Opinion: TVNZ did stuff up big time at games but don't kid yourselves about Sky TV as saviour

Parochial viewers will always question whether TV considers cycling, squash or athletics more important than rugby sevens. Image/HB Today

Free-to-air is an oxymoron if ever there was one to describe the state of television viewing anywhere in the world.

The paradox painfully lies in the word "free" because there's no such thing as a freebie in television.

Like it or not, someone is always making a buck or two when it comes to covering sport.

The irate public was still seething over the shambolic Gold Coast Commonwealth Games coverage when it endured another upper cut — news that Television New Zealand (TVNZ) won't host the Rugby World Cup in Japan late next year, after Spark won the rights.

The reality is even in the "good, old days" of TVNZ, everyone had to pay an annual broadcasting licence or else face the prospect of some dodgy-looking character knocking on their door, demanding to know if they had paid up or be slapped with a fine simply because they had an antenna on the roof.

That is not to say people weren't cheating the system because I spent a decade in Dunedin where student flats didn't bother with licences, never mind every other house owner or tenant in a suburb.

The scathing criticism of TVNZ this month is warranted but what I find amusing is that viewers were naive enough to expect non-interrupted coverage of the Commonwealth Games.

Switching from the height of a boxing match to a diving platform, to give an example, happened quite frequently.

To be told that you had to revert to the TVNZ website for a medal ceremony or switch to the Duke or channel 59 was the pits.

Frankly I returned home from work about 11pm on the first night to watch TV One, saw the advertisements and the erratic coverage and went to bed half an hour later.

I'm afraid everyone, including athletes, viewers and advertisers, came out losers in the game of coverage in Gold Coast.

The keyboard warriors went wild, many calling for the return of Sky Television coverage.

The reality is Sky is no angel and has monopolised the market to an extent where the likes of TVNZ were long ago on the slippery path to extinction.

Many detractors will argue you get what you pay for and TVNZ did just that — their loyalty card was always going to be stacked towards advertisers.

Sky TV has for years covered marquee sporting events and simply levied fees on unsuspecting subscribers for extending multi-channels.

When I first got a basic package it was in the vicinity of $60. It's criminal that once you have subscribed you are expected to pay extra for watching it in another room.

The other school of argument is why should you not expect to pay?

I believe that luring viewers to a service then changing the rules — for example, playing most rugby on the sports channels but then asking viewers to pay an additional $8.81 a month for the Rugby Channel — is tantamount to unfair trading.

The recent national outcry from families on missing out on tickets to the National Age Group Swimming Championship (Nags) in Auckland is a great snapshot of what extent people will go to see their children compete.

Some parents were prepared to spend more than a $1000 during the week-long champs to watch livestreaming footage from their hotel rooms in the hope of getting their hands on a ticket at the Sir Owen G Glen National Aquatic Centre before the meeting started on Tuesday.

Desperation should never be the catalyst for commercial gain because, inevitably, people will rebel.

If anything the competition from any other provider to keep Sky TV honest should be welcomed to break monopolies.

The likes of Netflix have made some inroads but the jury is out on whether it is going to whet the appetite of the tribes.

For argument's sake, viewers can be pretty parochial about coverage. Is mountainbiking, squash or pole vaulting more important than men and women's rugby sevens?

Should TVNZ have forced everyone on all its three channels to watch Tom Walsh lug the shot put for gold?

No provider will ever be able to cater for such variables to everyone's satisfaction and that's where I sympathise with TVNZ.

It had no crystal ball to predict if medals, never mind gold, were likely to emerge in some peripheral codes and disciplines.

For Sky to miss out on the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup is a double whammy.

How many more hits will the pay satellite TV provider take before failing to beat the standing count in New Zealand?

Which takes us back to TVNZ.

The problem is since Sky TV took over the digital broadcasting sandpit, the state-owned network had crawled under a rock.

Take a hard look at its sports coverage and it's difficult to find anyone who is capable of fronting up with a microphone at the coal face .

Those who read lines in the comfort of a studio or dash out for sound bites will always find a sporting event of the magnitude of the Commonwealth Games daunting.

News presenter Simon Dallow, his fluent Maori aside, is perhaps the exception, albeit for current affairs.

It's time for TVNZ to reconsider its whole attitude towards sport.

With Sky forging ties with Vodafone, it makes one wonder why it took TVNZ so long to hitch up with Spark?