Rate BBC's 2012 athletics coverage

[GBSupporter]

I'm a Radio 4 listener .It was apparant to me it was the Olympic philistine channel . They only know of Casta Semenya due to the gender issue for example . The coverage was for their benefit .Bloody appauling !!!

[paul]

I think it was the worst coverage i've ever seen

Ut is brilliant that you could watch coverage of all the field events but the main channel just used this as an excuse for showing absolutely nothing of them

I don't want want, nor am i equipt to me my own director and keep having to juggle between 3/4 channels just to find out what's going on. As stated above the track feed just stopped every time they went back to the studio on BBC1 so we got 20 ins of silence with crowd scenes and shots of Arnold Schwarzenegger !!

Over the last 2 years there has been a specific policy at BBC sport to show talking, montages, features on genetics, psychology etc rather than sport and for the life of me i can't understand why. We are told it's because they have to appeal to the casual fan but i can guarantee that NOBODY wants to watch this crap rather than action.

Despite the fact there were multiple channels i feel like i have seen less athletics than any championships in history

^^ this.


I don't have sky, just freeview, so there was nothing on the red button.
I was screaming at the telly in frustration.
I had better not post what I shouted at "Fingers" Inverdale since (in this modern humourless world)
MI6 are probably listening and I'd be carted off to chokey.

-9/10 (thats a minus).

There _were_ some great images. Wonderous ones. But they were shooting fish in a barrel.
And so much was missed. And my 12 year old got
better vids on her phone from inside the stadium.
Thank _god_ we were there on super saturday. I'd have gone spare watching that on BBC.

[djlovesyou]

Incredible comments, but then again completely expected.

BBC give you live, uninterrupted coverage of every single field event final and people are in tears because pressing a couple of buttons when a race is about to start is far too difficult.

It was pretty much possible to watch the vast majority of the athletics without having to listen to Inverdale and Jackson once, but I'm certain people still watch because they enjoy watching the sport and then caterwauling about the horrendous coverage later on.

[Tuckin]

Michael Johnson... was totally out if place and was allowed to talk too much . Thank goodness for Denise and Colin who disagreed with him often.

That's one of the most remarkable things I've ever read.

And I don't just mean on this board or in the world of athletics - I mean ever, on any topic!

[Flumpy]

Even Colin, himself, has never talked such nonsense. Indeed!!!

[iain]

Incredible comments, but then again completely expected.

BBC give you live, uninterrupted coverage of every single field event final and people are in tears because pressing a couple of buttons when a race is about to start is far too difficult.

It was pretty much possible to watch the vast majority of the athletics without having to listen to Inverdale and Jackson once, but I'm certain people still watch because they enjoy watching the sport and then caterwauling about the horrendous coverage later on.

I have to disagree. I only have freeview and so there weren't any of these channels. That said I wasn't too bothered by coverage (apart from the montages )

[jeremy1]

I think it was the worst coverage i've ever seen

Ut is brilliant that you could watch coverage of all the field events but the main channel just used this as an excuse for showing absolutely nothing of them

I don't want want, nor am i equipt to me my own director and keep having to juggle between 3/4 channels just to find out what's going on. As stated above the track feed just stopped every time they went back to the studio on BBC1 so we got 20 ins of silence with crowd scenes and shots of Arnold Schwarzenegger !!

Over the last 2 years there has been a specific policy at BBC sport to show talking, montages, features on genetics, psychology etc rather than sport and for the life of me i can't understand why. We are told it's because they have to appeal to the casual fan but i can guarantee that NOBODY wants to watch this crap rather than action.

Despite the fact there were multiple channels i feel like i have seen less athletics than any championships in history

Of course, sensible people avoided the talking heads, if they wished, by watching TVcatchup , witha minimum of chat and Crammy and others commentating, and I would rather watch a scene with no sound between events and occasionally drift to the individual coverage, than the main BBCTV coverage ; the fact which certain FANS and poseurs have to understand that the coverage was bound to be pro Brit and was not for the likes of Mump and friends.

Just thank God you were not watching NBC TV " live".

