ITV World Cup v BBC World Cup

No - not the highest Sunday morning ratings ever, just the highest share. There is a difference, although the various new organisations, even the BBC don't seem to realise this.

It'll be interesting to see what the ratings are like on Friday, with the BBC showing the game at 12.30pm, and ITV1 rerunning it in full at 8pm

I suppose the number of viewers watching at 8, will depend on whether we win or not

No, my source says "The previous best for a Sunday morning show was the 1994 London Marathon coverage at 5.6 million", so what's yours ? And what was the highest Sunday morning ratings ever then ? Come on back your point up.

IMHO, ITV1 completely outstrips the BBC this year. It never usually does, and alsways usually comes close, but the BBC just are not capturing the spirit of the tournament this year.

The BBC titles are good, rather fast and mad like the ITV World Cup sequence. The ITV1 one's are also good, infact, they are just as good as each other in different ways.

But it is as soon as the titles fade into the picture of the set where you can instantly see the difference. The BBC set looks tacky and appalling, and nothing different to their usual semi-circle sofa style. The ITV1 one however is immensely grand, a nice colour, very laid back etc.

Also, the other studio piece on the other side promotes some healthy banter, and it is very clear that the one side is for the more 'serious' stuff with Des, whereas Gabby is taking you through the tit-bits of the World Cup. I think Gazza's addition to the squad has certainly helped things indeed - they ae certainly making the most of him.

Presentation-wise, ITV1 is okay, and the BBC, well they've made no effort, with typical BBC Sport style astons with a different bckground. Not very good in my point of view, not good at all.

These are only a few points, and there are loads more I could cover, by Poland vs South Korea is about to start...

Yes I agree with you there Sam, the BBC have stuck with their semi-circular "hot-tub" arrangement and stuck them in a dark pokey studio with that awful projected thing on the wall.

ITV have a nice, large, open studio, with nice sofas and coffee tables, lovely. As most of the games are on at breakfast time or in the morning, I think this style looks much better. Perhaps GMTV could have that studio once it's all over.

It just seems to me though that the ITV team seem a little wondering. Flicking from ITV to BBC, everything seems more direct and interested with Lineker, Lawrenson, Hansen and even Ian Wright over Des, Venables and the dire Gazza and Gary Neville!

Both sets of titles are good but I always preferred the faster and upbeat music (ITV's World Cup 98 music could not be beaten IMO! Anyone got an mp3 by chance?). I like both sets of astons although probably the BBC scoreboard over ITV - ITV's just seems unnecessarily a little too big.

Not keen on BBC's set though - ITV's is much more appropriate for breakfast. Thank god neither chose a virtual reality studio like Olympics 2000. Phew!

Cheers, Asa

Those of you in the UK may be interested to know that ITV's graphics are not really ITV's at all - they are the generic set fed to all broadcasters (well, to RTE and ITV anyway).

The BBC on the other hand, bothered to do some of their own.

The ITV studio/interview astons are there own (poor, in my opinion), but the main game astons come from the host broadcaster, which I prefer - what's the point in doing your own if the host ones are fine (BBC take note - 1998: use host graphics (in French), 2002 - drop host graphic (in English).

Disappointed ITV seem to have dropped their own World Cup logo - it was far superior to the official one.

Also, the on-screen clocks/scores on both channels are very bad - ITV and BBC had got it right in the following format:

i t v Country 0
00:00 Country 0

but now have dropped it in favour of ITV's giant aston and the BBC strip aston. Abbreviating is not suitable, especially for the World Cup - they are not even using obvious abbreviations.

I have to say, I think ITV has been far superior so far than the BBC. Their graphics are excellent, I love the red curvy graphics they use for team lineups and group tables etc, it looks really good.

On the other hand, the BBC has been pretty dire, they seem to have put minimal effort into their coverage. The interactive bit is OK, but hardly innovative, Sky have been doing that for years now. The studio - WHAT? It is absolutely diabolical (hehe, Alan Hanson comes into my work). Their graphics are dull.

As for music, ITV seem to have really captured the feel of the whole event with their music and titles, which are the sort to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end (especially the bit at the end where they sing a high bit and some bird blows something). Saying that, I haven't seen the opening titles on the BBC, but I've caught the end credits, complete with the music, and wasn't particularly impressed.

And again, ITV's studio is great, looks really modern and fresh. People may associate ITV Sport with the balls up over Nationwide League football, but they do a bloody good job elsewhere.

Comparing, in my opinion

Graphics - BBC win, they just look better, cleaner and fresher.

Studio - ITV win, The BBC studio looks awful. Compare it to the awesome set they had for WC98, it looks like a reject from a school design competition.

Commentators = BBC win, but not for the TV commentators. Using interactive I always select the 5Live commentary, even Jonathan Pearce was good today.

Analysis - BBC win, Gazza is just awful, can't see the point of Gabby Logan being in the studio either. Hansen on the BBC is excellent.

Presenter - Draw, Des seems bored, Gary is progressing but not quite there yet.

Innovation - BBC win. ITV's coverage is very staid, nothing extra is added while the BBC have produced a first class interactive service and 3 extra channels meaning you can catch up with games/news later in the day.

Therefore - BBC Win.

I selected the FiveLive commentary yesterday, and they wern't even covering the match. It was some bloke talking to a guest about miscellanious subjects!

I was a bit surprised by this. This morning I tuned into Five Live in the car on the way to work and they weren't covering the Russia v Tunisia game (although they did say it was very uneventful so probably not missing much, especially the first half). The BBC claim Five Live are covering every game live. Maybe it was on 5L Sports Extra and they were including that.