The last time STV had their own pres for any Scotland game at RWC was a 05:15 kick off in 2003. Jim Delahunt hosted from Glasgow, and STV actually took the world feed, not the ITV commentary. I got up for that game, and it was interesting to note that STV had no studio pundits, so at half time, Jim Delahunt did all the analysis, and gave out fixtures coming up. Not a bad effort from a man whose first sporting love is Horse Racing!
STV had pundits for most of their coverage in 2003. Delahunt as you mentioned presented but there was punditry too. Also they took the ITV commentary. Have the QF on a vhs somewhere in a vault! As mentioned was Richie Gray (former Gala man, not the current Sco player!) in 2007 presenting.
Because the 6am to 9.25am block is a different franchise - ITV Breakfast, formerly GMTV. When GMTV was still around, they always had to be given the airtime back, and that hasn't changed. The owner of the breakfast franchise is entitled to those 3 hours 25 minutes each day. And that owner now happens to be ITV plc.
I was in Edinburgh at the weekend and flicked through the TV on Sunday morning - was slightly thrown to see the ITV DOG, rather than the STV one, showing during a screening of the film Black Beauty.
:-(
A former member
Just seen a ITV ident on STV, so there must be paying back the extra time.. it wasn't like this last time,
Such a shame, especially the latter where Italy could have potentially caused the biggest upset in RWC history and knocked out NZ. Presumably an actual knock out game would have to be rescheduled, and a shame these weren't rescheduled too.
I guess the complication is that though they could in theory play these final group games on Monday or Tuesday the schedule would struggle to accommodate rescheduled earlier games, so they need a rule that treats all group games equally.
The tournament organisers need to examine the scheduling of the tournament in retrospect. Maybe holding this in Japan during peak typhoon season wasn’t the best idea. Scheduling it in the late Winter / Early Spring minimum typhoon period might have been better. I recognise that for Northern Hemisphere sides this would be slam in the middle of their domestic season but surely the RWC is the peak of the calendar every four years. The Six Nations could haves been switched to run in Sept - Oct for example.
The weather related placing of the Qatar Football World Cup in the autumn of 2022 is a useful precedent for all international prestigious events to follow.
I agree. It is a disappointment but the RWC so far as been brilliant and Japan as far as I can see have been superb hosts. This shouldn't go agains them at all.