Nine's Wide World of Sports

Nine's Wide World of Sports is a long running sports anthology brand on Australian

History

1981–1990s – Creation and contract competition

Wide World of Sports (WWoS) is a long-used title for Nine's sport programming. All sports broadcasts on Nine air under the WWoS brand. It was also the name of a popular sports magazine program that aired most Saturdays and Sundays. This program filled many of the summer daytime hours. It was first pitched by Gordon Carr who went on to hold a broad portfolio in WWoS. The program premiered at 1:00 pm on Saturday, 23 May 1981, and was initially hosted by

It was unrelated to the series "Wide World of Sports" aired by ABC in the United States, which started in 1961.^[1] From the early 1970s, the main sport aired nationally under the WWoS brand was cricket. Nine's majority owner Kerry Packer created World Series Cricket in part because he couldn't obtain the rights to Australian test matches at home, even though he offered the Australian Cricket Board a $1.5 million 3-year contract which was rejected by the ACB who signed a 3-year deal with the ABC to broadcast test matches. This led to Packer signing in secret some of the world's best cricket players for a breakaway competition.

In 1978, 35 of the "world's best players" had signed with Packer's World Series Cricket, which was broadcast in competition with ABC's cricket coverage of the ICC. Nine's Wide World of Sports was the "first broadcaster to put a microphone on the players for an international cricket match," which later became common practice in the industry.^[2] ABC and Nine then signed a truce after a long dispute in 1979, with Nine securing the exclusive rights to telecast Australian cricket. From that point until 2006, Nine based its summer schedule around broadcasts of cricket internationally and domestic. Its cricket broadcasts in that era revolutionized the way the sport was covered, featuring cameras placed at both ends of the field (after Packer famously complained about seeing "cricketer's bums" every second over), instant replays, and other innovations. World Series Cricket made many other changes to cricket, having a huge impact on the game.

David Hill was among the early executives that developed WWoS.^[3] In the early 1980s, well-known hosts and presenters on Wide World of Sports included Mike Gibson^[4][5] and Ian Chappell,^[5] both the inaugural hosts of the Saturday afternoon program in 1981.^[6]

Billy Birmingham in 1984 released a comedy album that satirized cricket "and in particular Channel Nine's iconic commentary team with Richie Benaud the central figure," which became popular in Australia,^[7] called The Wired World of Sports. Among the hosts satirized were his friend Mike Gibson.^[6] Birmingham went on to release a series of albums ridiculing all aspects of Wide World of Sports, calling the show "Wired World of Sports". From the first to the most recent (2006), all have reached number one on the Australian album chart.

David Hill helped establish Nine's Wide World of Sports early on, and was a "sounding board when the billionaire famously sold the network to

January 1995 saw the beginning of Premier Sports Network, the channel that was to become Fox Sports. It secured the rights to Australia's cricket tour of the West Indies, Nine's first challenge since winning its World Series war. Nine tried to stop the broadcast under Australia's "anti-siphoning" rules, which exist to stop certain popular sporting events being screened exclusively on pay television. But it failed when Premier Sports Network came to an agreement to broadcast the tour free to air on Network 10. ^{[citation needed]}

WWoS's other main sport was and is rugby league. This was challenged in 1997 by the establishment of Super League, the repercussions of which led to Nine's parent company owning half of Fox Sports that year, and ultimately Nine's move away from popular live sport.^{[citation needed]} This partial purchase of Fox Sports roughly coincided with the end of Nine's traditional Saturday and Sunday daytime schedule of sports programming. What had once filled it now filled subscription channels, mainly Fox Sports. Old movies and other low rating programs filled much of the space. Between the late 1970s and 1997, when Australians had wanted to watch continuous sport at home on a summer weekend, they had largely done so by tuning to Nine. Those in NSW, Queensland and the ACT did this all year round, due to rugby league's popularity in those areas. Now Fox Sports had that mantle, and gave viewers continuous sport all week long.

