1 August

Watching netball at the Commonwealth Games and it makes me think again how I’ve completely reversed my thinking on free-to-air sports broadcasting. I used to agree major events should be available on free-to-air, to maximise viewers. But let’s be real. Pretty much everybody streams now, and pays (not much) for it. Honestly, people pay more for coffee each week than they do for streaming. Free-to-air coverage is mostly rubbish, saturated with ads and pushed to secondary channels, and not even HD half the time, let alone 4K. Pay TV coverage is superb, ad-free, 4K, with constant technological innovation in the coverage etc. Watching the netball coverage right now as an example. The commentators are at home in Sydney! Channel 7 has turned the live sound from the game down to almost zero, and all you hear is the commentators in Oz. And the picture quality is like a colourised moon landing. Appalling coverage, absolutely hopeless.