1. History

2. Return

3. Events
    Current  Past 

4. Programs

5. Presenters and commentators
    Sports Sunday (2017-present)  Wide World of Sports  Past  Any Given Sunday  2012 London Olympics  Rugby league  Current  NSW Cup  QLD Cup  The NRL Footy Show  Current  Former  The Sunday NRL Footy Show  Former  Tennis  Cricket  Final  Past  Guest international commentators  Netball  Current  Former  Soccer  Tour Down Under cycling  2015 Rugby World Cup  National Basketball League  Australian Football League  The Footy Show (Sunday edition) panellists 

6. See also

7. References

8. External links

Nine's Wide World of Sports is a long running sports anthology brand on Australian television, aired on the Nine Network. All major sports, events and series covered by the network are broadcast under this brand, the flagship sports being rugby league (National Rugby League) and Australian Open Tennis. Previous sporting rights include the Australian rules football (Australian Football League), Australian Cricket Team home season, spring and autumn horse racing, swimming until 2008, and golf (U.S. Masters) since 2018.

History

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. The program premiered at 1:00 pm on Saturday, 23 May 1981, and was initially hosted by Mike Gibson and Ian Chappell, before being hosted in the 1990s by Max Walker and Ken Sutcliffe. Ian Maurice was the regular anchor at the WWOS Update Desk. The show ended in 1999, due in large part to the rise of Fox Sports (which Nine's owner owned half of) and other subscription sport channels.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}, but the show returned in 2008 on Sunday mornings.

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. The ABC and Nine then signed a truce after a long dispute in 1972, 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 revolutionised 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.

In 1984, Billy Birmingham (The Twelfth Man) released a best-selling comedy album making fun of the cricket portion of the show. He 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.

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|date=October 2008}}

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|date=October 2008}}

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.

On 25 January 2001, The Nine Network acquired broadcast rights for Friday night and Sunday games in the Australian Football League, the elite Australian rules football competition in 2001. They shared the rights with Network Ten and Foxtel from 2002 through to 2006, but the deal assigned the rights for finals matches to Network Ten, a deal which reportedly flabbergasted Nine boss Kerry Packer.

As it also had the rights for all major swimming competitions until 2008, with major swimming competitions shown in primetime. During the early to mid-2000s, Nine for the first time had the FTA rights to the highest competitions of Australia's four biggest spectator sports: rugby league, Australian rules (shared with Ten), cricket and swimming.

While Nine no longer had the volume of sport it once had, during the 2000-2006 period it dominated non-Olympic sport broadcasting in Australia.

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. 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, with Nine broadcasting its last AFL match on a Sunday hosted by Tony Jones with a guest appearance from Nine's then chief executive and former AFL commentator Eddie McGuire.

From the beginning of the 2006-2007 cricket season, Nine no longer broadcast Australian domestic cricket but replaced the coverage with delayed National Basketball League matches. The domestic cricket matches, long a mainstay of Nine's summer programming, moved exclusively to Fox Sports.

It was thought that the Seven Network would continue its tradition of airing the Olympic Games for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. However, Nine in joint partnership with Foxtel, has secured broadcasting rights which the network has described as the most comprehensive coverage of the Olympics. The partnership also won the rights to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

For more than 40 years, the Nine Network had also broadcast the prestigious Wimbledon tennis tournament before ultimately dropping it after the 2010 tournament, citing declining ratings.^[1] The last Wimbledon match televised by Nine was the men's singles final played between Rafael Nadal and Tomáš Berdych, which Nadal won. The Seven Network have since picked up the broadcasting rights to Wimbledon, from 2011 onwards.^[2]

Return

After a ten-year hiatus, it was announced that the Wide World of Sports program would return to Nine on 16 March 2008.^[3] This show is hosted by the previous host Ken Sutcliffe, with footy show star James Brayshaw as well as former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist.

In 2009, revolving co-hosts included former swimmers Giaan Rooney, Nicole Livingstone and former cricketer Michael Slater. The show originally aired for 90 minutes but was recently extended to two hours. It airs on Sunday mornings at 9am till 11am.

