Is it time for dedicated BBC & ITV Sports channels?

A day perhaps to announce that the funding increase you'd spent all weekend would be paid for by a (non-existent) "Brexit dividend" would actually be paid for by tax increases.

The idea of a BBC Sport channel has been suggested every so often for years, often by people who don’t care for sport and find themselves, in times like Wimbledon fortnight, with ‘nothing to watch’. The simple fact is that the BBC doesn’t have enough sport rights to fill a channel, nor would it get the viewership to justify it.

I have no problem with the news being moved around for sport coverage. It doesn’t happen that often. It creates some interesting, some might say better, output (for instance Oxford is standing entirely alone from Southampton all this week with the exception of one night - I guess Jersey are too)

The fact that 18m viewers tuned in to watch England’s opening match the other night is pretty strong proof that live linear multi-genre channels are a long way from dead.

As for ITV Sport, they already tried that! It didn't even last a year, so why would the BBC think the same thing would work for them?

ITVs football coverage could go on ITV4 as everyone has access to that, leaving ITVs main channel free. The BBC could put the football on the red button.

Should no BBC football be routinely available in HD then? Would you allow Match of the Day to trouble the BBC 1 schedules?


Are Freeview and Freesat viewers not allowed to see any football shown by ITV in HD then?

So basically anything you don't like shouldn't be on a networks flagship channel, is that what you mean? If thats the way it works then great, where can the soaps go?

ITV want thier highest-rating programmes on the main channel, the BBC want them on BBC One to maximise viewing figures (the argument that the Beeb shouldn't care about ratings is one for an ideal world where it isn't constantly facing political threats).

It's not just about getting high ratings for the sport, either - there's a reason why ITV put a repeat instead of the soaps up against the England game on Monday night, they wouldn't want to waste them in a slot when nobody would be watching. So if the BBC had the match on the red button or another channel, what do you expect would be on BBC One?

The ratings have been huge for this World Cup so far, not just the 18m+ for Tunisia v England, some of the other big games have been getting over 10m and even last night's Russia v Egypt peaked at 8m. Even the weekday teatime kick-offs have been getting similar (or better) figures to the show "everyone's talking about", Love Island on ITV2.

1) you're all kinda being dicks
2) the content in here is pretty interesting and I've gleaned some interesting insights
3) and all this from a supposedly overdone and banned topic

*watches post get deleted* :p

I don’t see anyone being a dick. It’s just another “TV is showing something I don’t like so stop showing it” thread.

This is such a ridiculous and self-centred argument. For example, I don’t like X Factor, so when I’m watching ITV and the X Factor comes on, I don’t cry and call for a separate talent show based channel to be made, I change the channel and watch something else.

Exactly TV is for everyone. The soaps are on every single week day now.

The thing I really don't get with this attitude is - even if we eliminate all other possible leisure activities - its got even less ground that it would have had at any time in history. Just about every house in the country can receive a minimum of 20-30 channels, most far far more than that. For no extra charge (beyond the license fee). Then if you want to have more you can choose to pay a varying amount depending on the quantity and genre of channels you want to receive. On a pretty low cost box you can record hundreds of hours of your favourite programmes to watch at a time of your choosing. Plug your TV into an internet connection and most things from the past 30 days (sometimes longer) are available to you, again, at no extra charge. If existing pay TV services don't offer what you want or at a cost you're prepared to pay there are myriads of streaming services available, from big mainstream players- some offering cheaper / alternative ways to access pay channels that are part of more expensive packages, others wide selections of film and TV programmes from recent ones to very very old ones, through specialist niche services to cater to specific audiences.

I'm pretty choosy about the programmes I watch. Yet there are still far more than I really have time to see. I suppose that I should consider myself fortunate that I enjoy watching sports (football amongst them). I could write a long list of programmes that dominate the schedules that I just can't stand. If they are on I can choose something else to watch or to do entirely. I don't feel the need to deny or demand that those programmes that millions of people enjoy are hidden away out of sight.

I just reserve the right to silently judge them for watching [insert dismissive phrase implying superior cultural tastes here]