Nine to premier Sherlock in Perth in bid for bigger audience share
Viewers in Perth will get the opportunity to find out how Sherlock faked his own death before anyone else in Australia as Nine pushes to strengthen its position in the market.
The network has taken the unusual decision to premier the BBC show, which features Star Trek’s Benedict Cumberbatch and The Hobbit lead Martin Freeman, in Perth on Sunday, January 19. It has not revealed when it will premier in other markets, but it is believed it will be longer than a few days’ delay.
Nine bought out the WIN station in the Western Australian capital in September as it looked to establish a national footprint, and installed former Ten programming boss David Mott to lead the station there.
The first episode of the three-part third season of Sherlock aired in the UK on January 1, and the second on Sunday night, but a Nine spokeswoman told Mumbrella the network is not worried the decision to delay broadcast in most markets may lead some fans to pirate the series online.
Nearly three weeks late and with too many ads… I know how i will watch the show…
Actually it was the second episode of the series that aired on Sunday night in the UK, the first episode was on Jan 1, last Wednesday. Not that it matters really.
Hi Don’t Mind,
Absolutely right. Mea culpa.
Cheers,
Alex, editor, Mumbrella
Why so flippant about people watching it online, I wonder.
Too slow, Nine, way too slow. Sherlock aired over one week ago, and by the time you screen this in Perth it’ll be almost three weeks old. If you want to make a dent in the free download market you need to learn that three weeks is too long – hell, three days is too long. Same night or not at all.
I’m not racing home to download Sherlock, I have a life. But I will watch it instead of some old summer movie re-run. Some people over estimate the desperate desire people have to watch a TV show. Most people want quality content, at night for a couple of hours when they get home from work, on a big TV screen. And if they were to have run it 3 weeks ago, I reckon most people would have been in total summer switch off mode. That would have been a totally idiotic call. Smart decision. Good to see 9 Perth fired up.
This decision is more idiotic than the first scene of season three.
Shouldn’t that be premiere?
I’m watching episode 3 of this season tonight. Too slow Channel Nine, I would’ve watched it on their channel had they fast-tracked.
Have the various TV channel executive boards considered that the ratings off-season drives people to find alternatives to TV for their personal entertainment? Whether that be downloading or other forms of media?
When will channel 9 show Fat Tony and co and Schapellei 2014?
How stupid can Channel 9 be? My Blu-ray is already on it’s way from Amazon UK, should be here on Monday. Everyone I know has already seen it anyway. It’s hilarious that they’re not worried about illegal downloads when the show was a watercooler show in Australia as it aired in the UK. The past two series of the show only got about 50% of the ratings that they would have got if they’d been shown as the ABC’s Sunday night drama, after the Top Gear debacle you’d think the networks would learn. Still, I hope dear old Auntie Beeb got big bucks out of Nine for the sale…