What do you mean you didn’t see it? Didn’t you watch it all
on Facebook then on the streaming site Eleven Sports? No of course you didn’t
because sports fans want TV broadcasts not to be huddled round their laptops.
The debate over free to air versus Pay TV has raged for more
than decade in most sports and for almost three decades in football.Sky Sports swiping of the new Premier League in 1992 did indeed herald ‘A Whole New Ball Game’ for football fans on the pitch and in front of their television sets.
Nothing much has changed, challengers have come and gone
while BT Sport now appear to be on the pitch for good.
Not a single match since then has been free for all to
enjoy, why should Sky give something away when the price they pay is so high?
Cricket has long fretted over the departure of the game
almost completely to Sky in this country while golf bosses in the US were so
determined this weekend’s PGA Championship wouldn’t get wall to wall coverage
on Sky Sports dedicated golf channel they sold the rights to a fledgling
streaming service.
But the rules of the game appear to be ‘boo Sky for pricing
the beloved BBC/ITV out of the market’ when in truth it’s the attitude of our
major terrestrial broadcasters to sport in the last 30 years which created the
corporate giant Sky has become today.
Back in 1988, you got one English top flight match a week
plus Match of the Day, very little Football League and barely anything below
that. Now it’s at least four top flight games, multiple offerings from the
Football League while the National League is covered in depth by BT Sport.
Sky’s investment made that possible, turned average players
into millionaires and spawned the cash cow that is the Premier League. But
equally it’s the Premier League who seek pound after extra pound when they sell
the ‘Greatest League in the World’.Surely one of the packages could be made available to a terrestrial broadcaster? After all CBS in the
US show games from the National Football League on Sunday afternoon while NBC take over in prime time.
The same goes for cricket, the ECB could make a package
solely available for terrestrial viewers but choose to chase cash from Sky et
al.
And then what about the terrestrial broadcasters themselves?
While live sport starts at a specific time, its conclusion isn’t always fixed
which gives the BBC its annual Wimbledon headache.
Remember the BBC and Channel 4 often went horse racing on
Saturday afternoons during the test match, Channel 4 ended coverage of delayed
test matches to show Hollyoaks and The Simpsons while last year’s BBC coverage
of the US PGA Championship was done so cheaply it was a wonder we even saw the
winning putt.
The only way this mismatch of the day can be resolved is if
those at the top of these sports put people before vast profit and any new
terrestrial kids on the block can commit to coverage as good as Pay TV provides
now.
Not easy when budgets are squeezed and pressure to sell
adverts is at its height.
So the next time someone with sport complains about the lack
of free to air coverage ask yourself, what are they doing to achieve the right
result?