One to start NBL telecast at 1.10am

NBL fans outraged by One’s delayed broadcasts are set for another disappointment, with the Network Ten-run channel set to screen at least one game this weekend past 1am.

The Ten Sport website lists the start time for Saturday night’s Perth-Wollongong clash as 1.10am, making way for a MotoGP broadcast beginning at 11.45pm.

The website does not yet have a listing for Sunday’s Melbourne-Cairns clash, however it’s likely to be screened after MotoGP is scheduled to finish on that night, which is 1.15am.

It has been reported that Ten’s contract with the NBL requires games to be shown live or ‘near-live’, meaning within three hours of tip-off. If that information is correct, all three games this weekend will be outside Ten’s designated three-hour window.

The Friday night game, which has a 7.30pm start time, is listed to start on One at 10.45pm. The Saturday night game in Perth, which has a 10.00pm AEDT start time, is set for a delay of 3 hours 10 minutes.

The Sunday night game, meanwhile, is currently set for a massive delay of 5 hours 45 minutes.

Ten have defended their decision not to show NBL games live by saying they offered the league one live game a week on Ten, on Sundays at midday, instead of the current three delayed games.

“We offered them a live game on Ten on Sunday afternoons,” Ten’s head of sport David Barham has said.

“They didn’t take it so we’ll be showing three games on delay. Three games a week is still a pretty big commitment by us.”

Recently, the Ten Sport page on Facebook responded to the posts of numerous angry fans saying their feedback had been taken on board.

“Hi Guys, we’ve received some feedback from passionate NBL fans over the past few weeks. We wanted to let you know that we have passed this on to the programming department,” read the statement.

UPDATE: The Ten Sport website is now officially listing the start time for Sunday’s game as 1.15am, confirming the delay of 5 hours 45 minutes.

See also: NBL TV ratings 2011-12