BBC One/ITV1 scheduling today

You got your wish then - lets see the BBC spend the cash on Outtake TV and Don't Scare the Hare to fill Saturday afternoons rather than cater for the sports fan who has no wish to subscribe to Sky - and often couldn't find the sorts of sports the BBC might show on a rather dead Saturday afternoon with no major sports event to even bid for anyway.

Sports wise and cutting back on the racing has been the most obvious blow to the usual Grandstand slot as although losing other sports rights (like the LV Cup) might cause the problem, being able to schedule racing on an afternoon where otherwise they might not have any other events to shows is an easy way to cover up any losses.

I thought I had posted this, but guess not. Anyway.

I'm just saying that if we have to 'Deliver Quality First', we should focus our priorities on original drama, arts, comedy and factual programming rather than sport.

I concur, Phil.

The BBC's mision is to:


...but while sport can meet some of those aims, it doesn't meet them as well as the others; or provide material which can be readily used for repeat broadcasts with the same primary objective.

The DQF policy was initiated by a freeze on the TVL fee. Whilst many believe that to be correct, and in some respects it has produced long overdue managerial changes, I don't believe that saving a TVL-paying household the inflationary increase of 30p a week has achieved any benefit to the end user.

For many people (including myself) sport is the number one thing the BBC does - and about the only thing they watch on the BBC. They've pretty much already ditched most rights they can't really justify - but no way at all they should cut anymore, especially when original drama, arts, comedy and factual is well served elsewhere in the free to air landscape, but with sport only ITV is really in the game.

I don't want them to cut any more than you do, but they have to, and I don't think that sport should get more budget than other areas of the BBC.

Some people would argue with you that other free-to-air broadcasters provide the same drama, arts, comedy and factual programming as the BBC. For example, The South Bank Show is no longer on air, whilst Arena is. The only comedy I can really think of ITV being successful is Benidorm, and that isn't on air at the moment. Drama is really ITV's strength, with Downton Abbey.

Factual programming, well, Channel 4 and now ITV have their factual flagship brands competing with Panorama; Exposure and Dispatches. But apart from that, not much. Besides, if sport is the only thing you say to watch on the BBC, then you don't really have a strong argument because you haven't viewed the BBC's other areas of output, and aren't able to comment on their comparison to commercial alternatives.

Thanks Stuart.

For me it's about the exposure the BBC can provide, and has previously provided, to the more minority sports.

Just to quote one example - normally around this time of year, the BBC would be covering the International Open bowls at the Preston Guild Hall, or wherever the event happened to be taking place. Now I'm not a fan of indoor bowls, but many people are. That's the point of the BBC. Delivering Quality First, but at the same time delivering something for everyone.

But here's the thing - when the BBC decided two years ago not to continue to broadcast this event, no other broadcaster was interested. It hasn't cropped up on Sky Sports or Eurosport, the event itself has ceased to exist. Ceased to exist because the BBC ceased showing it.

Similarly, I'd argue that if the BBC decided not to show the recent Canoe Slalom World Championships, no other broadcaster would have bothered. And even if it had been given a slot on Eurosport, it wouldn't have gained anywhere near the exposure as created by being broadcast on a major free-to-air channel like BBC One or Two.

And my other worry is that, post-London 2012, the BBC's coverage of minority sports will dwindle even more.

Anyway, I seem to have started a discussion that's way off topic. Apologies for that. From a scheduling point of view, I still think the easiest thing to do on sport-free afternoons would be to simulcast Final Score from 2.30pm, which is going on live on the Red Button anyway. Surely its a cheaper option, and would maintatin the tradition of Saturday afternoon sport on BBC One.

I do wonder whether Final Score on the red button will and indeed should continue following the stupid decision to axe all but one red button stream on Sky (as their solution to us Freeview folk moaning about only having one stream, under the guise of budget cuts). If live sport is available on a Saturday afternoon that they can't show on BBC1 or BBC2 due to scheduling conflicts I don't think Score should take precedence over it on the remaining red button stream - and arguably if they can't air Score every week they shouldn't air it at all.

Indeed. I think there are two arguments here. The first relates to the Grandstand brand, and the switch to a general BBC Sport banner with individual programmes on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. I do think that this makes sense, as F1 viewers wish to see F1, Rugby viewers wish to see Rugby, and so on. Also, in these days of PVRs and iPlayer it makes sense to split the programmes up precisely and brand them accordingly.

However, the second argument is that since Grandstand was dropped it's given the BBC an excuse to leave several Saturdays and Sundays without sport. It's fair enough to argue that the BBC now cover the sports that they have when they happen (with Red Button and online coverage where appropriate), rather than saving up extended highlights for Grandstand on a Saturday or Sunday, but undoubtedly the scenario that the BBC promised us wouldn't happen has occurred - we are seeing several Saturdays and Sundays without sport on in the afternoons. The axing of the Grandstand brand has led to scheduling decisions whereby events that used to be shown aren't shown, and I really do feel that this is a problem.

If I had it my way, I would brand the lot BBC Sport, play the BBC Sport ident before each sport programme whenever shown, and have a BBC Sport block on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (a bit like CBBC), where each show is introduced by a voice-over on top of the ident, be it highlights, live coverage, Final Score or even A Question of Sport (as has been used as Saturday afternoon filler recently). That way the BBC has clear-cut branding - everything is BBC Sport and within it individual programmes for each sport, but there is less scope for shoving Don't Scare the Hare in the afternoon schedule before Final Score.

(I know many would elect to bring back Grandstand itself, but I do think that individual programme titles make sense in this day and age, however the 'slippery slope' that the Beeb said wouldn't happen, has!)

Actually, those with access to Sky will have access to Sky Sports News which is easier and quicker to get to on a Sky platform on a Saturday afternoon than Final Score when it sits behind the Red Button. It is supposedly better than Final Score as well, but I don't follow football to any great degree so I wouldn't know anyway.

So that being said, if there is only one interactive stream after the London Olympics, it's entirely plausible the Final Score segment could end up being only a programme in its own right on BBC One, therefore going full circle in the process.

Which is the Sky Sports programme that features Paul Merson? I find it ironic that he's commenting on a football match & he is the guy who managed to use 40 players in a season & still get Walsall relagated! (Mind you none of the West Mids teams are setting the world alight really at the moment really! Mick McCathy really inspires confidence when you hear him on the radio!)

Now I always saw the old-school version of Grandstand with Des Lynam/Bob Wilson/Steve Rider in the studio rather than being on location as being effectively in-vision continuity, much like CBBC, until they got to Final Score (or on the odd occasions when the Grandstand presenter anchored Football Focus).

CBBC always used to have named strands, notably But First This/BFT and Saturday Aardvark, within the overall CBBC brand.

And after the 1997 rebrand, we had CBBC One and CBBC Two, which was a much easier way of saying "CBBC on BBC One" or "CBBC on BBC Two".