The Sport Thread

NBC were promoting it quite heavily for the last few weeks, I kept seeing adverts during the ice hockey. I still can't quite believe how much they've gone in for PL coverage over there. It's mad.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/16660418

Big news on the annual 'Today at Wimbledon Scheduling Debate'!

According to this page, the live coverage will now run through until 8.30pm, with the highlights show airing from 8.30pm-9.30pm, at least until the second Tuesday.

Very sensible decision if it's true.

Agreed, but I still contend that TaW could follow Newsnight and allow the live coverage to end naturally, or under the roof on BBC Two without the threat of highlights stopping that.

George Osborne has a budget on Wed 8th, which will disrupt early coverage on MSQF day too.

Eurosport has 15 courts available from the French Open. Must be a record, think Wimbledon had 10 last year.

The host broadcaster has always been the major partner in the deal and as the Beeb get first choice in every round I'm 99.9% sure the Beeb will be host broadcaster.

BT Sport are junior partners.

Due to other commitments they're switching to Wembley, from the Aviva Final at Twickenham late, at 5pm.

Must be one of the least amount of build up that a UK broadcaster has done in recent years. Was there not one year (2012 I think) ESPN went totally overboard and dedicated the entire day to the match? BT are running a 30 min preview show at 10:30am.

Bit of sad news in Irish broadcasting, Long time anchor of RTÉ Sport Bill O' Herlihy who retired after the last World Cup has died.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0525/703580-bill-oherlihy/

BTS3 would have been so useful. Could have parked MotoGP on there, Aviva on 2 and devoted the afternoon to the FAC on 1, the German Final later in the evening is the deal breaker with only 3 channels available whilst sorting the pack. ESPN is blocked due to IndyCar in the evening. BTSE is also in use on the day (and of course not in HD)

They're actually doing an hour at 1pm, the 10.30 show is the FA-produced syndicated show that appears everywhere. They did the same last year, with an hour at lunchtime and then going off to the rugby, although they came back a bit earlier last year to give an hour's build-up.

But the thing is, what's the point? The Beeb are on all day so there's no point BT being on all day, and there's no point dumping the rugby or the MotoGP to another channel for make way for several hours of Fletch and Sav. Setanta and ESPN used to give it all day coverage, but Setanta and ESPN didn't have anything else on that day. In the last few years Sky had it they didn't start until 2.30 on a couple of occasions for a 3pm kick-off.

Besides, to all intents and purposes BT get the Cup Final for free, the vast majority of the audience will be watching on the Beeb, and BT haven't bought the FA Cup to beat the BBC on Cup Final Day, they bought it for the live and exclusive matches earlier in the competition.

It's perhaps also worth noting that back in the 1970s and 1980s, and perhaps even in the early 1990s, the F.A. Cup final was a pinnacle event, and when you consider back in the 1980s, there were only four channels, two of them showing the final, both were desparate for the viewers. In addition, back even in the late 1980s, a live football match in the UK was a rare thing, even international level. This is what else made the FA Cup final so much of a pinnacle. It captured the imagination of the nation (well, unless like me you're a Rugby Union fan).

Consider also that on cup final day, BBC Grandstand and ITV's World of Sport had their schedules usually cleared to concentrate solely on the build up to the final. With just four channels, there wasn't much else for sporting output. Look at it now. BT Sport will have Aviva Premiership Rugby on, Sky will be showing Cricket from Birmingham (England v New Zealand), Eurosport and ITV4 will have French Open Tennis, Eurosport will also have Giro d Italia cycling on, Channel 4 will have Horse Racing.

My point is that nowadays, those sitting at home to watch the cup final may also be dipping into other channels beforehand, to watch other sports. There's very little point in BT Sport thus trying to duplicate the efforts of the BBC, as they won't help themselves if they do.

Indeed, RIP Bill. Will be sadly missed.