Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

In countries such as Australia, public broadcasting built a television sports audience, helping create conditions for increased commercialisation of sports. Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) cricket coverage from the 1950s to the 1970s showed only ABC had the national organisation, infrastructure and network to deliver sport across the country. This changed with the commercial venture, World Series Cricket (WSC) in 1977. Received wisdom is of a WSC “revolution.” However, much of what is perceived as revolutionary evolved from public broadcasting’s innovative strategies. The 1970s were a point of departure for a second era of ABC sport, focusing on sports ignored by commercial broadcasters; especially women’s sports, events such as the Paralympics and local competitions. Bringing together original research on broadcast, rights and attendance data, this paper charts public broadcasting’s R&D history, using ABC sports to illustrate role as both a comprehensive and a complementary broadcaster.