As a Brisbane resident, I’m pretty preoccupied with the flood situation at the moments, but I can certainly appreciate that its not on everybody’s minds right now. There are likely to be a number of people keen on the Australian Open, which is currently underway.

In an interesting move, Stephen Conroy has announced that Seven are permitted to multichannel the tennis on 7Two. With the event on the anti-siphoning list, broadcasters are restricted from scheduling sports like this away from their primary analogue channel.

While I personally can’t think of anything less interesting than watching tennis, it is good to see that there is enough flexibility in the legislation to allow for special circumstances like this.

Statement from David Leckie, CEO, Seven Media Group

We welcome the Minister’s decision to allow flexibility in our broadcast schedules for The Australian Open.

It is a pragmatic positive for our viewers and the sport and recognises the reach of digital television which is available to over 75% of Australians and increasing.

The past couple of days have provided an indication of how we will approach the issue of managing match coverage and our commitment to Seven News, in particular.

Our switch in scheduling of the tennis to 7TWO to allow Seven News’ continuous coverage of the floods impacting Queensland and northern New South Wales graphically indicates the benefits of the flexibility of the new digital channels in ensuring we meet the demands of all television viewers.