Sunday 14 October 2007

The "British" Broadcasting Corporation

Neil Craig's analysis is correct:
This morning the BBC news headlines on the Andrew Marr show started with the news that England had beaten somebody or other at rugby
But, as Neil points out:
Scotland had thrashed the Ukraine 3-1 at football
And Neil's conclusion:
Surely if the English result was top of the list this should at least have been mentioned as well. Football is after all a vastly more popular game than rugby.
It wasn't just "top of the list", it was the subject of the first interview as well.

Not only that, BBC Scotland showed the England v. Estonia game on BBC1 at the same time as Scotland were playing at Hampden Park. I presume the explanation is the same as when this happened a week or two ago: "We were outbid for the Scotland Game." As others pointed out at the time, the BBC managed to bid enough for the England game, but not the Scottish one. With Scots paying 9% of the license fee but having 3% of the programming made up here it's no wonder that so many of us feel that we're getting a raw deal.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

David Farrer
Mark, 
 
Sorry for the late reply. 
 
Shoulder chip? Just stating it as I saw it - or didn't for the games in question! 
 
I don't expect that the publicans mind too much either way - they all seem to have Sky. 
 
Agree with you on cricket. 
 
ps I see that Alex Salmond is supporting England in the Rugby final - as am I.

20 October 2007, 15:42:46 GMT+01:00
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Mark Rigby
Should add that if you want to watch 6 nations Rugby then you can see all the Scotland games on BBC but none of the England ones because the ERU has an exclusive contract with Sky. Suspect that every publican in Scotland wants it the other way around? 
 
My complaint would be cricket. While Sky have England as an exclusive, Saltires cricket coverage is available to the BBC for virtually nothing. result - maybe one game every two years. Why doesn't BBC Scotland cover the third most popular team sport in Scotland (by number of participants) rather than the PC Shinty games!

17 October 2007, 12:23:54 GMT+01:00
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Mark Rigby
I've seen similar complaints from the usual SNP bloggers on the Scotsman re the BBC football coverage. 
 
Hasn't International football coverage has been shared by the BBC and Sky for some years. They alternate. Today the Scottish game is on BBC and England on Sky. 
 
Maybe check the facts before reaching for the shoulder chip?

17 October 2007, 11:55:22 GMT+01:00
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David B. Wildgoose
Funny how the footballer types like to claim they're the manly ones despite all the evidence to the contrary. After all, you don't see Rugby players hugging and kissing each other whenever they score something.

15 October 2007, 07:52:08 GMT+01:00
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Bill (Scotland)
I don't care for football (in fact I loathe it), but I don't think you are comparing two equals. Yes, football is vastly more popular and therefore, no doubt, it costs a great deal more to 'bid' for a football match than a rugby match - even the rugby world cub. Of course I'd rather watch rugby anyway, but that's just me .

14 October 2007, 20:48:14 GMT+01:00