In 1990s, the Wide World of Sports marketed sports paraphernalia such as signed and framed bats, and items from the

Paul Sheahan hosted Nine's Wide World of Sports program until 1999.[11] Max Walker hosted until it ended in 1999.^[12][13]

2000–2008 – Changing broadcasting deals

In 2001, The Nine Network acquired broadcast rights for Friday night and Sunday afternoon games in the

With existing agreements then set to expire in 2006 and 2007, in 2005, Channel Nine secured a deal to air NRL games until the end of 2012.[15]

Eddie McGuire was named CEO of Nine Network with oversight of the Wide World of Sports brand in 2006.^[16]

In January 2006, the Seven Network and Network Ten exercised their "first and last" rights agreement with the AFL to trump the Nine Network's $780 million bid for broadcasting rights for the years 2007 to 2011.^[17] If Seven and Ten were unable to match the AFL's "quality of coverage" demands by 5 May 2006 (better coverage into regional areas, northern states and on pay television, as promised in the Nine bid) the AFL would have been allowed to award the broadcasting rights back to Nine.

The Seven/Ten consortium, however, obtained the rights,

In 2004, it was making an annual income of around $30 million on broadcasting Australian cricket, with the television rights expiring at the end of the 2006. Around 2004, Cricket Australia began negotiating for a higher price.[20] In 2005, Nine Network bid on cricket for $45 million a year, winning the contract and signing a seven year deal with Cricket Australia.^[21]

From the beginning of the 2006-2007 cricket season, Nine no longer broadcast Australian domestic cricket.

In 2012, Nine Network had a $1 billion contract for NRL rights and a $300 million cricket rights deal set to expire the following March.^[22]

Instead, it replaced the coverage with delayed National Basketball League matches in October, with weekly one-hour highlight shows and full games.^[23] The domestic cricket matches, long a mainstay of Nine's summer programming, moved exclusively to Fox Sports.

2008–2020: return of Wide World of Sports

After a ten-year hiatus, it was announced that the Wide World of Sports weekly television program would return to Nine on 16 March 2008,^[24] using the same theme song as the old version, as well as accessing old footage for replays. This show was hosted by the previous host Ken Sutcliffe, with footy show star James Brayshaw as well as former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist. Revolving co-hosts included former swimmers Giaan Rooney, Nicole Livingstone and former cricketer Michael Slater.^[25] That year, it broadcast the Australian Open with its own team of commentators.^[26] The show originally aired for 90 minutes but was recently extended to two hours. It aired on Sunday mornings at 9am till 11am.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, the Nine Network and Microsoft joint venture ninemsn had a section dedicated to the Wide World of Sports.

In 2017, the WWoS channel was featuring the Netball World Series, hosted by Erin Molan and with commentators Liz Ellis, Sharelle McMahon, Cath Cox and Anne Sargeant.[37] In 2017, the channel signed Ray Warren for five more years, for as long as they retained their rugby league rights.^[38] Also that year, WWoS announced a GPS player tracking system into its rugby broadcasting.^[39] WWoS relinquished the rights broadcast cricket in 2018 to Seven West Media, instead picking up the Australian Open tennis broadcast for that summer.^[8] In 2019, the WWoS was streaming rugby on its digital platform, with a rugby commentary team led by Ray Warren.^[40] In 2018, WWoS announced had secured "free TV and streaming rights" for the Masters Tournament to be played at Augusta National Golf Club.^[41]

The Wide World of Sports studio was set up in Melbourne for the 2019 Australian Open for tennis, with a commentary team headed up by John McEnroe^[42][43] and Jim Courier.^[42] Originally Wide World of Sports had been set to air it for 2020 until 2024, but they were sold the 2019 broadcast rights by Seven Network.^[43] Nine's Wide World of Sports in 2019 included the Australian Open, "the Sydney International, Brisbane International and Hopman Cup tennis tournaments, the Holden State of Origin, the Cricket World Cup, the Ashes, The Masters and the NBL."^[44]

On 8 February 2023, it was announced that Nine had re-gained the rights to the Olympic Games from 2024 through to the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane.^[52][53] On 20 February 2024, it was announced Nine had obtained the rights to broadcast the Melbourne Cup from 2024 through to 2029.^[54][55][56]

Events

Nine's Wide World of Sports holds broadcast rights to the following events:

Current

Past

¹ The Nine Network televised the 2011 US Open final between Serena Williams and Samantha Stosur in its entirety.^[57]

Programs

Nine's Wide World of Sports has presented the following recurring programs:

Past

Local Sports Presenters

The following presenters work on Nine's flagship 6pm (5:30pm on the Gold Coast) news bulletins presenting the local sports segments during the second half of the bulletin.

