Olympics 2012: Live Coverage

Apparently so - not sure whether that's an inspired or disrespectful move.


I agree. And noticed tonight they'd managed to get rid of those people blocking the shots at the start of the race, meaning an uninterupted view throughout.

And at the risk of a rota thread warning Matt Baker takes over Hazel Irvines slot tomorrow - I guess arguably the best multi-sport presenter the BBC have got is being wasted on Breakfast. And to praise the BBC for a moment despite their promo break around 8pm and seemingly constant breaks on BBC3 apart from around the news the handovers on BBC1 seem to be from one presenter to the next without a break for trailers.

I quite like the handovers, especially between Jake H and Sue B!

To their credit, Channel 4 News covered this on Saturday. They are leading with the Olympics, but do have other news too.

I agree with you that we're being woefully underserved at the moment when it comes to news. Yes, it's a big story, but at the moment I don't feel like I know what else is going on in the world. It feels as bit like the news bubble you end up being in when visiting the USA.

The BBC seem to have had more audio issues over the first weekend than you get Tic Tac ads in an ITV Football match. Although of course these things happen they seem to be happening an awful lot - Clare Balding's voice broke earlier!

They've switched Thorpe and Foster around this morning too, though having both talking to different presenters is still clearly a pointless exercise.

KBS? Are you talking about my country's broadcaster? (Geolocked here, you know)

I noticed that, did sound like him! Some of the stadium announcers are supposed to be recognisable names but I haven't seen a list anywhere.

Reminded me that when we were leaving the Olympic Park the other night, there was a generic-sounding announcement saying "thanks for coming, this way to the train stations" etc. which repeated a few times, when suddenly one time the guy did it in quite a good Peter Dickson voice (wasn't him though!).

Yes I agree too. I would not generally be considered a sports fan (well, not the typical British sports like football, cricket, etc) but I am enjoying the Olympics as I like some of the more unusual sports. That said, I do wish the news bulletins on all networks would prioritise non-Olympics news. Most people who are even mildly interested in the Olympics will probably be watching the dedicated coverage and the rest would want to hear proper news. I feel that the likes of BBC News have jumped on the bandwagon and are not really fulfilling their duty at the moment. I'm not exaggerating when I say I really don't have a clue what else is happening around the world at the moment, not in any great depth, anyway. Unless Team GB wins gold medals, then I personally think Olympics news should be kept to the sport section. Only when it's something amazing should it make it to the top of the running order.

Anyway, despite this criticism, I am thoroughly enjoying the games themselves, more so than I anticipated. I've seen quite a lot of the key moments so far and generally I think BBC Sport's coverage has been of a very high quality. I'm certainly spoiled for choice in terms of what to watch at any given moment. I spent a rather nice Sunday afternoon just flicking up and down the BBC Olympics channels and pausing on each sport for 5 or 10 minutes to get a feel for it.

And may I just reiterate the point already made about the quality of BBC Sport's graphics. I'm not a big sports fan either and generally only see the BBC News graphics, and in comparison these sport ones are a breath of fresh air. They really do look fantastic, whilst being unobtrusive. Just what a graphic should be.

But breakfast is a better slot than lunchtime on a weekday, there's clearly a bigger audience at 8am than at 12 noon, and half of Matt Baker's slot is on BBC2 anyway. It is in no way a demotion, especially as Hazel also did the Opening Ceremony which, you may have noticed, got quite a big audience. It's also testament to their confidence in Hazel's talents that they're putting her on a slot that requires her to deliver news as well as sport. In fact despite constant complaints about a news presenter in Mishal Husain presenting sport, I am yet to see a complaint about a sports presenter presenting news.

And Matt Baker has every right to present the coverage as he is an established and professional presenter who has first hand knowledge of gymnastics, having been one, and is clued-up on equestrianism which most of his slot seems to include (having competed in that Sport Relief showjumping show and ridden extensively), and is a big fan of other sports (I remember the episode of Blue Peter that clashed with the end of the final Ashes Test in 2005 and he and Simon Thomas were giving out constant updates). Just because he also presents programmes that aren't entirely about sport doesn't mean he can't do one that is.

I also love the way that after saying "to praise the BBC for a moment", you then made two further complaints.

One day Brekkie will be in charge of all tv sport and there'll be nothing to complain about. And Freeview will be the 5 PSBs and dozens and dozens of red button streams.

To agree with Brekkie, I do think they've got one presenting shift too many between 9am and 6pm. Sue Barker is being woefully underused especially as part of her slot will be on BBC2.

By the time Mishal has got into the swing of things, she's handing over to Hazel/Matt.

I am starting to find the BBC News's coverage too much. There's no point watching Olympics Tonight as all the highlights will have just been on the Ten.

During the Equestrian coverage on now, you keep hearing one of the cameramen say "Excuse me, Sir" or "Excuse me, Madam" (depending on gender) everytime a horse goes past him and he pans across only to find someone standing in the way of his shot. He seems to be standing in amongst the crowd. Maybe someone should have brought him a step ladder to stand on.

Talking of Equestrian I notice they have a sport specific transition graphic (the equestrian sport logo) rather than the rings, though technically it's cutting from one shot to another rather than a replay.

Looks like the BBC will be screening the gymnastics on BBC2 and BBC3 in order for it to be available in HD on BBC HD, though surprised they care about Freeview HD viewers really as it would be in HD on other platforms. And LOL at Matt Baker commentating on a different event to what we're watching.


As for the BBC News coverage - haven't watched any myself but a consequence of the boundaries between BBC News and BBC Sport blurring in covering the games. Perhaps shorter news-only bulletins would do the job better, but really at the moment the Olympics is the news and TV isn't doing anything the papers aren't.