How to bring sumo back to European TVs?

[Manekineko 200]

Well, now I'm back in Europe, prospect of no sumo on TV is glum indeed. Something should be done, or at least tried... If I remember correctly, last time Eurosport dropped sumo a mailing action was initiated on the ML, and quite a lot of mails was sent asking them to reconsider. I think we should try that, at least. I thought to support the plea with argument that we are deprived of watching sumo exactly at the time when many young European wrestlers are establishing themselves in makuuchi... Wakanoho incident somewhat hobbled that, but at least Baruto and Tochinoshin still fit that phrase. Not to forget that we Europeans were deprived of seeing Osh's first (and possibly only) yusho!

The problem is, who to write to? Eurosport? Kyokai? NHK? All of them? Opinions and suggestions, please. Once we decide where to write, I can post a rough sketch of the letter for those who are not sure how to write it, but of course it's the best if everyone would write from their heart. If we write to Eurosport, I think letters in German, French, Spanish, maybe Italian should be no problem (I'm not sure about languages from "new Europe" and Russian).

I'll mention this idea on the ML as well. Please spread it on other Forums/lists/sumo-dedicated web-pages as you see fit. The more of us send letters, the greater chance there is someone will listen...

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

Somehow I think you're wasting your time. This forum only has about 2000 members, of which only about a hundred active. And that says something, considering it's the biggest one of them all. I think there are too few of us for the likes of Eurosport et al. to care.

I know I was sounding negative above, but nobody would like Eurosport to resume sumo more than me. I was the sumo commentator at the time they stopped broadcasting. One can only hope.

[Jokkamura 4]

Let's try it - to all of them. That's the only way to know for sure. There are national boards, so we might get quite some people to take part.

[Kintamayama 47,342]

I know I was sounding negative above, but nobody would like Eurosport to resume sumo more than me. I was the sumo commentator at the time they stopped broadcasting. One can only hope.

Since you seem to be an insider, what was the reason given for ceasing the broadcasts?

[Manekineko 200]

Somehow I think you're wasting your time. This forum only has about 2000 members, of which only about a hundred active. And that says something, considering it's the biggest one of them all. I think there are too few of us for the likes of Eurosport et al. to care.

Yes, I know. But I think it won't cost us much to try, anyway. OTOH, even if we send only 50 letters, that's 50 more than none. (Lifting weights...)

[Jonosuke 28]

NHK-TV does a nightly digest during a basho. It's around 20 minutes and is shown around midnight in Japan. The program is also aired on TV Japan and JSTV. It's not really a coverage but at least that may be a start. Since it's already produced and sent out internationally, I don't think it's not much for Eurosport to get it and show it. All they need is their commentators.

Most broadcasters know if there are a dozen people writing in and asking for something, there are significant more people wanting it as well, it's just they don't bother to write. I think it's well worthwhile always.

TV Japan used to had 90 minutes of live sumo coverage one time - which meant you would have missed the first couple of Makuuchi bouts and dohyo-iri. Now they have 120 minutes. The reason is that enough people write to them saying they were subscribing to them for ozumo coverage. I read their program guides and e-mail and they say there are people who complain there is too much sumo and not enough of what they like such as drama and music shows etc.

The reason they are keeping the sumo coverage as it is that they know for sure there are enough of Ozumo watchers because lot of us wrote to them. It really makes a difference. It's always worth a try as you never know what will happen if enough of us speak up.

[Asashosakari 20,287]

NHK-TV does a nightly digest during a basho. It's around 20 minutes and is shown around midnight in Japan. The program is also aired on TV Japan and JSTV. It's not really a coverage but at least that may be a start. Since it's already produced and sent out internationally, I don't think it's not much for Eurosport to get it and show it. All they need is their commentators.

The digest is what Eurosport used to show, just bunched up to one-hour blocks of programming (3 basho days per show). It's not like Eurosport was simply cut off, they decided not to renew the contract. What's never been totally clear is the reason, though...presumably it wasn't financially feasible any longer, but I have no idea if that was due to viewership reasons (declining sumo audience or increasing viewership for other, cheaper programming), or because perhaps NHK increased the price of the package.

[Leonishiki 49]

AFAIK, NHK or NSK (don't know which one) asked too much money for renewing the contract. I think Eurosport liked to have sumo in their coverage, but not at any price.

Edited October 15, 2008 by Leonishiki

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

It was money problems, for sure. Not 100% the NSK was asking for too much money, but that's the most likely reason. Too bad. If you guys want to write to any channel, you have my signature.

[Manekineko 200]

I finally looked up possible contacts for Eurosport and NHK (I think there's no point in writing to the Kyokai, if nothing else, they are too busy with court cases). Alas, I didn't find much.

Eurosport

http://www.eurosport.com/

Pick your nation, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Remarks and Suggestions. For UK/International Eurosport, you get this:

http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/sport/fee....html?from_url=

Notice that this is Yahoo!Sports feedback page, so YahooID is required. This, of course, sucks. Most other language pages are also Yahoo-Eurosport combo... Sigh. Does anyone know some simpler way of contacting Eurosport?

NHK

http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

(This is what you get when you click ENGLISH link on the main NHK page: http://www.nhk.or.jp/)

Only link I found is Contact Us, which leads you to another form:

https://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/contact/index.html

Yes, this NHK World feedback form... Again, if someone has a better way to contact NHK, please let us know!

[Naganoyama 6,043]

For British Eurosport I used to e-mail enquiries@eurosport.co.uk about Sumo (and they replied). I think I must have got that e-mail address from somewhere on the website.