WWOS Radio

Since 2020, each weeknight between 6pm and 7pm Nine owned radio stations program Wide World of Sports radio. This hour long program discusses relevant local, national and international sports issues as conducting interviews with current and former players, coaches and sports journalists.

Presenters and commentators

Nine's Wide World of Sports has hosts and commentators for a variety of sporting events. The following is a list of past and present personalities featured:

Sports Sunday

• Roz Kelly (2022–present)
• James Bracey (host, 2018–2022)
• Liz Ellis
• Peter FitzSimons
• Mark Taylor
• other assorted guests

Wide World of Sports

Past

Any Given Sunday

• James Brayshaw (2005)
• Nicole Livingstone (2006)
• Garry Lyon (2005)
• Mick Molloy (2006)
• Sam Newman (2005)

2012 London Olympics

Various Nine programs including

Rugby league

Current

Former

NSW Cup

• Peter Psaltis (commentator, 2019–present)
• Jamie Soward (commentator, 2018–present)
• Danika Mason (host, 2019–present)

QLD Cup

• Mark Braybrook (commentator, 2019–present)
• Scott Sattler (commentator, 2013–present)
• Peter Badel (sideline commentator, 2016)
• Adam Jackson (sideline commentator 2016–present)

The Sunday NRL Footy Show

The NRL Footy Show

Tennis

Australian Open

French Open

• Todd Woodbridge (Host and Commentator, 2021–present)
• Brett Phillips (Late Night Host, 2021–present)
• Roz Kelly (Host, 2023–present)
• Jelena Dokic (Commentator, 2021–present)
• Brenton Speed (Commentator, 2023–present)
• Samantha Stosur (Commentator, 2023–present)
• Sam Groth (Commentator, 2021–2022)

Wimbledon

• Nick McArdle (Host, 2023–present)
• Brett Phillips (Late Night Host, 2021–present)
• Jelena Dokic (Commentator, 2021–present)
• Samantha Stosur (Commentator, 2023–present)
• Tony Jones (Correspondent, 2022–present)
• Todd Woodbridge (Host and Commentator, 2021; Analyst 2022–present)
• Alicia Molik (Analyst 2023–present)
• Sam Groth (Commentator, 2021–present)
• Roz Kelly (Host, 2022)

US Open

• Todd Woodbridge (Host and Commentator, 2022–present)
• Brett Phillips (Early Morning Host, 2022–present)
• Jelena Dokic (Commentator, 2022–present)

Cricket

Current

• Roz Kelly (host)
• Mark Taylor (analyst)
• Callum Ferguson (analyst)
• Steve O'Keefe (analyst)

Cricket World Cup 2019, Women's Ashes 2019, Ashes 2019

2018 (most recent) Home Summer of Cricket

Past

Guest international commentators

Netball

Association Football

• Clint Stanaway (host, 2015–2017)
• Michael Bridges (expert analysis, 2015–2017)
• David Zdrilic (expert analysis, 2015–2017)
• Harry Kewell (expert analysis, 2017)
• Craig Moore (expert analysis, 2017)
• Brenton Speed (commentator (via Fox Football, 2015–2017)

Tour Down Under Cycling

• Tim Gilbert (host, 2012–2018)
• John Steffensen (co-host, 2016–2018)
• Phil Liggett (commentator, 2012–2018)
• Paul Sherwen (commentator, 2012–2018)
• Robbie McEwen (commentator, 2012–2018)

Rugby union

National Basketball League

• Bill Baxter (host, 2015–2016)
• Brad Rosen (expert analysis, 2015–2016)

Australian Rules Football

AFL

SANFL

EJ Whitten Legends Game

The Footy Show panellists

The Sunday Footy Show panellists

Current panelists

• Tony Jones (2006–2008, 2017–present) (host)
• Damian Barrett (2010–present) (reporter)
• Nathan Brown (2010–present)
• Matthew Lloyd (2012–present)
• Kane Cornes (2017–present)

Former panelists

Swimming

Awards

Sports coverage and programs made by Nine's Wide World of Sports have been won and been nominated for several awards at the Logie Awards.

See also

• ABC Sport
• Seven Sport
• 10 Sport
• SBS Sport
• Fox Sports (Australia)
• Stan Sport
• List of Australian television series
• List of longest running Australian television series

References