Australian cricket outrated by MASH

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The ratings are out and apparently the 2nd Test between Australia and the West Indies was outrated by MASH, Murder She Wrote, Bert Newton and just about anything else that was on TV at the same time. Bert Newton, people! Apparently the punters prefer MASH's Hawkeye to Channel 9's Hawkeye. Awww, but Hawkeye's projected trajectories on LBW decisions are so informative! :-) The article reports that "incredibly, the shows registered more viewers during the opening two days, when the Test was still competitive." Obviously the reporter hadn't done his research - the match wasn't competitive from the first session. Usually I'm not fussed about this kind of thing but if bad ratings are going to threaten the broadcasting of Test matches, then we have a problem. I remember when the Australian tour of New Zealand was so one-sided last summer, ABC radio decided not to broadcast the 2nd Test (and I couldn't find a live feed on the Internet, dammit). It appears with Australian cricket, it's damned if you win, damned if it's competitive. For years now, we've been bemoaning the lack of competitive cricket against Australia. Then we have the Ashes and while yes, it was the most exciting series most of us have ever watched, there was also much gnashing of teeth as we all wondered why the hell *was* it competitive? Where did England get off playing well against us? What had happened to Australia? I guess cricket fans aren't happy unless we're complaining.

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Posted by JC on Sat 26 Nov

3 comments

Here in the "old country" the rights for televising Tests has passed to the satelitte stations, which is likely to mean lower television audiences.

The third Test looks more competitive and hopefully with the coming series against South Africa the TV ratings will pick up.

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Posted by Pat on 2005-11-27 13:30:10

So is the current Pakistan/England series only available on Sky? My understanding was up till now, Sky had all English series played out of England and Channel 4 had all local series - with all of them now going to Sky. And yes, if the first South Africa/Australia Test is hard fought, the rest of the series should generate some good interest.

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Posted by JC on 2005-11-28 00:37:35

I think the fact of the matter is we need michael clarke back... he had a small slip and already the selectors are dropping him, and yet a few australian cricket players have played poorly and ar e still in- whats the go???

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Posted by Emma, 13 on 2005-12-17 19:29:21

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