The failure of the BBC in 2012

meursault

Looks to me like ITV4 and Eurosport took it to the BBC. In a year that saw the greatest ever British cycling and possibly, an all time sporting achievement in the tdf, the BBC were nowhere to be seen. The Olympics doesn't count as they were covering that anyway.

Whoever does programming, needs to pay more attention, so we can get value for our license fee.

RichN95.

The BBC can't show what they don't have the rights to. ITV have held the main cycling rights for about a decade and have a long term contract. Eurosport even longer. You might as well complain about the BBC not showing Coronation Street.

Gazzetta67

The first thing the BBC should do it tell Hugh Porter thanks but no thanks he's finished as a commentator. I dont know why ITV4 got him to cover the Tour of Britain then he's got to leave all because he's covering the worlds for the BBC. The irish guy yesterday knows his stuff and would be a welcome edition.(i dunno maybe porter is cheap or he's pals with mick bennett) your original point yes the BBC failed cos lets face it they have never been that good at covering cycling have they.

Brakeless

I'm sure there would be abit more coverage if Wiggins and Cav etc weren't sponsered by Sky.

Turfle

Live coverage of the Olympic road races and time trials, and extensive live red button coverage of the four elite World Champs events. That'll do me.

cougie

meursault wrote:

Whoever does programming, needs to pay more attention, so we can get value for our license fee.

Are you mad ? The BBC is worth the fee for Radio 4 alone.

The Government is keen to put the Beeb back in its place so they've frozen their revenue - which in effect will reduce their budget in real terms.

Why would BBC waste money buying the tour when its already covered on Eurosport. Let ITV spend their budget if they like - we don't really need two channels showing us it ? I'd say they've given us perfect value.

Rodrego Hernandez

The BBC cover the Tour every year and have done for many years.

They also cover the main cycling results in their sports news. Something Sky doesn't even do!

amaferanga

First bit of sports new on BBC breakfast this morning was JTL winning the ToB.

Yellow Peril

TBH I don't even connect the Sky team with Sky broadcasting in my mind (perhaps I shouldn't say that as it doesn't show effective sponsorship) but that might be due to the fact that I'm too involved with the sport from an enthusiasts view and see it merely as a team name.

The BBC are in a tough position because of the way in which they are funded. they can't run off and plough money into cycling at the drop of a hat. Neither can ITV 4 but I think because the y are more commercially savvy and not accountable to "licence payers" per se, they can detect viewing trends and get sponsors and programmes on board so much quicker. I think a guy who is oinvolved with the Cycle show said on another thread that they decided to bring the programme forward at short notice and they appear to have picked up the Vuelta at short notice again.

As for Hugh I think he can still cope OK with Track but Road Racing is a bit beyond him now. His "Now then" ratio will go through the roof for the Worlds

Dorset_Boy

If the BBC were to reduce their football coverage by 25%, they could cover far more sports at which Britain excels, including cycling, rather than endlessly focussing on which were comparatively rubbish at.
With the ToB they announced some of Cav's stage wins in their sports bulletins, and then suddenly on Saturday they realized Britain has riders other than Cav & Wiggo.
Hopefully more race results will appear in their news bulletins in future, and less crap about unsporting fools who won't shake hands with each other!

frosty99

BBC website does often have stories and results from main races throughout the year, however they often have sentances like "cavendish finished a dissappointing 87th" in mountain stages at Romandie, which show that whoever writes them doesnt have much insight into the sport.

The current stories regarding world champs also seem to suggest that everyone in the GB squad is working for Cav again, which I think is very unlikely!

tommasi

cougie wrote:

Why would BBC waste money buying the tour when its already covered on Eurosport. Let ITV spend their budget if they like - we don't really need two channels showing us it ? I'd say they've given us perfect value.

They're happy to waste it on NFL rights. A foreign domestic league in a sport nobody gives a crap about.

meursault

cougie wrote:

meursault wrote:

Whoever does programming, needs to pay more attention, so we can get value for our license fee.

Are you mad ? The BBC is worth the fee for Radio 4 alone.

The Government is keen to put the Beeb back in its place so they've frozen their revenue - which in effect will reduce their budget in real terms.

Why would BBC waste money buying the tour when its already covered on Eurosport. Let ITV spend their budget if they like - we don't really need two channels showing us it ? I'd say they've given us perfect value.

Quite possibly, though I did well in this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Psychopath_Test.

tailwindhome

I reckon cycling coverage was a cheap way to fill a lot of ITV4 air time.

Then it got popular.

Omar Little

It would have been a failure of the BBC if no British broadcaster had showed anything of the Tour (and other events) but there were alternatives providing the coverage.

ITV4 have done really well with their cycling coverage, each year they have improved bit by bit, devoted more hours and increased audience share. It wasn't so long ago that all cycling fans had to look forward to was 1 hour of highlights a week during the tour and one live stage - which was the final one into Paris. Actually when C4 gave up the broadcast rights there may even have been a period with no coverage at all on tv.

