BBC Sport could become a bit too lacking in male all round presenters. A problem which had existed for some time before the Olympics, but seemed to be more balanced by the time the games started.
How is that a problem? I very much doubt the general public cares. The only person I have ever seen mention it is you in your defence of Gary Lineker's average performance at the Olympics.
I think it's important because there is a history of male presenters that capture the audience and are seen as all round sport presenters such as Des and Steve Rider. I don't think the female presenters generally capture the audiences imagination in quite the same way. Clare Balding is an obvious exception.
I'd like to see a more equal split between male and female presenters, if truth be told. But a reduction in the amount of core presenters to strengthen the brand.
For the purposes of balance, I'd also like to see some females given lead commentary roles, Clare Balding does it for 5Live at Wimbledon and her voice fits well.
I don't know what people's real problem is with Inverdale's athletics role, it's something I don't feel they should mess with now, as the vast majority of the people who ever watch the BBC's Athletics coverage will have seen Inverdale in the role.
As for Gary Lineker, he was ideally suited for his role at the games, with his name and relaxed approach being a shop window for more casual sport fans, whilst he was given the more trivial task of interviewing medal winners and linking between the more capable general sports broadcasters at different venues.
In terms of the Suzi Perry announcement, I had a hunch that she would be a strong contender. Previous experience of anchoring live motorsport coverage, she always had a 'one of the lads' attitude when covering MotoGP. Lee McKenzie is great, but I think Ms Perry will fit into the 'three amigos' role a little easier than Ms McKenzie would. I have a feeling there may be rather a lot of cheeky inuendo between Perry, Coulthard and Jordan (presuming the latter both remain involved in the coverage).
Good call IMO. Plus, Perry has experience of other sports programming at the Beeb - she covered Olympic sailing, Royal Ascot and IIRC some random equestrian events. So perhaps we'll see her branching out into the general BBC Sport portfolio.
I'd say the more disappointing aspect of the F1 announcement is the BBC's share of live races next year. The absence of the Monaco Grand Prix on free-to-air television will be controversial. I was under the impression that Monaco, alongside Silverstone, would be on the 'protected' list of live races.
Also, like 2012, there will be no live action on the BBC until round 3 in China. And two out of the last three races (Abu Dhabi and USA) are highlights only.
On the positive side, there will be live prime-time coverage from Canada and the calendar dictates that there is no Wimbledon clash for the British GP.
In terms of the athletics role, I can only assume Gabby Logan is being 'rewarded' for not jumping ship to BT. I don't see any other reason for Inverdale being dropped, unless he's been offered the BT rugby job himself on a non-exclusive basis. But I tentatively agree with the argument that a balance of male/female presenters is needed. I don't think it matters as much for individual events, but when it comes to an Olympics or Commonwealth Games, the lack of an all-round male presenter becomes noticeable - see the 2006 Commonwealths, 2006/2010 Winter Olympics. And I don't see the likes of Matt Baker, Manish Bhasin, Rishi Persad, Dan Walker etc being such a significant part of the Rio 2016 coverage as they were in London.
I'd say the more disappointing aspect of the F1 announcement is the BBC's share of live races next year. The absence of the Monaco Grand Prix on free-to-air television will be controversial. I was under the impression that Monaco, alongside Silverstone, would be on the 'protected' list of live races.
The BBC get the first three picks, so presumably they've gone for the British GP, the last race of the season and then another they deemed more imnportant than Monaco.
I'd say the more disappointing aspect of the F1 announcement is the BBC's share of live races next year. The absence of the Monaco Grand Prix on free-to-air television will be controversial. I was under the impression that Monaco, alongside Silverstone, would be on the 'protected' list of live races.
People in the media, and media commentators, like to 'big up' the Monaco race for some reason.
It's known for being one of the most glamourous, glitzy, celeb-filled events of the F1 calendar.
It's also known for being one of the most boring, processional and predictable races on the F1 calendar.
Given the bad weather that's currently around, particularly in South Wales, a thought has occurred to me about the last ever race meeting on BBC tv, the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow on 28th December.
In the event that this meeting was called off, and the race rescheduled for sometime in the new year, does the BBC still get to show it, or would it be C4 that picks it up? Reason I ask is that clearly the BBC have the rights to this meeting, and they expire on 31st december, but if the meeting is postponed for a few days after those rights were supposed to expire, it leaves a question of who would be entitled to show it, the BBC (as they have the contract to show it on its original date) or C4 (new UK rights holder for all racing).
I'd have thought so, and I suspect even if the BBC did retain the rights they would forfeit them rather than take on the additional costs of broadcasting the event (and Clare and Rishi probably wouldn't be permitted to front it for the BBC by C4). It's strange though how the BBC made such a fuss in October of it being the last ever racing on the BBC when they always had this in the schedules for after Christmas.
The Suzi Perry appointment is interesting given she's stated in the past that she didn't even like F1, including while presenting the BBC's own MotoGP coverage.
I have a feeling there may be rather a lot of cheeky inuendo between Perry, Coulthard and Jordan (presuming the latter both remain involved in the coverage).
The Suzi Perry appointment is interesting given she's stated in the past that she didn't even like F1, including while presenting the BBC's own MotoGP coverage.
I have a feeling there may be rather a lot of cheeky inuendo between Perry, Coulthard and Jordan (presuming the latter both remain involved in the coverage).
That would be absolutely horrific.
Im sure she wont mind the sizable check she will be getting for covering F1 though. I always enjoyed her on MotoGP with her laid back and somewhat informal approach to presenting.
The Suzi Perry appointment is interesting given she's stated in the past that she didn't even like F1, including while presenting the BBC's own MotoGP coverage.
I have a feeling there may be rather a lot of cheeky inuendo between Perry, Coulthard and Jordan (presuming the latter both remain involved in the coverage).
That would be absolutely horrific.
Im sure she wont mind the sizable check she will be getting for covering F1 though.
I don't know what you're on about there, but I think she won't mind the sizeable cheque that she will be getting for covering the Forumla 1.
New graphics in use by sky Sports at the PDC darts. The captions are now black and red, with a green extra part for the checkout combos. New graphics for showing the players to play, and results. The choice of colours matches that of a dartboard, give or take the cream areas, but the graphics are a lot more clearer than used before on darts on sky.
One thing they don't do is put the score up in the bottom left corner when interviewing the winning player. Also, some winning players are being interviewed off stage, others in the studio.
They're much better than previous years. It's not the same without Sid Waddell though...
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