shows called Surfing Australia TV.
The 15 mySURF.tv shows will be hosted by WSL Commentator and surf media icon Ronnie Blakey and feature high quality surf lifestyle and culture content from around Australia and abroad. The shows showcase stories on not only Australiaâs best current surfing talent but the iconic characters and legends of the sport in Australia.
Surfing Australia TV, hosted by Nine sports presenter Sam Squiers, will include feature pieces on Surfing Australia programs like the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle Series, Wahu Surfer Groms Comps presented by Woolworths and Subway Surf Series, Hurley Surfing Australia High Performance Centre and much more.
As part of the partnership Nine will support Surfing Australia charity foundation programs including the Surf for Life Project and Soldier On Surf Therapy program through community announcements on their free to air television channels.
The Surf for Life program raises funding to enable the delivery of surfing to underprivileged kids Australia wide and the Soldier on Surf Therapy program helps to facilitate surfing for the ex-service men and women of Australia who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder. Both of these key foundation programs are extremely important to Surfing Australia and are true to the organisational purpose to âCreate a Healthier and Happier Australia through Surfingâ.
Andrew Stark Chief Executive of Surfing Australia said âWe are thrilled to announce this major partnership with the Nine Network that will confirm the broadcast of our key TV shows in Surfing Australia TV and mySURF.tv. This partnership is critical to ensure we are able to continue to deliver quality sport development programs with iconic sponsors that ensures we deliver on our purpose to create a healthier and happier Australia through Surfing. We have had a long and fruitful partnership with Nine and we are very excited and appreciative to firm this up for the next two yearsâ.
Amanda Laing, Nineâs Managing Director said: âNine is proud to continue our support of Surfing Australia. Australia has the best surfers in the world and surfing remains one of the nationâs favourite sports. Now
confirmed for the Tokyo Olympics, the profile of the sport and our world champion surfers will go from strength to strength.
âNineâs charity arm, 9Cares, are also proud to be able to work side by side with Surfing Australiaâs important community initiatives.â
Suncorp Super Netball starts this evening. Why doesnât Nine show the matches in HD given it spent a huge amount of money on broadcast rights? Picture quality on 9Gem is blurry, which will only force fans to switch to 9Now or subscribe to Telstra TV.
I donât think it was a huge amount of money for sports rights standards but I agree. The games after 7pm should be on the main channel. What else are they showing on Saturday night?
It will rate less than 200k on 9gem.
I saw a bit of Super Netball tonight and the graphics were pretty good. I like Nine having different types of graphics for its coverage of NRL, cricket and netball, unlike Seven which has similar font and style in its graphics for its sports.
Not atrocious figures for the netball on 9Gem, but it was around half what the AFLW got on Seven. Nine needs to promote the hell out it so it builds an audience.
Surely it wouldnât have rated any worse on the main channel than the 1 millionth rerun of Crocodile Dundee and The Castle Nine actually showed last night?
At the very least, last nightâs three games should have been shown on the main channel to help promote the new league and Nineâs involvement in it. They would have got some casual viewers who might not otherwise watch netball to sample it & considering the quality of the games, convince them to watch the Gem doubleheaders in future weeks
Note the two Suncorp Super Netball matches that are live on Telstra TV will be replayed on 9Gem during daytime, usually the following day. For example in Round 2 this weekend, Saturdayâs early game between the Swifts and the Thunderbirds will be shown on Sunday at 10.30am, while Sundayâs clash between the Lightning and the Vixens will air at 11.30am on Monday.
Surely Nine can replay a match on Nine on Sundays during the day, instead of repeating old docos and movies? And even air it between The Sunday Footy Shows and the NRL match in two weeks time (approx. 1pm - 3.30pm), instead of airing it on Gem. Silly logic there.
As for the live games on Gem, they couldnât air the first game on Nine anyway because it would have meant 6pm News, Nineâs Holy Grail, wouldnât have aired!
Iâm sure if Nine wanted to air the games on the main channel, the league could have push forward the first game to begin at 4pm and then have the evening doubleheader follow Nine News as scheduled
The only reason I can think of not repeating Sunday game on Monday after school is to not clash with childrenâs programming on 9GO! at the same time, as they target the same demographic.
Seb Costelloâs stint as host of Suncorp Super Netball will be cut short after he has been appointed Nineâs new European correspondent. He will leave for London in mid April.
