Page 1 of BBC to bid for Live Premiership rights.

Sorry if this is old news, but...

Quote:
The BBC has signalled that it will join the battle for live rights to Premiership football. This comes just before the Premier League`s meeting with the European Commission tomorrow over the way rights are sold. The BBC`s director of sport Roger Mosey, in his first interview since taking the job in August, said that domestic football rights would be "a major challenge for all broadcasters in the next 18 months".
While officially waiting for the Premier League and the EU to resolve the competition row over the number of live games that should be reserved for a second bidder and issue tender documents, broadcasters are already working on their bidding strategy.

There`s more folks....

Quote:
"The BBC should argue what it can offer through its range and depth. It`s partly the way we present it and frame it. It`s also things like the level of grassroots involvement we can get," Mosey said. "Everyone wants there to be a market. I don`t think anyone would dissent from the view that a diversity of supply is probably good."
Under the current agreement the BBC pays £105m for its three-year Premiership highlights contract and Sky pays £1.024bn for 138 live matches per season.

ITV, NTL and Five have already said they would bid, with the sports channel Setanta and BT also likely to challenge Sky, which has held exclusive live rights since 1992. The Premier League`s chief executive Richard Scudamore is due to meet the EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes tomorrow in an effort to resolve their dispute.

Mosey also publicly declared his determination to bring live Test cricket back to BBC television at the end of the decade. "If we can solve the scheduling issue and if it`s a market which is a fair market, which we think is probably best guaranteed by having cricket back on the list of listed events, then we absolutely would want to bid," he said.

The director of sport also said the BBC was working on a new programme that takes a journalistic approach to sport. He praised the Panorama exposé of the International Olympic Committee last year and said there should be a regular outlet for serious sports journalism on TV.

"Football Focus, for example, has become more journalistic. But I would like to bring the approach of Five Live`s Sportsweek to television," he said. "It`s a multi-billion pound industry and therefore it has to be held up to the kind of scrutiny that people expect."

From todays Guardian. :)

I would love it if BBC got it. Okay, so there`s many non-football fans on here who won`t be impressed (but lets face it, half of you aren`t watching BBC1 on a Sunday afternoon anyway), and the fact is England games pull in 10 million plus, and the BBC can`t shy away from that. And plus Sky Sports coverage is s***e. Okay, we get Hansen and Lawrenson on BBC1, but it`s still a damn sight better than the crap punditry we get on Sky Sports. Don`t get me wrong, I still like Sky Sports, but at least I wouldn`t mind paying my license fee if the BBC got at least some of the footy.

Quote:
but lets face it, half of you aren`t watching BBC1 on a Sunday afternoon anyway)
What about Monday and Saturday ? and full re-runs of everygame from 10pm on a Saturday night? Will we really see the commitment that Sky put into it?
Quote:
And plus Sky Sports coverage is s***e
You`re kidding? I think their coverage is way better than the BBC.

Remember also that Sky commit hours and hours to live lower division football, they are not just in it for the premiership and the easy money...will the BBC have the balls to show Sc***horpe -v- Mansfield on a Friday night? I doubt it.
I think the premiership needs a dedicated sports channel that can give it the coverage the fans need, not what would be a half arsed compromise, which is all the BBC/ITV etc... could provide (Unless they come up with a dedicated channel too).

Neil.

Personally I reckon the Sky Sports coverage is top notch - certainly far better than anything the BBC have been able to muster up in the last few years.

Simply put, Sky can`t afford not to have live Premiership football - it`s one of the main reasons they have such a strong hold on the premium TV market. Whatever the BBC or NTL offer, Sky cannot afford to bid less!


What I`m listening to...

If they were showing an England match on Sky Sports, and the same time the game was on BBC1, I would watch BBC everytime.

Could be a way BBC plan to get more people to switch to freeview by having a dedicated BBC sports channel with BBC1 having a live game on Saturday Grandstand & BBC2 having a live game on Sunday Grandstand

___________________________________________________________________________________

Name: Grey Raven
Secret Identity: mark anderson
Special Power: Flight
Transportation: Magnetic Jet
Weapon: Dimensional Grenade
Costume: Silk Cowl
Sidekick: Dirk Deadly
Nemesis: Arnold the Nasty
Tragic Flaw: Fear of clams
Favorite Food: Pie

Agreed. It wouldn`t suprise me if BBC introduced a dedicated freeview channel for sports if they get the sports rights they want. And anyway, the BBC could alter the schedules of games.

Who says the BBC would have to have a game on a Monday night, Saturday evening etc. in the same way Sky do. Remember it is basically Sky who have the final say over schedules. Game are played at the times they are on Sky Sports because thats the time Sky want to show them at. I`m sure BBC would have the same flexibility. As movie_buff says, BBC have Grandstand on a Saturday day and on BBC2 on Sunday, so a couple of Premiership games will barely alter the schedule if they don`t want it to.

Quote:
will the BBC have the balls to show Sc***horpe -v- Mansfield on a Friday night? I doubt it.LMFAO. Since when were either of those teams in the PREMIERSHIP? BBC aren`t bidding for lower division football - Sky can keep them for all I care! ;)

Quote:
I still like Sky Sports, but at least I wouldn`t mind paying my license fee if the BBC got at least some of the footy.
yeah, hopefully the bbc will pull their heads out of their arses and do something they
should have done years ago. it`s absolutely shocking that we have to pay a sky
subscription as well as a tv license to watch some decent footy....

Ste.

........is that gasoline i smell?

If there is a match on either BBC or SKY I would always watch BBC. It`s almost the only thing I would watch on BBC, as for SKY being better the camera angles are much the same, the commentry on SKY is crap, BBC a little better. As for promoting the lower divisions I can`t remember the last time I saw Bournemouth, Cheltenham or Hereford on SKY. They were`nt on SKY when I had it for many years. Roll on the consortium to buy out a good deal of SKY`s football & make the greedy sods reduce there fee, then I may go back, in the mean time I`ll watch all the football on Free Satellite receivers via Sat Alb & ART.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 18th October 2005, 09:57

Hmmm...interesting, I wouldn`t mind a bit of live Premiership footie on terrestial TV(can`t afford Sky Sports :( ), quick question, does John "Roy of the Rovers" Motson still commentate ?

Pete :)

I would like BBC to get the rights to some of the games in order to spread the games around a bit and get rid of Premiership Plus. I prefer Sky`s commentary to the BBC`s - Andy Gray is a superb colour commentator and Graeme Le Saux isn`t even in the same league as him. Pete, AFAIK Motty does still commentate on the BBC but I don`t watch MOTD very often so can`t be completely sure.


My Top 20 Horror Movies ---- My DVD Collection
Give me ten men like Clouseau and I could destroy the world.