Isaac
Years ago
ABC will not broadcast WNBL semis live on FTA
Live on iView only.
The ABC has pushed the WNBL semi-finals back to a delayed TV broadcast as the network prepares to jettison live women's sport.
With one round to go in its regular season and with clubs preparing for semi-finals on the weekend of February 20-22, the WNBL notified clubs late last week that the national broadcaster would only be showing the semi-finals live on the internet via ABC iView then show a replay later in the evening. This is believed to be due to ABC1's broadcast of the women's Australian Open at Royal Melbourne from February 19-22.
The national broadcaster, which dropped live broadcasts of the WNBL and W-League soccer competition last November due to federal government budget cuts, has also demanded the WNBL move its scheduled preliminary final and grand final from Sunday to Saturday to fit into its preferred broadcast schedule.
It's understood ABC Sport has lobbied ABC management to show the semi-finals live on ABC2 or ABC3 but in both cases was told no.
Moore said he had worked productively with ABC Sport to find a way to show the WNBL semi-finals on live national television but their ideas kept being knocked back.Full story here