The Sport Thread

Bit tricky for BBC Northern Ireland this evening.

Robin Hood was shown on BBC Two Network at 7.00pm, however BBC Two NI were showing live GAA from 6.45pm. So NI are now an episode behind. Not much way around it I suppose, apart from cutting away from the Murray match on BBC One to show Robin Hood, but that may have looked a little scrappy.

EDIT: BBC Two NI now showing Robin Hood at 8.55pm - and they are in fact not an episode behind, because tonights was the concluding part of the two-part last in series. Which makes it seem all the more scrappy.

But here's the same old question again - does a third round Andy Murray match REALLY warrant disrupting the Saturday night BBC One schedule, when there is time already allocated on BBC Two? Fair enough, perhaps in the latter stages of the tournament the 'occasion' would warrant prime time BBC One coverage. But I would have thought, with enough promotion on BBC One - even a few IPPs within programmes - BBC Two would suffice for a third round match.

Considering the disruption it causes, especially to the final episode of a flagship BBC drama, it wasn't worth the hassle. The EPG couldn't handle it either.

I expect too over all the BBC probably lose viewers - although the tennis gets more viewers on BBC1, I imagine the combined BBC1/2 figure would be higher if BBC1 kept it's regular schedule and BBC2 had the tennis.

Really though the highly likely possibility of it happening tonight should have been considered when Wimbledon was first scheduled. The tennis could easily have been scheduled to run through to 8pm tonight.

I don't think it was the EPG that couldn't handle it... The EPG can cope perfectly well with very late changes IF they are communicated properly to all parties...



But they would only want the Tennis on BBC One if Murray were playing. They wouldn't schedule Tennis on BBC One on after 6pm Saturday night, any more than they would after 6pm on a week night when EastEnders is on... They wouldn't plan the schedule for something that isn't guaranteed to happen - instead they change the schedule when something does happen.

However it appears that decisions need to be made clearly - and possibly a bit earlier...

I think the constant threat of rain in SW19 clouded peoples judgements in W12. There was a near monsoon for about 2 hours this afternoon in Shepherds Bush - and I suspect everyone in presentation thought it was only a matter of time before there was the same at Wimbledon (and a 30 minute delay for the roof to be used on Centre Court) You don't want to drop a BBC One primetime show to show tennis repeats during a rain-delay...

There is also the issue that moving the news is now really difficult to do if it has a regional component, as none of the English regions can opt-out on BBC Two on digital outlets, and some can't opt out on analogue BBC Two either, so all English digital viewers would see BBC London (probably) and analogue viewers would see either London or their non-sub region.

Indeed, a lesson that I think the BBC have learned after an occasion on a Friday night in 2001, during the famous Henman-Ivanesivic semi-final, where BBC One shunted the Six O'Clock News and the regional news, plus Top of the Pops, EastEnders etc over to BBC Two, only for BBC One to show a looped musical montage of daily Wimbledon highlights and pictures of covers. And yes, the nations opts were all messed up. UK Today was still around at that time though IIRC.

Anyway, Murray is once again third on Centre Court on Monday so we may well have the same situation on Monday evening.

(I know this should be in Requests, but does anyone have any idea if the old 'coming up' theme 'Purple and Green' by Tony Cox is available for download anywhere? They still use it on Radio Wimbledon, but the Beeb havent used it now since about 2003. It can be heard at the start of this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEEIQ6qYTtY)

There was an article in the Sunday Mirror sport this morning about how Andy Murray is considered by the BBC to be "wasted" in a non peak-time slot. Which would seem to suggest the only reason he's up third on court, again, is driven by the need to bring his performance to what could be argued as "a wider audience", aka for higher ratings. It's clearer now that it was before considering he's the only Brit left in the entire competition. However having said that, had a British totally unknown and low-ranking player got this far, would they have an entire transmission schedule ripped to pieces?

Whether BBC one rips its schedule up Monday night probably depends on two factors: What time Murray's match starts, which will probably be between 5pm and 6pm, and how far it's going to run. Monday night's schedule from 7pm is The One Show, a repeat of Dom's On The Case, EastEnders, Panorama and Crimewatch up until 10pm. The only real guaranteed ratings-grabber would be EastEnders. A Murray match with a 6pm start ultimately going into a five set marathon that runs for three and a half hours will dump the entire lot onto BBC Two I reckon, just flick over at 7pm.

Despite the idiocy of such a scheme, I did hear from a reliable source that regions had been warned that they might get shunted to BBC2 on Thursday and yesterday.

I don't think you need the genius of the Sunday Mirror to work that one out!

Murray will always be last on a scheduled day of play (unless he wins Wimbledon this year and opens the Championship in 2010) and he will now forever more always be on Centre. The roof means that he is virtually guaranteed to complete his match in primetime, regardless of weather conditions and starting third, unlike Henman who often got rain delayed with similar treatment.

It's remarkable that some aspects of the media will play this out as "BBC ratings grabbing", when the alternative is to deny many people the chance to see a Brit do rather well in a sporting event. Ask people on the street if they'd rather be able to watch Murray live after work or be concerned about "BBC aggressive scheduling" and I think you know the answer you'll get. Of course he should be last on the day's billing for the British audience- this OUR grand slam event. In Australia, France and America, they do exactly the same with their home-grown players.

And if you think for one minute that the "Murray camp" (or previously the Henman camp) are aggrieved by this arrangement, perhaps it is worth considering the personal sponsors of these players who certainly aren't disappointed by 10m viewer exposures rather than 3m at lunchtime on a weekday.

Wimbledon fortnight always has been a moveable feast on BBC Television, rightly so as it's regrettably the only big annual sporting event they have.

on another matter

One feature that is new this year has been the occasional use of the HD channel for matches in the first week NOT being covered on the 576i services.

Well at the same time last year they switched to BBC2 as usual at 6pm, and then decided at 8.30pm to switch it back to BBC1 for the final 10-20 minutes or so. This year, One Show or not, surely they should at least switch at 7pm to BBC1.

I wonder if there is an alternative set of titles in case it becomes "The Two Show"

I can just hear the theme tune in my head now...

To say this practice makes my blood boil is a massive understatement. We in England would not be able to get the regional news if it were moved to BBC2 and probably never will do - in my case, digital is far superior and that'll be the only choice anyway soon.

There is no need whatsoever for any event, no matter how major, to be on BBC1 only. BBC2 is equally obtainable as BBC1. I hate that BBC1 flagship channel b******s - even more so when that ethos is used at the expense of local news. I realise this is an old debate, but I cannot believe that as DSO becomes ever closer the BBC still think that this is acceptable.