There are very few things that I actually watch on NZ TV these days. The Almighty Johnsons on TV3 to name just one regular program. I also enjoy watching the V8 Supercars from Australia, also on TV3. When TV3 grabbed the rights to screen these events back in 2008 they promised better coverage than TVNZ was going to provide. At the time TVNZ was airing the second race of the weekend around 2300 hours onwards. Like most of the country I work regular hours starting at 0800 hours and, also like most of the country, this means that I need to be leaving the house at around 0715 hours. This mean that I need to be out of bed, or at least awake, by 0600 hours to ensure that I have had a shower and got my clothes on.

Now for me I generally like to get around 6-7 hours of sleep a night if I’m going to be able to think straight and work efficiently the next day. Getting to bed at around 0100 – 0200 hours generally means that I either have to take a few hours off work just so that I get to watch one of my favourite sports or, alternatively, spending the next day in a state where I shouldn’t be at work at all. TV3 started out with good coverage of the racing showing the first race sometime on the Saturday and the second on the Sunday. Sometimes this meant that I had to change channels part way through to C4 to make way for the news which was not a great problem.

Now, TV3 in their great wisdom has done the same as what TVNZ did just before they lost the rights to coverage. This means that I now have to miss the second race of the weekend. I was lucky enough to be given a video recorder by a mate who wasn’t using it any more, but when I hooked it up there where problems recording the picture. I got the audio without any problems but there was no picture to speak of. If I had more time to look into this I would have ensured that the video recorder was working correctly but I was only able to get said device the previous day.

What I would like to know is who in their infinite wisdom decided to air this race late at night? This racing is becoming one of the best touring car racing series in the world, with the V8 Supercars travelling around the world to compete on international tracks, such as Abu Dhabi. There are plans afoot to even allow other manufacturers to compete in the series, beyond Holden and Ford, so long as they run a V8 engine. They have changed the fuel that they use so as to use a sustainable model that uses less fossil fuels. This shows that the sport is evolving as time go on. They also consider what the fans would like to see and what keeps them entertained, as well as maintaining a highly professional racing scene. As far as I can see this sport is not dying, and they are doing everything they can to ensure that the fans are always kept entertained. The racing is incredibly competitive and enjoyable on several levels.

What I fear is that TV3 are looking to eject this coverage from their line up. If this happens I wonder if it would go the way of the F1 coverage in NZ which went to Sky. Seeing as I am running on a very tight budget I can’t afford to get Sky installed, and keep it running. As it happens the only way that I can have a land line phone and broadband internet at home is because I work for the company that provides this and they basically provide it to their staff for free. If TV3 decided to keep this coverage I would have to look into buying another Freeview set top box that would be able to record as well, so that I could watch it later. The best place to get this is online for around $130. If I had a spare $130 to throw around on things other than food I wouldn’t have a problem with paying for things like Sky.

I know there are certain regulations around what we air on national television and how much of the content has to be relevant to NZ. But I didn’t hear anyone screaming about the coverage of the Olympics when it took over the whole day of coverage 3 years ago, or even the Winter Olympics last year for that matter. These events where not held in New Zealand. Yes, I know that we had competitors in some of the events so it could have been viewed as relevant to New Zealand, but likewise there are a lot of people involved in the V8 Supercars that come from this great country of ours, too; Greg Murphy, Jason Richards, Shane Van Gisbergen, Ross and Jimmy Stone just to name but a few. These competitive sportsmen all come from NZ and all are referred to as New Zealanders, despite the fact that they have to live in Australia to be able to complete in the sport. We even tried to have a New Zealand based team compete in the sport, Team Kiwi Racing, but it proved too costly to be run from this side of the Tasman.

Yes, I do believe we need to show as much New Zealand motor sport on national TV as possible. We have some very talented people in the sport that are still in this country but there should also be a balance between viewing national and international motor sport. We certainly don’t have a problem with this in other sporting events.

So when we talk about free TV what part is free? I paid out to get a set top box so that I would still be able to watch free-to-air TV when they switch the signal off later. This cost me $130 and I still need to ensure that I move into a house that already has a satellite, otherwise I’m back to the standard 5 RF channels. So where else can I turn to if I want to choose what I watch?

Kryton