Wide World of Sports returned for another year in 2009. Michael Slater and Grant Hackett joined the team as co-hosts alongside Ken Sutcliffe and Giaan Rooney. Nicole Livingstone did not return to the program in 2009, as she joined Network Ten as a commentator. Giaan Rooney resigned from the Nine Network at the end of 2012 to join the Seven Network.

The show was nominated for the "Most Popular Sports Program" award at the 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015 Logie Awards, being beaten by The NRL Footy Show on all occasions.

The show is no longer airing as of 2017. Sports Sunday replaced the show in the Sunday 10am timeslot.

Events

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

Current

Past

Programs

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

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 (2017-present)

• Liz Ellis
• Peter FitzSimons
• Catherine Cox
• Emma Freedman (host, 2017)

Wide World of Sports

Past

• Michael Slater
• Emma Freedman
• John Steffenson
• Clint Stanaway
• Sally Fitzgibbons
• Ian Chappell
• Lisa Curry
• Ian Maurice
• Mike Gibson
• Tony Greig
• Max Walker
• Adam Gilchrist
• Giaan Rooney
• Yvonne Sampson
• Ken Sutcliffe
• Richie Calendar

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 Today, Mornings, Millionaire Hot Seat, The Footy Show, 60 Minutes and Australia's Funniest Home Videos went on hiatus during Nine's broadcast of the 2012 London Olympics. A daily two-hour highlights package London Gold aired at 9am weekdays following the live overnight coverage.

• Eddie McGuire
• Ken Sutcliffe
• Giaan Rooney
• James Brayshaw
• Ray Warren
• Garry Lyon
• Karl Stefanovic
• Leila McKinnon
• James Tomkins
• Kerri Pottharst
• Scott McGrory
• Debbie Watson
• Melinda Gainsford-Taylor
• Michael Slater
• Andrew Gaze
• Andrew Voss
• Grant Hackett
• Jane Flemming
• Mark Nicholas
• Cameron Williams
• Phil Liggett
• Simon O'Donnell
• Billy Brownless
• Tony Jones
• Daley Thompson
• Steve Ovett

Rugby league

Current

• Erin Molan (Host, 2019-present)
• Ray Warren, (Chief Commentator, 1988–89, 1991–present)
• Mathew Thompson (Chief Commentator, 2012–present)
• Joel Caine (Chief Commentator, 2012–present)
• Peter Sterling (Commentator, 1991–Present)
• Phil Gould (Commentator, 1994–present)
• Wally Lewis (Commentator, 2006–present)
• Andrew Johns (Commentator, 2007–present)
• Brad Fittler (Commentator, 2010–present)
• Allana Ferguson (Commentator, 2018-present)
• Ruan Sims (Commentator, 2018-present)
• Johnathan Thurston (Commentator, 2019-present)
• Darren Lockyer (Sideline Commentator, 2012–present)
• Billy Slater (Sideline Commentator, 2019-present)
• Sam Thaiday (Sideline Commentator, 2019-present)

NSW Cup

• Joel Caine (host/commentator, 2018–present)
• Jamie Soward (commentator, 2018-present)
• Paul Gallen (commentator, 2018-present)
• Allana Ferguson (sideline commentator, 2018-present)

QLD Cup

• Peter Psaltis (commentator, 2013–present)
• Scott Sattler (commentator, 2013-present)
• Peter Badel (sideline commentator, 2016-present)

The NRL Footy Show

Current

• Erin Molan (host, 2018–present)
• Andrew Johns (co-host, 2018–present)
• Brad Fittler (co-host, 2018-present)
• Ryan Girdler (co-host, 2018–present)
• Darryl Brohman (small talk segment, 2010–present)
• Beau Ryan (regular appearances, 2010-present}
• Joel Caine (Sportsbet updates, 2014–present)

Former

• Peter Sterling (1992-2007,2010, co-host)
• Steve Roach (1992-1999, co-host)
• Ray Hadley (1995-1997, co-host)
• Paul Harrogan (2001-200, co-host)
• Matthew Johns (2003-2009, co-host)
• Laurie Daley (2008, co-host)
• Andrew Voss (2009)
• Benji Marshall (2010-2013, 2015)
• Brad Fittler (2010-2011, co-host)
• Michael Slater (2012–2014, co-host)
• Gorden Tallis (2013–2015)

