Thanks for the link, I find this interesting.
Tennis it's a good move to ensure a quality product is produced - not so much the Australian Open because Channel 7 put real effort into it, but the other tournaments. Controlling the way its made with the flexibility to maximise value to various markets is smart if you've got the capital behind you.
The NBL seem to be doing that as well. I do wonder a few things:
1. Cost for the NBL producing the product at the moment
2. The ratings being achieved on Fox Sports, SBS, NBLTV and the various Chinese/Indian iterations
3. Demand for advertising in various countries it is broadcasted into (again - Australia, China, India)
Out of interest, has anyone seen the bespoke Chinese graphics?
Gives me the opportunity to say this about the current NBL production which I was thissss close to making a thread about:
The product is starting to become very well produced. It is better than Fox Sports' last season imo. For those paying attention there has been constant development - we saw improvements to the graphics - the scoreboard graphic looks good now and the stats bar at the bottom is much more polished. The fixed the logo to look cleaner, they introduced other new graphics and using the 3D logos immersed over the court in a recent Hawks game like Channel 9 do with their graphics looked terrific.
They are starting to build a narrative, with footage from previous games nicely included into the coverage. Heritage round afforded them the opportunity to do it even better.
They just need to start doing more custom intros!
I love the inclusion of John Casey, about time. Speed and Papalia are decent commentators, I like Hudson (unlike many here...) and I don't mind Russell (even if enthusiastic). The colour commmentators in Carfino, Heal, Harvey works nicely. Would like to see every game include a sideline reporter whether it be Neroli Meadows (she's fantastic), Abbey Gelmi (developing nicely), Renae Ingles (where has she been?).