Sports and the Media in New Zealand
I go to Wellington this week for the National Hockey League and for the first time since I don't know when, they are televising both womens and mens finals on channel 1. It got me thinking about sport coverage, ownership and the relationship sport has with the media in New Zealand. In New Zealand it is impossible to get through a normal day without seeing, reading or hearing some reference to sport (Henley, 2004). New Zealand is a sport oriented culture,
Sport is everywhere in our mediascape; the various images, posters, billboards in newspapers, magazines, on the television and on the radio, we are constantly reminded in this country, that sport matters a great deal (Henley, 2004). The media has a lot to do with this, realizing the importance of sport in New Zealand culture and having capitalized on sport. The purchase and ownership of sporting events has seen the competition of channels and media enterprises competing for broadcasting rights of particular sports with the likes of rugby in particular; just recently with Can West TV3, having won all broadcasting rights for New Zealand in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. But to me SKY Television has the edge over any other channels or media enterprises holding a monopoly over sport ownership and control to a certain extent. The invention of My Sky, launched in December 2005 gives the “ability to pause live television rewind television, record up to two channels at once straight to the set top box and watch the start of a recorded programme while still recording the end” (Wikipedia, 2001). The purchase of Prime Television in November 2005, has given Sky the ability to use Prime to promote delayed sports coverage. Through innovation SKY has created new ways to jump ahead of its competition and through their politcal economy their acquisitions have given them more control and power. The relationship between Sport in New Zealand and SKY is somewhat synomomous, as sport and media have and will always be interconnected.
Sport is everywhere in our mediascape; the various images, posters, billboards in newspapers, magazines, on the television and on the radio, we are constantly reminded in this country, that sport matters a great deal (Henley, 2004). The media has a lot to do with this, realizing the importance of sport in New Zealand culture and having capitalized on sport. The purchase and ownership of sporting events has seen the competition of channels and media enterprises competing for broadcasting rights of particular sports with the likes of rugby in particular; just recently with Can West TV3, having won all broadcasting rights for New Zealand in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. But to me SKY Television has the edge over any other channels or media enterprises holding a monopoly over sport ownership and control to a certain extent. The invention of My Sky, launched in December 2005 gives the “ability to pause live television rewind television, record up to two channels at once straight to the set top box and watch the start of a recorded programme while still recording the end” (Wikipedia, 2001). The purchase of Prime Television in November 2005, has given Sky the ability to use Prime to promote delayed sports coverage. Through innovation SKY has created new ways to jump ahead of its competition and through their politcal economy their acquisitions have given them more control and power. The relationship between Sport in New Zealand and SKY is somewhat synomomous, as sport and media have and will always be interconnected.
posted by Anonymous at 10:56 am
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