The Sunday NRL Footy Show

• Erin Molan (host)
• Peter Sterling (panelist)
• Brad Fittler (panelist)
• Allana Ferguson (panelist)

Former

• Darrell Eastlake (1983–1993)
• Jack Gibson (1983–1989)
• Mick Cronin (1988)
• Warren Ryan (1989)
• Michael Cleary (1989)
• Ellery Hanley (1989,1992)
• Gavin Miller (1991)
• Gene Miles (1993-1994)
• Matthew Johns (2003–2009)
• Gary Belcher (1992-1997)
• Steve "Blocker" Roach (1992–1998)
• Andrew Voss (1994–2012) (host/commentator)
• Paul Harragon (2000–2008)
• Mark Geyer (2007-2008)
• Steve Walters (2007)
• Ben Ikin (2006–2009) Qld Cup (2012)
• Wendell Sailor (2009–2010)
• Jason Taylor (2010)
• Laurie Daley (2008)
• Tim Gilbert (chief commentator, 2006-2015)
• Gorden Tallis (sideline commentator, 2013–2015)
• Paul Vautin (commentator, 1992–2016)
• Yvonne Sampson (host, 2013-2016)
• Brett Finch (sideline commentator, 2014–2016)
• Erin Molan (sideline commentator, 2016)

Tennis

• Tony Jones (Host)
• Rebecca Maddern (Host)
• John McEnroe (Commentator)
• Jim Courier (Commentator)
• Todd Woodbridge (Commentator)
• Dylan Alcott (Commentator)
• Jelena Dokic (Commentator)
• Sam Groth (Commentator)
• Alicia Molik (Commentator)

Cricket

Final

• Mark Nicholas, (host/commentator, 2004–2018)
• Michael Slater (host/commentator, 2005–2018)
• Ian Chappell (commentator, 1980–2018)
• Ian Healy (commentator, 1999–2018)
• Bill Lawry (commentator, 1972–2018)
• Mark Taylor (commentator, 1999–2018)
• Shane Warne (commentator, 2000, 2003, 2008–2011, 2013–2018)
• Michael Clarke (commentator, 2014–2018)
• Tom Moody (commentator, 2010–2018)
• Lisa Sthalekar (commentator - women's matches)
• Mel Jones (commentator - women's matches)

Past

• Richie Benaud (host/commentator, 1972–2013)
• Stephanie Brantz, (boundary commentator, 2006–2007)
• Greg Chappell (commentator, 1989–1997)
• Mike Hussey (commentator, 2013–2016)
• Tony Cozier (commentator, 1972–1992)
• Kate Fitzpatrick (commentator, 1983)
• Adam Gilchrist (commentator, 2008–2011)
• Tony Greig (commentator, 1979–2012)
• David Hookes (commentator, 1986–1987)
• Brendon Julian (commentator, 2003)
• Geoff Lawson (commentator, 1989, 1993)
• Rod Marsh (commentator, 1985–1990, 1996–1998)
• Simon O'Donnell, (former Cricket Show host, 1988, 1993–2011)
• Greg Ritchie (commentator, 1995–1997)
• Brett Lee (commentator/Cricket Show co-host, 2011–2016)
• Keith Stackpole (commentator, 1972–1986)
• Jeff Thomson (commentator, 1989)
• Frank Tyson (commentator, 1979–1986)
• Max Walker (commentator, 1985–1991)
• Doug Walters (commentator, 1986–1989)
• Mark Waugh (commentator, 2002)
• Mike Whitney (commentator, 1993–1994)
• Glenn McGrath (commentator, 2012–2013)
• James Brayshaw (commentator/studio host, 2009–2016)
• Yvonne Sampson (boundary commentator/women's matches host, 2014-2016)

Guest international commentators

• Michael Atherton (2002–2003) Ashes tour to Australia
• Fred Trueman 1982/83 Ashes tour to Australia
• Bob Willis (1986–87) Ashes tour to Australia
• Geoff Boycott (1990/91) and (1994/95) Ashes tours to Australia
• Ian Botham 1998/99 Ashes tour to Australia
• Colin Croft (1995/96) and (1996–97)
• Sunil Gavaskar
• David Gower
• Sir Richard Hadlee (1990/91) and (1993–1994)
• Michael Holding (1992–93 - 2004–2005)
• Waqar Younis (2004/05 & 2016/17)
• David Lloyd (2006–07), (2013–14), 2014–15 Tri Series and 2015 Ashes in the UK)
• Ian Smith (1997–98, 2001–02, 2004–05, 2007–08, 2011/12 and 2015/16)
• Michael Vaughan (2010/11, 2013/14, 2015, 2017/18 Ashes tours)
• Kevin Pietersen (2016–2018)
• VVS Laxman (2016)
• Russell Arnold (2017)

