The Sport Thread

From reading one of those annoying Express click bait articles, it is because he wants to spend more time with his sons, including watching them playing Sport on a Sunday morning.

Yes, a bit disappointed with this because I do enjoy listening to American sportscasters talking about being in Merrie Old England. I do enjoy seeing football commentators on other sports, though.



If anything it was a bit odd that Shephard was still doing Goals on Sunday, because when he joined Sky about a decade ago he did lots of football coverage - the Champions League, the League Cup and the occasional Premier League in that period immediately after Richard Keys had to, cough, go away. But in the past few years, presumably as he now has his other jobs, he's cut that right down and has only done Goals on Sunday.

Goals on Sunday would be an excellent vehicle for Simon Thomas if he was so inclined to get back into broadcasting after his family tragedy.

Although not ideal for a father wanting to spend weekends with his son.

I’m not surprised that Ben has quit Goals on Sunday as he’s busier than ever with Tipping Point, Ninja Warrior and GMB.

I caught a little bit of ESPN's build-up today, and there was one mention by a presenter of London Bridge which I'm reasonably sure was referring to Tower Bridge. In their favour, they'd also shot a feature of London's only youth baseball team in Finsbury Park.

It was great to see Channel 4 talking to Patrick Dempsey for a chat on The Austrian Grand Prix highlights tonight. He mentioned something about the TV coverage of the races. He said it was good from Liberty Media to date but he said there should be more emotional engagement with the fans during the races. He also wants to see more F1 races in the U.S. as well as the audience is not so popular because I assume that there is no American driver for any of the teams although you do have senior American staff with the teams for some considerable time now. What are your views on what was said today by Dempsey?

The coverage from Liberty Media might be good - in fact I think they (FOM/Formula 1 Ltd) produce the best in-house live coverage of any live sport - but it's a pity Liberty couldn't find a loophole in the new UK/Ireland contract which was sewn up between Bernie and Sky Sports before he left, to try and get a couple more live race weekends on to Channel 4 each season. Next race is the British GP at Silverstone, so lets see what going to a 'highlights only' coverage on Channel 4 does to the viewing figures for the only live race of the season FTA.

Problem with 'growing the brand and sport' in the US by getting more races, is that apart from the track at Indy, there really is nowhere else for them to go, other than a street circuit, and anyone who watches Formula E knows how utterly wretched and devoid of overtaking opportunities some of those 'go kart' tracks can be. Also, odd that he mentions there are no US F1 drivers currently, and yet didn't mention - in Haas - there is a fully funded US team on the grid.

Fan engagement is tricky. Personally, any true engagement with the fans should be at the tracks, and please the paying punters in the stands, rather than someone watching on television or via a second screen.
It is an area which lets F1 down. You can meet the drivers/walk down the pit lane at controlled times and get in the paddock, but you either a) need to know someone who works in F1 or b) Pay double what you would pay for a ticket to do that. Other than that, it's a seeing them being driven around on a low loader 2 hours before lights out on race day.

Actually, this is where tv does it better with their driver/team management interviews and pre-race vt packages.

Already reported elsewhere on this website, Chelsea TV has closed down on Sky Digital. It's still available on demand on the club website, and their app.

Sky costing more and more they haven’t even delivered hdr, channels at 544x576 for SD, Rupert Murdoch taking us all for a ride! He knows how to make a quick rupee.

That’s very concerning, considering he has no involvement with Sky now.

Yeah I didn’t make the point very well but what I am saying is Sky seem to be behind the times closing channels, no hdr/HLG yet other platforms are trying these things already got channels out there hell they tried 8k on 13e only two weeks ago so what are Sky doing, diddly!