[Toron 0]

Sigh. Does anyone know some simpler way of contacting Eurosport?

http://community.eurosport.com/page.aspx?p=contact lists contact emails for different countries, and comheadoff@eurosport.com for Eurosport International.

I've also gotten a reply in the past from fraga@eurosport.com (for Nordic countries).

[Fujisan 537]

It was money problems, for sure. Not 100% the NSK was asking for too much money, but that's the most likely reason. Too bad. If you guys want to write to any channel, you have my signature.

Maybe if they stopped wasting so much on (Censored) football and (Censored) Tennis.

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

Amen, Fuji. (pun intended)

[James H 0]

Most broadcasters know if there are a dozen people writing in and asking for something, there are significant more people wanting it as well, it's just they don't bother to write. I think it's well worthwhile always.

I agree. A couple of examples... My wife worked in retail and the common belief was that one complaint to the manager equals 20 dissatisfied customers... proving that complaining about bad service works, eventually.

As a journalist, I get complaints about my writing every now and then (I know, I find it hard to believe too...). From personal experience, a letter or email that comes from someone who has a) put some thought into their letter b) treats you with the respect they would expect for themselves and c) doesn't sound like a complete headcase

...is much likelier to receive serious consideration. But journalists and media companies do care, a lot more than they often let on.

[Manekineko 200]

James-Nishi-Mark chatting is now available Off Topic for your perusal and amusement. Meanwhile, on ML Jose Luis Coral added this link:

http://www.eurosportcorporate.com/index.php?target=25

I may have some time over the weekend to a) look through all the links and contact mails and suggest where to write and b) write a nice letter and post parts of it here and on the ML as an inspiration to others.

[Manekineko 200]

Well, I've finally sent the mail to Eurosport. I'm not sure about sending a similar one to NHK via the web-interface for NHK World...

To be on the safe side (khm), I've sent the mail to appropriate addresses both from http://www.eurosportcorporate.com/index.php?target=25 and http://community.eurosport.com/page.aspx?p=contact pages. For your mailing ease, here are the addresses in question:

INTERNATIONAL

none in corporate, so I sent a mail to German address info@eurosport.com (got an automated confirmation mail)

comheadoff@eurosport.com

UK&IRELAND

uk@eurosport.com

ukcomms@eurosport.com

GERMANY and other German-speaking countries

info@eurosport.com

muencheninfo@eurosport.com

FRANCE and other French-speaking countries

telespectateurs@eurosport.com

SWEDEN, other Nordic countries and Finland

nordic@eurosport.com

POLAND

eurosport@eurosport.pl

NETHERLANDS and Flanders

infoholland@eurosport.com

ITALY

giornalista2@eurosport.com

SPAIN

buzon@eurosport.com

PORTUGAL

press.in@mail.telepac.pt

GREECE

eurosportdesk@eurosport.com

And here is the mail I sent. PLEASE DO NOT COPY IT! Write your own mail, it will have greater impact then a copy-paste effort. Not to mention that you could write a better letter... :-)

Dear sirs,

it has been almost one year since European viewers have been deprived of watching sumo, and so were unable to see Bulgarian wrestler Kotooshu become the first ever European to win the tournament. Several prospective European wrestlers (Kotooshu, Baruto, Masutoo, Takanoyama, Kokkai, Tochinoshin, Aran, Amuru) are wrestling in Japan, who would not know of sumo if not for Eurosport. They were inspired to join this sport partially because they have watched it on Eurosport! So it is doubly sad that Eurosport has stopped broadcasting sumo exactly at the time the sumo coverage in Europe has brought such unexpected results. For the sake of all sumo fans in Europe, and those that may still become fans, please bring back sumo coverage to Eurosport!

Sincerely,

I'll post this to the ML and Info-sumo Forum. Sumo-talkers, members of German forum, please forward it there. If there are other sumo MLs and forums, send it there, too. Put it in your sumo portals or pages if you wish... Ask your friends to send a mail, even if they didn't like sumo much. The more of us write, the better.

[Manekineko 200]

Oh, of course non-Europeans can write to Eurosport too, mentioning how sad it is Europeans cannot enjoy watching European sumo wrestlers etc. Americans can mention how great it was watching Ake and Musa, and how Europeans should be able to watch Kotooshu and Baruto. Etc etc.

[Jakusotsu 6,401]

Posted on the German forum, and sent my own email to Eurosport.

Yes, we can!

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

Posted the addresses on Sumotalk. I'd have one comment to make about the addresses, though. The Eurosport headquarters are in France, and it's those guys who call the shots (I worked for Eurosport Romania, I know that for sure). My guess is that sending a LOT of mails to the French address might have some higher impact (you know, the Frenchie monitoring that address being physically closer to the big bosses). I'll go by the local Eurosport in the next few days to find out some more. In the meantime, keep spamming those emails.

[Manekineko 200]

Bump. If you didn't mail them before the basho, you could do it now... ;-)

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

It looks like the first results are starting to appear. Today I got a call from my Eurosport boss, saying the big guys in France are interested to know exactly how many people want to see sumo back on TV. Sorta officially I'm going to create an online petition to be signed by Romanians who want sumo back, but I would appreciate any vote anyone gives, remember, the more of you vote, the more the chances we win.

Bring Sumo back to Eurosport Petition

Now, I know there are other Eurosport insiders reading this forum, whom I urge to do the same thing, create a petition and have it signed by as many as possible. And for the non-Eurosporters, try to contact your local Eurosport sumo commentators and at least show them this thread.

Come on, we can still win this, the fact that they even considered looking into it is a great step forward!

Edited December 11, 2008 by Sokkenaiyama

[ilovesumo 12]

Yay! ;-)

[Manekineko 200]

Yay! too. ;-) :-P