Didn’t Nine already try NBL a few years ago, very niche and gave up? Gutsy move. Hope there’s some modern changes. Desperate with no cricket and Aus Open not until half way through January?
Like what?
It is obvious Nine has got the NBL due to Andrew Bogut signing with the Sydney Kings for the forthcoming season.
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That seems like an odd reason to start showing NBL games.
That logic should mean they’ll start showing A League games if Usain Bolt signs for the Mariners.
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With the new NBL deal, I think Nine will also get to show next year’s exhibition series between Australian Boomers and Team USA featuring numerous NBA stars. That is huge.
It will be interesting to see how Nine covers weekend NBL games in January next year when they clash with the summer of tennis. It could be shown on 9GO! because it fits with the younger demographic.
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Going from the 5pm Saturday and 4pm Sunday games on SBS to possibly just Sunday arvos on 9 seems like a step back (and a similar deal to 2015-16).
At least the A League offered up the premium Saturday night game on One.
Also will every final be live?
Of course NBL.TV is accessible to everyone for a price (and in the past you could get a free season pass for one team).
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I think the difference is Andrew Bogut is a brilliant basketball player whereas the available evidence is that Usain Bolt can’t play soccer. Bolt trialed with three clubs and couldn’t get a contract, and in his only public game, which was a charity game, he was nothing to look at.
PS. And the chances of Bolt playing in Australia appears to be nil.
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Also I hope 9 or 10 or whoever picks up the rights makes the effort to produce the broadcast themselves. Ever since Australian production switched from Fox Sports to NBL’s in house unit in 2016, the broadcast has looked pretty cheap compared to other sporting codes.
I doubt it will happen though if 9 pick it up.
And that is supposed to translate to systemic ratings bump?
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Nine aired NBL Sundays at 3pm during the 2015/16. Managed to air 14 live matches (AEDT) and 9 delayed in this timeslot Treated it poorly, including cutting off Game 2 of the Grand Final series to go to the NRL pregame. Not sure why the NBL wouldn’t continue with SBS? After all, they managed to show 43 matches live in HD.
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SBS aired live games at 5.30pm Sat on Viceland and 3pm on SBS.
I didn’t mention Bolt - I was replying to someone else about Bolt. He really has nothing to do with it.
But in either case, it’s a ratings grab based pretty much on one player alone - the competition as a whole needs to be appealing
Exactly, and it obviously isn’t in its current form in this country. All the broadcasters are doing are broadcasting the game, there’s no work in trying to improve the product which (I think) needs to be done to attract a lot more people to it.
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NBL chief operating officer Andy Crook told Dwayne Russell on Sportsday tonight the announcement on the FTA deal is still around five weeks away, as the league is still in talks with two broadcasters, one of which is Nine.
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Well at least nine has the cricket rights again. 
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Not domestically of course, Only some overseas tournaments like the World Cup and the Ashes in England.
I was trying to be a humorous, a failed dad joke… On radio. . Given Nine will own MSR.
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Nine has added “Wide World of SPORTS” underneath its logo on the football coverage
The course for next January’s Tour Down Under was announced yesterday. For the first time in the race’s 20 year history, the final stage will move out of Adelaide CBD to a hill top finish at Willunga.
Given Tour Down Under clashes with the first week of Australian Open tennis, and Nine is covering both, I think the cycling will be relegated to 9Gem (plus live streaming on 9Now) with the tennis on main channel and 9GO!.
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FIVE TEAMS VIE FOR FOUR SPOTS IN SUNCORP SUPER NETBALL FINALS
After 13 rounds of action-packed netball, five teams are still in contention for the four coveted play-off spots in the Suncorp Super Netball finals leading into this weekend’s last round on Nine.
The five teams are West Coast Fever, Giants Netball, Sunshine Coast Lightning, Queensland Firebirds and Melbourne Vixens.
While the play-off battle hots up, this weekend’s Round 14 also marks superstar Sharni Layton’s last game of elite netball when she lines up with the Collingwood Magpies against the Queensland Firebirds on Saturday before her retirement.
Veterans Erin Bell and Shae Brown, also from the Collingwood Magpies, will be playing their final game of professional netball too before retiring this weekend. With over 250 national league games between them, they will be closing the door on distinguished careers.
And while Layton, Bell and Brown bow out, the Magpies’ Caitlin Thwaites will notch up her 200th national league cap in this game, joining only six players to reach that milestone.
Hosting all the action for Suncorp Super Netball in Round 14 will be Clint Stanaway, Annie Sargeant, Aislin Kriukelis and Sue Gaudion.
SUNCORP SUPER NETBALL: ROUND 14 BROADCAST SCHEDULE
Please check local guides for details