Netball

Current

• Clint Stanaway (host, 2017-)
• Jayne Azzopardi (host, 2018-)
• Aislin Kriukelis (host, 2018-)
• Warren Tredrea (host, 2018-)
• Sue Gaudion (host/commentator, 2016-)
• Anne Sargeant (commentator, 2016-)
• Liz Ellis (commentator, 2016-)
• Sharelle McMahon (commentator, 2016-)
• Catherine Cox (commentator, 2017-)
• Clare McMeniman (commentator, 2018-)
• Julie Snook (courtside reporter, 2017-)
• Jack Berketa (courtside reporter, 2017-)
• Paddy Sweeney (courtside reporter, 2017-)
• Alexis Daish (courtside reporter, 2018-)
• Carrie-Anne Greenbank (courtside reporter, 2018-)
• Michael Atkinson (courtside reporter, 2018-)

Former

• Seb Costello (host/commentator, 2017)
• Erin Molan (host - Fast5 World Series, 2017)
• Laura Geitz (expert analysis, 2016 Fast5 World Series)
• Sharni Layton (expert analysis, 2016 Fast5 World Series)
• Sylvia Jeffreys (host, 2016-2017)
• Tom Mitchell (courtside reporter, 2017)
• Christine Ahern (courtside reporter, 2017)

Soccer

• 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, 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)

2015 Rugby World Cup

• Ken Sutcliffe (host)
• Cameron Williams (host)
• Bill Baxter (host)
• Brendan Cannon (expert analysis)
• Benn Robinson (expert analysis)
• Phil Waugh (live ground reports & expert analysis)
• Nathan Sharpe (live ground reports & expert analysis)

National Basketball League

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

Australian Football League

• Eddie McGuire, host of The Footy Show (1994–2006, 2017–), AFL commentator (2002–2006)
• James Brayshaw, host of The Footy Show (2006–2016), AFL commentator (2002–2006)
• Garry Lyon, host of The Footy Show (2006–2015), AFL commentator (2002–2006)
• Dermott Brereton (2002–2006)
• Dennis Cometti (2002–2006)
• Gerard Healy (2002–2003)
• Craig Hutchison (2007–)
• Tony Jones, boundary rider (2002–2006)
• Anthony Mithen, boundary rider (2002–2003)
• Sam Newman
• Michael Roberts, boundary rider (2002–2006)
• Dwayne Russell (2002–2006)
• Brian Taylor (2002–2006)
• Matthew Lloyd, Footy Show panelist (2012–)

The Footy Show (Sunday edition) panellists

• Max Walker, original host
• Mal Brown
• Billy Brownless
• Doug Hawkins
• Sam Kekovich
• Simon O'Donnell (2000)
• Lou Richards (1993–2008)
• Ted Whitten (1993–1995)

See also

• ABC Sport
• Seven Sport
• Ten Sport
• SBS Sport
• List of Australian television series
• List of longest running Australian television series
• Sports broadcasting contracts in Australia

References

External links

• {{Official website|http://wwos.com.au/}}
• [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1208645/ Wide World of Sports] entry at IMDB

• So Fresh: The Hits of Autumn 2008
• So Fresh: The Hits of Autumn 2009
• So Fresh: The Hits of Autumn 2010
• So Fresh: The Hits of Spring 2008
• So Fresh: The Hits of Spring 2009
• So Fresh: The Hits of Spring 2010
• So Fresh: The Hits of Summer 2010 & The Best Of 2009
• So Fresh: The Hits of Summer 2010 + the Best of 2009
• So Fresh: The Hits of Summer 2011 + The Best of 2010
• So Fresh: The Hits Of Winter 2008
• So Fresh: The Hits of Winter 2008
• So Fresh: The Hits of Winter 2009
• So Fresh: The Hits of Winter 2010
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