Olympics 2012: Live Coverage

I think the BBC are right to have Lineker doing that prime time slot.

You have a more dedicated and knowledgeable presenter at the location and more of an 'everyman' who can bring in punters in form of Lineker in the studio.

I'm glad Thorpe was with Balding tonight though, this was made possible by Lineker having more people to talk to in the studio.

You're not alone in your feelings. Sue is massively better than Gary in that role. Really missing her.

Jake, Clare, Gabby all great, and Mishal is holding her own (mainly because she's a very competent live presenter)

The BBC are fools if they let Clare go particularly. She was brilliant at the swimming tonight.

I agree there. I think for Channel 4 to get her exclusively she'll need 'other projects', away from sport. I think she has so much more to give than just horse racing.

If Jake is going to be at the Velodrome they could have had Sue expand into that time slot, but instead Hazel is down to do that instead of moving back to mid morning like she was at the start of the games.

When you consider many presenters have got two jobs, such as Matt Baker doing presenting and commentary, Sue turning up to do half a dozen links is really strange.

Hazel Irvine is doing the slot before Sue on Friday, which is scheduled to be the Tennis semi-finals, then Sue will host minimal links between Cycling for a few hours after.

Someone should really think about that. Because that makes no sense at all.

If you believe the guide in the Radio Times, Hazel is down to do both the middle of the day slots on Mon & Tue next week.
I wonder if Clare Balding will do any studio stuff once the Swimming finishes

Although I've moaned about Gary Lineker being the BBC's face of the games and John Inverdale being overlooked with the rowing and athletics he clearly has the best gig - although hope the situation of pundits in the stadium and in the studio doesn't continue with the athletics.

With cycling dominating the 4-7pm slot and Athletics from 7-10pm I do think they'd be better off with Sue from 1.45-6pm and Gary from 6-10.30pm from tomorrow - or Gary and Sue presenting a longer shift together. I wonder though with the BBC signing up Mark Cavendish whether they might stick him in the studio with Sue rather than in the Velodrome.

Also I think Clare might have been better utilised at the Equestrian events during the day at least - she could have still done the night sessions but the heats could have been done from the studio, though preferbly with Hazel Irvine rather than Mishal Husain, and then Hazel could continue in the slot in the second week as the morning athletics presenter (as she was for many years).

I think Mishal has been fantastic so far. She was the 'gamble' in the schedule having no previous sports gigs on the BBC but I find myself warming to her more than Hazel Irvine.

Personally would have loved to see Sue and Gary present together (even if not necessary) as from what I saw in the Opening Ceremony they make a great duo. Would have Clare Balding in Sue's slot then.

OK . . . believe me I hate posting fantasy rotas in this thread, but on this occasion I'll indulge myself:

BBC One
0600-0900 Bill Turnbull & Sian Williams weekdays / Mishal Husain & Chris Hollins weekends
0900-1345 Hazel Irvine (with Sharron Davies at swimming, John Inverdale at rowing, Jonathan Edwards at athletics)
1345-1800 Jake Humphrey & Clare Balding (with Gabby Logan at gymnastics, Jill Douglas at cycling, Sue Barker at Wimbledon for finals stages, Rishi Persad at equestrianism)
1800-2240 Sue Barker & Gary Lineker (with Clare Balding at Swimming, John Inverdale at Athletics)
2240-0000 Gabby Logan

BBC Three
0900-1400 Matt Baker/Sonali Shah/Mishal Husain
1400-1930 Rishi Persad/Manish Bhasin/Mishal Husain/Sonali Shah
1930-2300 Jake Humphrey

This puts all the presenters where their strengths/specialities are. Clare could also present from the equestrian during the second week, and Gary could present from the football final. Matt Baker would still commentate on the gymnastics.

That is pretty much perfect and suspect had the games not been in London that is the sort of structure they'd have gone with. I've no issue though with Matt at the gymnastics, but would have had Claire at the Equestrian during the day on Monday and Tuesday, so Gabby Logan could take her spot in the studio.

Not been too much talk of the BBC3 team here - Jake is very much a veteran now so a very safe pair of hands in the evening (and still billed to do the evening slot despite being at the Velodrome through to 7pm), while I've always rated Manish who is doing an excellent job in the afternoons, and I think is getting to do the Boxing finals on BBC1 on the final weekend. Sonali Shah though is making Rishi Persad look good.

Do Eurosport have any presenters as such or is all introduced by the commentators?

Eurosport historically was a multi-lingual network covering the whole of Europe. In the days when Astra 1 analogue covered English, German, Dutch etc. speaking territories you could chose your audio by switching between the various audio sub-carriers. Screensport also did this ISTR. This is still the case on platforms like Canal Digital or Viasat which serve multi-lingual territories I think.

As a result, like Euronews, in-vision presentation doesn't really work - as it would need to be dubbed.

However there are now region-specific Eurosport variants, which cover a single language territory (like British Eurosport), and these can include in-vision programmes. However the complexities of managing both a pan-European service (with commentary) and a 'domestic' service mean that it isn't the norm. British Eurosport have studios in Feltham (possibly operated by Arqiva?) I believe - inherited from the failed NTL Sport service that was due to be operated by NTL and the BBC (but which never happened)

For something like the Olympics I suspect the territory tailoring is more through event choice rather than spending extra money on in-vision presentation.

Sport is one of the few genres where you CAN run multi-lingual services effectively - because most sporting events are not based around dialogue (unlike drama, comedy, entertainment etc.)

BBC Olympic 7 is currently showing a caption, "Women's Hockey will follow the Cycling, Red button viewers can go to BBC Olympic channel 13 now".

It seems this caption probably should have gone out on BBC Two (which it didn't, at least not on Freeview) not BBC Olympic 7.