Further to TEN’s decision to air MotoGP and F1 only on Ten – resulting in delayed telecasts outside of those states on eastern standard time, and no doubt under significant pressure from fans in SA and WA, Ten have announced that the MotoGP and F1 races will now air LIVE on ONE in SA and WA (and presumably NT where available as well).
As reported earlier, with Ten making the decision to move MotoGP and F1 races away from ONE and onto main channel Ten in an attempt to help bolster Super Sunday ratings, angry fans in areas not on eastern standard time vented their anger about the fact these events were broadcast on delay on the main channel while ONE aired movies and other programming.
From Sunday April 29, which sees round 2 of 2012 MotoGP from Spain, ONE will air the race live into SA and WA. May 6, round 3 is from Portugal.
The eastern states will still have races air on Ten.
So now – on Sunday nights with F1 and MotoGP, Ten and ONE will have split market programming – where the east gets the races on Ten, the rest on ONE – in a similar fashion to what Nine and Seven do with their respective football codes.
While this is a step in the right direction for fans not in eastern states, it still does not cover the issue of HD coverage in ALL areas.
I still maintain, that these races should be live in HD in all markets on ONE, regardless whether it airs on Ten or not. Ratings overall for the Ten network would not be affected at all. More people will watch a sporting event in HD than they will repeated movies and other shows in ONE that are not in HD. Others will chose not watch standard definition coverage on Ten.
The two will offset each other – if anything, the ONE coverage of MotoGP and F1 being on both Ten and ONE will rate better overall than having just the single standard definition coverage on Ten in the east.
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