Speaking of Super Netball, I notice Nine has started a new Twitter account for its coverage (9netball). Why are Nineâs cricket and NRL telecast not given their own Twitter accounts then? Also, Nine is very slow to post match highlights on 9Now until other sporting websites. So while fans can read the match reports on Super Netballâs official website or other media outlets, they often have to wait until Nine News or Today show the following day to see the videos.
Slight error on tonightâs Socceroos coverage. They didnât cut to the Nine studio fast enough at half time and Fox Sportsâ Adam Peacock was seen briefly on the 9go coverage.
IN HER COURT: NINEâS NEW WOMENâS SPORT PODCAST
Nine today launched an exciting new podcast, In Her Court, dedicated to covering the changing landscape of womenâs sport in Australia.
Hosted by Nine sports reporter Sam Squiers, the new weekly podcast will run for 12 episodes and feature candid conversations with a variety of women from the sporting arena, from high-profile players to world-renowned coaches, sporting officials and business leaders involved in the game.
In Her Court is the only podcast dedicated to womenâs sport in Australia and launches today just weeks after the 2017 launch of Suncorp Supernetball on 9Gem. The first podcast will feature interviews with James Sutherland, Cricket Australia CEO, and Tiffany Cherry, the host of Nineâs Womenâs Footy AFL program.
Sam Squiers said she was excited about the new podcast, in part because it coincided with a recent surge in public interest for womenâs sport, be it netball, AFL or cricket.
âIâve been passionate about womenâs sports my whole career and itâs satisfying to see the attention and support they are currently receiving from organisations, fans and broadcasters,â Squiers said.
âThe podcast wonât just focus on what happens on the field. We want to cover womenâs sport in all its aspects â everything from whatâs happening on the court or the pitch right up to the boardroom.â
The launch of In Her Court comes just weeks after Nine launched the weekly relationship podcast Sweet Spot, hosted by Katherine Feeney, the NRL podcast Six Tackles with Gus, hosted by James Bracey and featuring Phil Gould, and the news podcast The Way It Is, hosted by Neil Breen and Leila McKinnon.
Listen and subscribe at nine.com.au/podcasts or via Wide World of Sports and iTunes.
In-fighting that seemingly threatens the existence of the best sponsorship and television deal that netball has ever had, if the report is correct, is difficult to understand.
Kathryn Harby-Williams was not re-elected at todayâs Netball Australia AGM, but players will not boycott this weekendâs Super Netball matches in the interest of fans, corporate partners and broadcast obligations, but âsome form of protestâ would occur. Surely 9Gemâs coverage this weekend will have to mention the infighting.
Wide World of Sports today announced new deals with the Guru of rugby league, David Middleton, and the sportâs most mysterious oracle, The Mole, to provide content across its digital and social platforms.
David Middleton â or âMiddoâ as heâs known to viewers and fans alike â will provide readers with pre-match analysis of every game, deep statistical previews before all the big clashes, historical and quirky stats across the NRL, and quick fast facts on Nineâs live matches.
Nineâs Head of Sport Digital, Patrick Effeney, said: âNo one knows more about rugby league than David Middleton, and now weâll be able to show our digital readers and viewers just how much he knows. Heâs called the Guru for good reason.â
David Middleton said: âI have been privileged to work with Nine for the past 20 years, preparing statistical information for the NRL commentary team. Iâm really excited to be able to use this data for the WWOS Digital team, which will be great for fans of rugby league, and I feel honoured and grateful to be part of such a wonderful team here at Channel Nine.â
Nine has stepped in to rescue The Mole following the closure of Rugby League Week. Moleyâs unique brand of reporting and tipping will now appear exclusively on Wide World of Sports.
Patrick Effeney said: âThe Moleâs honest and irreverent style now has a home on WWOS, and weâre looking forward to seeing what scoops he can bring in 2017 and beyond.â
The Mole said: âIâm excited and thrilled at this new challenge. Nine is the benchmark for sport in Australia and it is an honour to come onboard. The Mole has a loyal following and I look forward to bringing breaking news, some laughs â and maybe a few first tryscorers â to my followers on Nine.â
Nineâs Director of Sport, Tom Malone, said: âWeâre thrilled that both Middo and The Mole are joining WWOS as we push ahead with creating great content across all platforms to engage with both audience and advertisers.â
The Moleâs first exclusive column will appear this coming Tuesday on wwos.nine.com.au.
Middletonâs columns will appear on Tuesday and Thursday.
