SKY New Zealand -not showing non NZ Preliminary games

[JASON]

I am disappointed by Sky NZ's decision not to show non NZ Preliminary round games.
Even though some of these involve minnows, the excitement of World Cup is to see all these games. I personally think its a bad decision. IIRC in Asia (ie India, SL , Pakistan) and in Australia all World Cup games will be shown. In SL all the games can be seen on Free to Air channels .

As a Sri Lankan living in NZ, this means I will not see any SL games and if SL fail to go past Bangladesh , my WC ends even before it has begun. I am sure fans of other countries living in NZ (ie SA, India, Pakistan,Australia,West Indies) must be equally disapponted by this sky NZ decision.
Any opinions ....

 

[Natman20]

Slack IMO. A tv station like that should show more valuable sports over sports like juggling. People pay for coverage of the cricket and therefore they should get it.

 

[JASON]

Slack IMO. A tv station like that should show more valuable sports over sports like juggling. People pay for coverage of the cricket and therefore they should get it.

I wonder if they should be pressured into starting a "Cricket" Channel , like they have a Rugby channel for those who want to watch Rugby 24 / 7 .

 

[Perm]

Happens with the rugby aswell, the latest round of Rugby 7's in the USA was meant to be "Live on Sky", which I was quite happy about. Turns out they only meant the finals were going to be live which was a kick in the guts. I would definately subscribe to a cricket channel if there was one on TV, but I can't see it happening. Even though it won't affect me too much, as I will be away on school camp for the first few days I do imagine how annoying that will be for you Jason.

 

[Richard]

JASON, you are now in NEW ZEALAND rather than VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA?

 

[JASON]

JASON, you are now in NEW ZEALAND rather than VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA?

Have done so for several years now.

 

[pasag]

Absurd that you pay for TV and still can't get cricket. I'd be livid.

 

[meatspx]

Sky is showing the 3 other important games in pool play, ie. Sri Lanka vs India, WI vs Pakistan etc.

You would think that Sky wouldn't have to pay extra to get the minnow games. They pretty much have an unlimited number of channels, they could create an extra channel for the cricket during the WC, show highlights of current games and old school classics - but that would be showing iniative.

What peeves me off the most though is that during the innings break they will show powerboating or some other boring crap!

 

[Tim]

There really is no need for Sky to broadcast games like Australia vs a minnow team. If they're gonna show Australia v South Africa etc then it's all good.

 

[Jono]

I'd be pretty pissed off if that happened here in Foxtel, pay TV, you get what you pay for generally.

Angry letters should be sent, plenty of them.

 

[vic_orthdox]

What peeves me off the most though is that during the innings break they will show powerboating or some other boring crap!

TBH, greatest thing Foxtel ever did was show classing World Series Cup matches from the 1980's. So many awesome games played at the 'G in those days.

 

[Tim]

Why should anyone be pissed off?

The games are in the middle of the night here and there is no way they would get the viewers numbers to justify broadcasting a live feed of a non NZ game against a minnow. We just don't have the viewer numbers here to justify it.

 

[pasag]

Why should anyone be pissed off?

The games are in the middle of the night here and there is no way they would get the viewers numbers to justify broadcasting a live feed of a non NZ game against a minnow. We just don't have the viewer numbers here to justify it.

Well I personally pay for Foxtel just for the cricket, so if I was in the same situation in NZ - missing World Cup games, I'd be really pissed off.

 

[JASON]

Why should anyone be pissed off?

The games are in the middle of the night here and there is no way they would get the viewers numbers to justify broadcasting a live feed of a non NZ game against a minnow. We just don't have the viewer numbers here to justify it.

This is the World Cup. Viewer numbers are probably not going to be great for any sport if its shown at 2 AM in the morning. And since this is the World Cup, there is definitely a valid argument that all games should be shown, particularly given its not going to cost them anything.

Its a bit poor, because if SKY didn't get exclusive rights, then Prime(NZ's Channel 9 link) or some other station might show it....but they can't because SKY holds the exclusive rights... So where do you go from there...

 

[Dick Rockett]

Why should anyone be pissed off?

The games are in the middle of the night here and there is no way they would get the viewers numbers to justify broadcasting a live feed of a non NZ game against a minnow. We just don't have the viewer numbers here to justify it.

I'd be surprised if they'd even consider for a second not showing every single game of the Rugby World Cup live.

People will have already paid a subscription fee and some will no doubt join Sky just for the World Cup. Also I'm pretty sure Sky pay a fee for broadcast rights to the whole tournament, rather than on a game-by-game basis. Besides, is anyone going to stay up to watch whatever other dreck they put on in place of the cricket?

 

[Natman20]

A cricket game is a cricket game. I wouldn't mind watching a complete drubbing every so often. It is poor coverage IMO and they should try to make all their customers happy seeing as they are payed and earn so much per year. I was an extra in a SKY advertisement last year and had to sing a song while getting splashed by a WRC car. (lucky they dubbed music over the top)

 

[Perm]

I woud have really liked to see Bangladesh play in this World Cup, looks like it won't be happening unless they make it past the group stage.

 

[Smudge]

I wonder if they should be pressured into starting a "Cricket" Channel , like they have a Rugby channel for those who want to watch Rugby 24 / 7 .

Pressured? It's down to money, I'm sure...

With the timing of the tournament, I can see Sky's point.

 

[Jono]

Why should anyone be pissed off?

The games are in the middle of the night here and there is no way they would get the viewers numbers to justify broadcasting a live feed of a non NZ game against a minnow. We just don't have the viewer numbers here to justify it.

Come on now Tim.

This is pay TV, and large viewer numbers aren't necessary to show World Cup matches. I highly doubt that Pakistan vs. South Africa ODIs shown from 10:30pm to 7am here in Melbourne get a high number of viewers either. That doesn't mean its right if Foxtel don't show non-Australian international series, because that's what many subscribers are paying for, cricket and other major sports being shown live.

 

[Poker Boy]

As an outsider, I'd just like to say I think they are wrong. If they were a terrestial station like Channel 9 I'd understand because they are ratings driven and some of the games would not rate well even in prime time. But a specialist pay station has a responsibility to its subscribers and I can't believe everybody in NZ is a NZ supporter. And as they are played overnight in NZ they won't clash with rugby either. And to think their British namesakes are showing all games (when two clash you press the red button and pick the match you want). I take it Rupert Murdoch doesn't own NZ Sky?