As for what the BBC did cover - they were decent enough on the track, Hugh Porter knows what he was talking about there and there were good studio guests like Cavendish - that worked out pretty well. On the road though they are awful - not just the live coverage but the build up and aftermath too - Jill Douglas and her terrible interview with Vinokorov, their sports editor who knows nothing about the sport, the expert analysis not being from a cyclist. So i'm quite happy the main cycling events this year were on ITV4 and Eurosport instead.

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

I reckon cycling coverage was a cheap way to fill a lot of ITV4 air time.

Then it got popular.

For several years they only showed the one hour highlights programme, no live stuff. Sending a crew around France for three weeks is considerably more expensive than showing repeats of Minder.

Mikey23

I thought itv4 did an outstanding job on the tob this year, and managed to get me in the crowd as well... Eurosport is just the home of cycling and the first place you look

ddraver

Let's not forget that the only reason it's shown on ES is becasue ES has has the same picture feed for the whole of Europe. Somehow I think that if France, Italy, Spain , germany, netherlands, belgium etc were all in to something else, then ITV4 would be all we were left with!

That said, ES have done well to put 2 decent commentators on it though so we should be grateful for that!

rick_chasey

BBC?

My only experience of the BBC & road cycling was the olympics, and that was horrific.

kleinstroker

TailWindHome wrote:

I reckon cycling coverage was a cheap way to fill a lot of ITV4 air time.

Then it got popular.

Definitely true, they just lucked out this year and have wisely tried to keep the ball rolling by covering the tour of Britain and the Vuelta, or did they always do that? Anyway would love to see coverage of all the big races next year Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Niece etc, ITV would be wise to try and pick up a few more. Here's hoping!!

Omar Little

kleinstroker wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

I reckon cycling coverage was a cheap way to fill a lot of ITV4 air time.

Then it got popular.

Definitely true, they just lucked out this year and have wisely tried to keep the ball rolling by covering the tour of Britain and the Vuelta, or did they always do that? Anyway would love to see coverage of all the big races next year Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Niece etc, ITV would be wise to try and pick up a few more. Here's hoping!!

As part of their Tour de France package they already have the rights for the other ASO races, they used to not bother showing any of them despite this but they had Paris Roubaix live this year. Cant remember about the others though

kleinstroker

Thanks I never knew that. Just checked the date and I was out of the country. Next year!!

oneof1982

I'm all for pressing broadcasters to show more of what i/we want, but let's be fair. The BBC has had a fantastic year with the Olympics (and Paralymics). Cycling coverage on ITV 4 and ES has been hugely improved, not least of all with HD coverage of most events. The BBC has a duty to fill in where commercial broadcasters don't. When you get an afternoon where you are channel flicking between ITV 4 and ES overing two different major cycling events ToB and WTTT), I don't think the BBC need to be showing cycling.

iainf72

Why would the world be a better place if it was on the BBC?

Also, there hasn't been that much HD coverage. Maybe 20% of it has been HD across ITV and ES

andyp

I think the BBC's sports coverage is generally appalling, with bland anchors and idiotic ex-sports people offering clichéd platitudes in that inane cosy house style, so I'm delighted that they don't do much in the way of cycling coverage.

frenchfighter

Nice avatar OP.

Cleat Eastwood

actually its 'indie' tv company Century tv who have produced the tob coverage and the cycle show - they spotted a niche years ago thats been picked up by itv- its easier for small companies to tout ideas to networks who need to keep minority audiences sweet. The beeb, as a producer, couldnt give a monkeys about minority sport - the amount of emails i've sent about dwile flonking.

andyrac

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

actually its 'indie' tv company Century tv who have produced the tob coverage and the cycle show - they spotted a niche years ago thats been picked up by itv- its easier for small companies to tout ideas to networks who need to keep minority audiences sweet. The beeb, as a producer, couldnt give a monkeys about minority sport - the amount of emails i've sent about dwile flonking.

And there is the problem - the BBC should care about minority sports. Isn't part of their remit, or was once. Remember Grandstand, Sport on Friday, etc Cyclocross I seem to remember being on there.

meursault

frenchfighter wrote:

Nice avatar OP.

Grazie, grazie, one of my true heroes.

ddraver

tommasi wrote:

cougie wrote:

Why would BBC waste money buying the tour when its already covered on Eurosport. Let ITV spend their budget if they like - we don't really need two channels showing us it ? I'd say they've given us perfect value.

They're happy to waste it on NFL rights. A foreign domestic league in a sport nobody gives a crap about.

Bit like cycling eh?

symo

Radio4 6music and 4extra are what I pay for.

IMO they do need to reduce the coverage of football; it's not as if we can ever win the world cup or european championship as national sides anyway.

Would like the BBC to perhaps cover the ladies races though......... just a thought.