Nice one Ten

I cant see many fans tuning in this week - a depleted Sydney team against a divided Melbourne unit will hardly be entertaining.

Lower production costs I'm guessing

The broadcast schedule is written at the start of the season. As if TEN/ONE would change their games and give the fans what they want.

"But then this is the NBL and their broadcast partner Ten who set the TV schedule before the season even starts. Common sense went out the window the moment that partnership started."

Because by contrast the AFL, NBA etc have dynamic broadcast schedules leading up to finals?

While it's an unfortunate (and silly double-header) schedule to finish the regular season, it's really not a big deal.

"While it's an unfortunate (and silly double-header) schedule to finish the regular season, it's really not a big deal."

You can make it a big deal if you want to keep taking potshots at Nick Marvin though (not saying you are, Mo).

ok, I know the NZ game would have to be shown later than the normal 2pm

If they showed the two top four match-ups this week in place of both SYD-MEL games, that would give Perth the most televised games for the year.

Make it happen! Boti could write at least three blogs about that!!

Uwe Blab

i think boti would also like to see adl vs per and nz vs cns

not sure where you are going with the boti bit...

Why not question why the draw is so crappy rather than the TV coverage which would have been planned months ago.
Every chance if both sides were at finals stage no one would be complaining.

With only eight teams in the comp, the league scheduling can be quite repetitive. It goes without saying that, at times, the tv scheduling will also seem repetitive.

I finally received a response from the NBL yesterday about this. They informed me that the TV schedule is put together at the start of the season to provide broadcast 'fairness' to all clubs. I then asked them why for four straight weeks during january and february we were subjected to games that included the 36ers six times and the hawks for four. Between the two clubs they were on tv every game for four straight weeks.

I did not receive a response. I also tweeted boti about it but to no avail. I won't be watching either of the two dead rubbers this weekend. It's ridiculous to broadcast the same matchup twice within a 48 hour window, once I can somewhat understand due to the telecasts being set in stone at the start of the season, but twice in one weekend is flat favouritism. How the cats v breakers game wasn't on the schedule from the beginning is beyond me as its always a great contest as is this fridays perth v 36ers game this friday. I'm a Hawks fan but I'm a basketball fan first and foremost and would love to see both of those games before watching my own club.

i'm cool watching 36ers frequently on tv

I wonder if there'd be much of a ratings reward for 10 if they swapped the games to ADL-PER and NZB-CNS? Anyone know what the ratings have been of late? e.g., for the PER-CNS game a couple of fridays back vis a vis the WOL-MEL game the Friday before it?

"With only eight teams in the comp, the league scheduling can be quite repetitive. It goes without saying that, at times, the tv scheduling will also seem repetitive."

Completely agree Uwe, however its worse than that. There may be only 8 teams in the comp, but really only 5 teams are rotated around all season on TV.

NZ, Cairns and Townsville have hardly had their fair share of games on One/Ten. From an 8 team comp, it's worse when only 5 teams get all the coverage. Thats repetitive!

It simply should have been:

Friday - Adelaide v Perth
Sunday - Melbourne v Sydney

I don't think too many would have complained about that, and those two match-ups generally rate well too.

How the cats v breakers game wasn't on the schedule from the beginning is beyond me

Personally the only time I am happy to watch the same two teams on TV within a 48 hour period is if its the finals.

During the regular season that is just flat out poor scheduling, both by Ten and by the NBL.

Broadcast fairness to all clubs? Was it fair that all of Townsville's TV games were away? Not one single Crocs home game was broadcast on FTA. Cairns hardly gets a fair shake either, home or away. And sometimes I get the feeling that Ten would like to forget that the Breakers exist (unless its the finals). But then, that's just Ten catering to the larger markets (i.e. state capitals). Though Wollongong gets its fair share of TV games, but they're close enough to Sydney to almost be counted in that market.

Koberulz - push the game to 12 local time. Simple.

12pm would've been too late for Ten. Ten's timeslot on Sundays is 11am WST.

Its not so much that those matches aren't shown because it was obviously made at the start of the season, but even then why would they have the same matchup twice on one weekend?

Understandable. In regards to the same game twice situation, the NBL doesn't seem to give a hoot about anyone outside of Sydney or Melbourne this weekend. Im just happy i don't have to watch my Hawks again. Enough already!

Yes. What's your point?

As crappy as it is, I don't see why the Wildcats cant tip off a couple of (big) games at 11am for TV if they have to have a few Sunday games. Its been done in the AFL before in order to pander to the eastern states TV viewing. Its not ideal and they wouldn't want to make it a regular thing, but I would rather see a Breakers v Cats blockbuster played at 11am for a 2pm national TV audience than a bottom of the table game featuring 2 low drawing eastern states teams.

Right now, the Cats are proving to be very successful at drawing big crowds no matter what day or time its on, so they would have no problem getting the crowd in at 11am (no evidence to prove that other than the grand final, which is obviously a special event, however in Perth, the crowds come)

For the next TV deal (if there is one), hopefully the time zones are taken into consideration and this situation doesn't keep happening where we miss out on a big game because of the awkward TV time.

Hopefully in the next TV deal they allow flex schedules leading up the playoffs like a lot of other sports codes

Hopefully whoever gets the broadcast rights after Ten does a much better job than setting their schedule before the season starts.

Honestly, how stupid is that???

Ch.7 don't do that with the AFL, and they show every single game (not all live, but most). Ch.9 set their TV schedule for NRL games 5 weeks in advance which gives them the opportunity to not only choose games (teams) which are going to rate well in their primary markets of NSW & Qld, but towards the end of the minor round it gives then the chance to pick games which have a bearing on the finals.

Tens before-the-season setting of the schedule wouldn't be so bad if they included some flexibility. This weekend would be a prime example of that. Sydney vs Melbourne this weekend are nothing games. Neither can make the finals, neither game will affect the makeup of the finals. The only thing they have going for them is that they are Australia's 2 biggest television markets.

Which would rate more on Friday night, Sydney vs Melbourne in a game that means squat, or Adelaide vs Perth for 3rd place? You don't need to be a genius to figure that out. And on Sunday I dare say that fans in Qld, SA and WA (and even some in NSW and Vic) would rather see the Breakers vs Tapians game to see who will end up playing who in the Semis.

Ch.7 don't do that with the AFL, and they show every single game

Don't CH7 only show four AFL games a week?

Channel 7 only shows 4 games per week and FOX Sports all games live

And in fact, Seven don't change their schedule either as they select the ones that they want to broadcast. Same goes with NRL

To put it mildly, this is a joke. A really bad joke.

One of the NBL's biggest issues when signing the next broadcast deal should definitely be no fixed TV schedule. Flexibility to change TV games is a must that would allow for situations just like this weekend.

And true fairness to all clubs should be non-negotiable, not this perceived BS we have now. Townsville is struggling as it is and with the TV schedule they would have lost out badly because potential sponsors wouldn't have been overly enthused about not getting national TV coverage. I know the RSL Stadium isn't exactly the best look for a national competition that is on commercial FTA television, but should that have excluded them from getting even one televised home game?

And I'll admit my error on the AFL thing. But I was right about the NRL :p

Even NRL don't do it. Channel 9 picks the matches weeks ahead and they won't change it regardless, as they only pick the high ratings matches. If the team that they want to do well is doing badly or another match is tight on the day with not much separating between them. Then Nine won't change it. They are stuck with what they chose. Unless if a miracle happens, which forces the network to change it by a cyclone.