The only way you will ever see everything is to go the Meets and sit there morning and evening for 10 days.

[trevorp]

I wasn't disappointed by the coverage as I had very low expectations. I was relieved that there were different channels for all the events and didn't find it too onerous to flick between them. The dedicated channels did yield the occasional nugget, such as the wHJ qualification when Friedrich tried to get the others to stop jumping so she'd go through to the final.

One thing I did notice was that, while the athletics pundits are the worst, some other sports suffer too: Ian Thorpe was pretty dreadful in the swimming, for example.

[iain]

Well, look.
This is a much better impression in an Australian accent and with a facial expression.

[boysen]

Down...cj up Denise...much better than in tandem with Jackson.And her antics...worth a re-run?

[Tuckin]

I thought overall it was just about OK but no better - Jackson was as awful as ever, while Inverdale had some horrible moments and Dickenson annoyed me at times.

Some of the commentary was far too Brit-focused at times, most notably when the Bahamas were pulling off a famous 4x400m win and they were reduced to an afterthought while the commentary concentrated on Rooney's futile chase for third. By all means mention the British team's effort, but don't ignore who's winning the gold, especially when it's a relay and the US isn't winning!

5 Live was good, although it spent too much time with the presenters shouting to crowds and getting them to shout back ("Radio Best Mate" moments) when there was sport going on somewhere that they could have been reporting.

[Flumpy]

Has anyone got any idea what's going on with the Stockholm DL tonight?

After much searching around the confusing BBC website I found the page that tells you when Athletics is being shown which says it's on BBC3 tonight at 7pm. Unfortunately when I go to Sky+ it at 7pm tonight Top Gear is on???

[Rapunzel1975]

Has anyone got any idea what's going on with the Stockholm DL tonight?

After much searching around the confusing BBC website I found the page that tells you when Athletics is being shown which says it's on BBC3 tonight at 7pm. Unfortunately when I go to Sky+ it at 7pm tonight Top Gear is on???

Looks like it's Red Button according to Radio Times website. (No talking heads!)

[Flumpy]

That is obviously extremely welcome although it does say here that it's on BBC3.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/15971129

It would seem very strange if after the Olympics being such a huge they shoved the 1st post Games meeting off to the red button. Not that I'm complaining.

[Rapunzel1975]

That is obviously extremely welcome although it does say here that it's in BBC3.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/15971129

It also says Lausanne is on Friday!!

[Mr Halibut]

I had it set to record off Freeview 301 (red button channel) a few days ago, double checked this morning and it's still scheduled, with nothing on BBC3. The EPG lists Lausanne for BBC3 on Thursday.

[jeremy1]

The Lausanne meet on Thursday is a DL meet and includes an outstanding field with the "beast", Gay and Gatlin in the 100m; Bolt and Ashmeade in the 200m; the Gold and Silver in the 400m etc. BBC3 7pm till 9p.m.

[Geoff]

London 2012 Olympic Games: Minority sports channel planned

London Legacy will make its debut in around three months, showing 24 Olympic sports that “just don’t get enough sports coverage” on the major channels.

John Fairley, chairman of Highflyer Group, the company behind the new channel, said the combination of a fall in production costs and an increase in interest in niche sports meant there was an “enormous opportunity” to make money from televising them.

“The amount on athletics on the main channels has been very small, especially when you think of all the disciplines within athletics, but the Games has changed all that,” he said. “We have had two or three companies, including one Olympic sponsor, make very serious undertakings [to back the channel] in the last week. The Games have changed all that."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... anned.html

I would like to think this will take off but I have my doubts. Note that athletics, the major Olympic sport, is included as a minority sport.

[Alf__Tupper]

Sorry, mump boy and [b]GBsupporter[/b] but you really are so stupid, I had to laugh. Do you do this kind of thing to wind-up decent people?

[Kermit]

Red button/online excellent
Live (BBC1/2/three) extremly poor

[mump boy]

Sorry, mump boy and [b]GBsupporter[/b] but you really are so stupid, I had to laugh. Do you do this kind of thing to wind-up decent people?

