It's great that the BBC have live diamond league rights back. A shame last night wasn't on BBC2 or BBC4 as it was a world class field with a world record broken - plus plenty of Brits in action and a British Record broken as well. However even if the rights had been agreed earlier, then I guess the cricket highlights and snooker would have still taken priority (BBC3 as a linear channel being missed here!)
I hope it's just a negotiating tactic from the BBC though with regards to their UK Athletics deal
What is the UK deal now - the 2 Diamond League events, a UK Indoor Grand Prix and the UK Indoor/Outdoor Championships, which the BBC have rarely covered beyond the red button in recent years anyway.
Athletics isn't the sport it once was but I'd have thought it would be relatively cheap schedule filler for the BBC. I think the trouble is without the rest of the Diamond League to accompany it now there probably isn't enough to justify bidding for it in isolation, even if it is cheap. I'm sure in the couple of years C4 had Athletics coverage in the late 90s they had about half a dozen UK events - sadly the Diamond League has somewhat damaged the second tier events in the sport and probably made them unviable.
Yes, that's the UK Athletics deal. Indoor Championships are normally online only
What makes the situation even more disappointing is that the BBC go to a lot of effort with their athletics coverage. An A List Presenter, A List Analysts, Occasional Accompanying Documentaries. It would be a real shame for the BBC to cut back. The UK Athletics deal might not be much, but the Indoor Grand Prix always gets world class names, the UK Diamond League meets do, and the Outdoor Championships usually 'double up' as the Olympic/World/European Trials
A rights gain for the BBC, is that some matches from the 2020 world seniors snooker championships will be on the red button. The previous three years, selected matches were shown on freesports.
The danger is that, per reports in The Times, the BBC is not planning to renew its separate deal with UK Athletics, and if that isn't replaced somehow, the UK won't be able to afford to host a couple of Diamond League events.
It was reported by the Guardian that BBC bid for the rights but their valuation didn't meet the British Athletics figure so are unsold at present.
TL
toby lerone 2016
BBC Sport NI have picked up the rights once again for the European Qualifers to be streamed live on the BBC Sport NI Website & App.
Tuesday 18 August 2020
Legia Warsaw v Linfield - Kick Off: 6pm
Thursday 20 August 2020
Glentoran v HB Torshavn - Kick Off: 7pm
Coleraine v La Fiorita - Kick Off: 7.30pm
Talking kit, Shaktar's has to be the most untelegenic for ages, it's clean yes, but it's light grey/brown colour scheme gives the impression that the whole squad's had a roll around on the pitch on the metaphorical 'cold wet evening in Stoke'.
Talking kit, Shaktar's has to be the most untelegenic for ages, it's clean yes, but it's light grey/brown colour scheme gives the impression that the whole squad's had a roll around on the pitch on the metaphorical 'cold wet evening in Stoke'.
What about Villa's 2019/20 away kit? Green on grey couldn't even be seen on Sky's scorecard graphic...
There could be repercussions in connection with UEFA CL and EL 2020-1 matches, it seems that an accusation of false C-19 negative declarations by a Kosovar team could impact some host country policies in respect to elite play. Prishtina arrived in Gibraltar to play Lincoln Red Imps tonight with 100pct pass rates from a local lab, when tested on arrival seven members of the travelling party were found to be positive. The match was cancelled and the team will leave Gibraltar imminently.