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End of Snooker on the BBC
jaanfx
Posts: 264 Forum Member
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I have just heard that the BBC have decided in not showing the World Open (the first of four snooker tournaments in the Snooker calendar) from next year. Instead they will just show the UK Championship, Wembley Masters and World Championships. BBC Wales might also drop the Welsh Open.
Could this mean the BBC quitely begining to move away from Snooker? Colour TV was pioneered by Snooker coverage, just seems a shame that BBC are now losing interest in this game - just as it is being revitalised by new chairman Barry Hearn.
Now, Eurosport are doing a good job in getting the game known all over Europe by their coverage of all major tournaments but they do lack in the quality. Watching snooker on Eurosport is a pain. So could ITV start bidding for some tournaments for ITV 4?
I dont expect Sky to show any major tournaments as they are still sulking after the big fall out with the WPBSA a few years back. Sky could have really ignited this sport but seem to be less interested in that.
Could this mean the BBC quitely begining to move away from Snooker? Colour TV was pioneered by Snooker coverage, just seems a shame that BBC are now losing interest in this game - just as it is being revitalised by new chairman Barry Hearn.
Now, Eurosport are doing a good job in getting the game known all over Europe by their coverage of all major tournaments but they do lack in the quality. Watching snooker on Eurosport is a pain. So could ITV start bidding for some tournaments for ITV 4?
I dont expect Sky to show any major tournaments as they are still sulking after the big fall out with the WPBSA a few years back. Sky could have really ignited this sport but seem to be less interested in that.
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Guess with the BBC budget being reduced, some sports will lose coverage. However like Golf, it is a balance between money (Sky) and audience (BBC/ITV). However ITV seem to put most sport aside from England, Champions League and FA Cup on ITV 4 a station not known for the biggest audiences.
Sky are showing a new tournament over a weekend early in the new year-something tells me it is a one-frame shootout.
And Barry Hearn runs snooker now-it is hard to imagine any promoter/single person having a better relationship with sky Sports over the last 20 years than him, so I don't see that being a stumbling block any more.
Thanks for the post. Do you have a link or more info?
snooker is a cheap sport to show though so thats not really an issue
Well not a Sports fan, but have to work on these shows.
Indoor Bowls is a regular, November and January on BBC. My memory fails, but about 10 years ago, they changed format and rules for TV. Now they have a format that guarantees a match cant go on for hours. So they have changed to keep the TV coverage manageable, and it works.
Snooker had the great Taylor Final in the late 70s that went on for hours. But that was then. This is now. Snooker has lost a lot of appeal. It needs to do what Bowls has done, and make it a bit more 20:20 ie quicker results like the Cricket.
This was attempted at the World Cup (or whatever it was called) in Glasgow last Sept. A 5 frame knockout competition. Billed as the snooker 'FA Cup'. A 'quickfire' competition. Yeah right.
Was it faster for TV? No.
The sessions were longer than Sheffield. The problem I think was that a player, knowing he could be knocked out quicker, took even more time over his shots. It's not bowls, where 4 bowls are your only option. Every session at Glasgow was min 2 hours.
I think snooker need to make more changes to keep it as viable TV. Perhaps a time limit on taking a shot would be the first move?
The 'riveting' safety play will ensure its return back to the snooker halls of its fans, and away from TV.
Sorry Mr Ebdon
And sorry to snooker fans - not an expert here - just an opinion having worked in TV and covered snooker for many years.
Could you please qualify that with some viewing figures, and a link?
Given your field of expertise seems to be F1, going on your posting history..
Try 1985
ok wrong decade. Only 10 years adrift!
And you seem to be finding faults in anything I post, for the sake of it.
Are u a freelance I have bulleted, perchance?
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2009/01/some-2.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/oct/26/bbc.sport
It then seemed to disappear a bit.
But since the money went out of the sport with the loss of cigarette advertising revenue it hasn't had the same "glamour" as in the days of "Embassy" and the like.
I mean, who'll be this year's Pukka Pies champion?
behind the red button, which has been great for snooker coverage in one respect, but the bbc have not done a great job of giving it sufficient airtime and publicity on its main channels.
Isn't it?
ITV4 gets bigger audiences for sport than any dedicated sport channels.
Europa League football? up to 2 million.
Darts? Over 1 million.
Cycling? 800,000
Motorsport? 650,000
...but importantly, the first ever Power Snooker tournament got 400,000 viewers.
The BBC will hang on to them but tastes change and BBC sport coverage will increasingly look dated and irelevant to most of the country.
That's a bad thing if you want the BBC to survive.
yes sports is why I would fail at the BBC, I would get it totally wrong, and loose viewers because of it.
As ariusuk said Power Snooker had a decent start, that might build up well on ITV 4 in the next few years.
Well you say that but I noticed in Sky's listings they are dedicating about 17 hours of Live Coverage to something called "World Snooker - Shoot Out" on Sky Sports 2 on the weekend of 28th/29th/30th January.
snooker just doesn't work that well in such a short format, i'd rather watch pool to be honest
ok so there are the snooker clubs, but they play pool as well.
See link (4th article down which lists 2011/12 schedule and need to open comments):
http://www.snookerscene.blogspot.com/
The BBC budget reduction will play some part across the schedule.
The ITV4 comment is a little unjustified imo.
Exactly.
Another thing is in the next 18-24 months every region in the UK will be post DSO. That will mean there'll be millions more households capable of viewing ITV4. There's still a lot of households in several regions that are still on just terrestrial analogue or cannot receive the current low power Freeview service. From what I can tell if they decide to view online they are not in the BARB figures either.
The current Freeview channel figures will rise substantially imo in the next 2 years - this obviously includes ITV4.