Welcome to the forum Mr Tupper

We await your continued, insightful contributions with bated breath

[jeremy1]

Some one who reads the AW mag said in a letter that he thought that CJ was excellent. This years most appalling statement.??

You cannot ask what was the quality of the the Beebs coverage of track and field . You have to ask separate questions. What was Beeb quality for athletics fans who want everything on the screen and do not wish to miss a jump or a throw, or who who do not wish to miss a significant field event effort, either at the time, or delayed, or a dedicated channel as one was offered this time round, but I suspect will not happen again; finally what was it like for a passing fan who knows little about Track and field who represent the great majority of people who watched the dramas unfold, whether we like it or not.

Asked a lot of my neighbours, friends and passing people in my local etc who are not particularly interested in athletics; they thought the coverage by BBC was pretty good, did not bother about CJ( total indifference)

I thought for me personally about 7 out of 10.The worst coverage ever.??? Ridiculous. Never mind , Mump you will be in Moscow next year so thats a benefit.!!

[Flumpy]

With numerous events to show at the same time I hardly think the LJ's preparations was of paramount importance.

Of course it would have been preferable than listening to John Inverdale.

[Laps]

Sports such as football and cricket are not presented with the casual viewer in mind. A golden rule is don't miss any action. Interviews are not carried out while a goal is being scored in the background. We don't go back to the studio for five minutes of mindnumbing prattle just as the teams kick off. Why any Athletics fan should think that is an acceptable way to present their sport beats me. The BBC have gone in entirely the wrong direction in presenting Athletics and the sport needs to say so.

[Kermit]

Every field event was given its own channel whilst the event was taking place. A few of my clients recorded those events/sports and are putting the information gained to good use.

It will be interesting to see how the BBC expand on their "red button" sports coverage. American Football is the latest to get the red button treatment starting this coming Monday with the original Monday Night Football.

They are seriously considering rivaling the newly announced sports channel for the Olympic sports by expanding the use of the red button.

[jeremy1]

So tell me do, do you fans pay more for your viewing of non commercial BBC than the casual fans or casual viewers who vastly outnumber you; are you entitled to have some special detailed coverage of a meeting that covers every throw, jump, vault, heat, semi and final of all events; of course you are not.!!

It will never happen and if you want that go in person to all the meetings..... everywhere.

Of course the Beeb coverage concentrates too much for my personal taste on other than the sport( not much different to footy which spends an hour in total discussing an English international match) and that irritates me and many here, but do we have the right to tell a guy who says he loves the largely inconsequential chat and the interviews that he cannot have that type of coverage because certain posters on AW Forum would miss some field event effortsor heats or qualifying stuff.

The BBC coverage of track and field is not, and never will be, for the benefit of the fans here; be happy that you can see so much more track and field through streaming etc. than was ever possible years ago.

Be happy that we haven't got to suffer NBC or Channel 4 coverage

[Kermit]

Over the last 10 years so many athletes have come out of University with qualifications in media studies and yet there is no dedicated athletics programme or channel - what are they doing with their qualification? Motivational speaking!

[jeremy1]

I forgot to note that, sadly, we have got to put up with Channel 4 coverage for next years World Champs in Moscow.

The adverts are shown every ten minutes or so and usually immediately after a race with no back up comments and eventually this amateurish coverage drives one potty. We will all be regretting the fact that the BBC was not in charge by the end of the 2013 World Championships, for sure.

[Kermit]

Jeremy Moscow will be the last World Championships to be shown on C4. The IAAF learned the errors of their ways and future events were awarded to the EBU of which BBC are a part of.

But if C4 repeat what we had last year then the morning sessions may not have advert breaks but all that will depend on the time zone.

[Flumpy]

Sports such as football and cricket are not presented with the casual viewer in mind. A golden rule is don't miss any action. Interviews are not carried out while a goal is being scored in the background. We don't go back to the studio for five minutes of mindnumbing prattle just as the teams kick off. Why any Athletics fan should think that is an acceptable way to present their sport beats me. The BBC have gone in entirely the wrong direction in presenting Athletics and the sport needs to say so.

Agreed.