Sports Broadcasting History

Also “GTW” for GTS-4 Port Pirie, although that might’ve been a double oopsie with the real GTW directly above it (for Geraldton) mixed in out of place with the SA stations.

GSW might have been 9 or 10… the Albany transmitter was channel 10 and a Mount Barker relay further north was channel 9 apparently.

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GSW 9 was the high power one covering Great Southern, I think Channel 10 was a lower power infill for parts of Albany shielded from the Mt Barker site.

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IIRC, a consequence of this was that Nine also had first dibs on the '06 rights, but declined.

We all know what happened next…

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Cricket in widescreen in 2000?

Different watermark too

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given it was the MCG (presumably the boxing day test) its a fair chance they had the gear ready for the switch on of digital tv on Jan 1. I remember i got a thompson ( i think) digital box at the post christmas sales. only cost me $750. i was ready to go Jan 1

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They had the equipment a bit before switch-on and we’re using it to run tests, and so that highlights in the future would be in widescreen (and later HD).

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Was your box HD or SD only?

I got my first STB box in 2005, I remember HD boxes cost $400 then.

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i believe it was SD

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Drew Morphett announces Ch7 has won rights to televised Barcelona Olympics

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“Coming up on the Australian Television Network”! Why didn’t they identify as this on air in a logo or something?

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They did in some places (such as their adaptation of the NBC movie ident, and some end credits) but I’m pretty sure the Skase-era “Australian Television Network” was intended to be not completely synonymous with what “the Seven network” meant - what with his ownership of Sunshine; I think Prime were also considered “part” of it through their affiliate agreement (and may have been the reason the alternative name popped up at all, as Sunshine’s logo also incorporated the metro 7 one briefly). The promises of aggregation and all that.

Of course it all fell apart after he went bust, but one only wonders if that idea was brought to deeper fruition by Skase and/or Paul Ramsay. The same could be said for some of the reported ambitions of the “TV Australia” brand on the Shanks-era Ten around the same time.

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Australian C7 promo for the short-lived XFL

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If anyone has time watch the 30 for 30 ESPN Doco on it complete with Vince McMahon (then WWE Supremo) and Dick Ebersol (overlord of NBC Sports) front and centre, and just how many stuff ups there were for this league.

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Wasn’t able to post this in the Sept 11 thread (unsure if it was suitable for that).
Here’s the AFL Players Association speech prior to the 2001 Grand Final, on Sept 29, 2001

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This has been on my holy grail list for several years now.
AFL didnt have it, and ABC advised me they couldn’t find it.
But, I have managed to get my hands on a copy of the Richmond v Carlton 1982 Commonwealth Games Exhibition match - played just a couple of weeks after the VFL Grand Final.
Here’s the first half (and the remainder will be uploaded in coming weeks with links to that in the youtube vid)

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Great find of two great teams of the era.

I’m guessing that was never intended to be replayed given the lack of commentary at the start and a brief summary from Drew if the first minutes of play before he and Tim begin the commentary.

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It seems to be the feed just from the match. As throughout the game Drew crosses to someone else at another event for an update , but we dont hear that and we just stay with the broadcast.

The 3rd quarter is now online as well

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I couldn’t see this anywhere online, so I thought I’d upload it.
Its the 1997 version of Greg Champion’s THAT’S THE THING ABOUT FOOTBALL
So its a completely different montage by Channel 7 to what they first did when the song was released

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In 1995, racecaller Bill Collins came out of retirement after 7 years , to call a match race

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I’m kinda not surprised to learn they did an updated montage - they used a cover of it (with a female vocal) as the opening theme for afternoon matches (generally speaking) that year, as opposed to a modified cover of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “The House Is Rockin’” for the night matches. Not sure if the same artist that did the vocals on the '98 and '99 themes (the ones that borrowed off one of the NFL Monday Night Footy themes) but wouldn’t be surprised.