North Ferriby United v Wrexham (FA Trophy Final) - Steffan Garrero (host) Carl Roberts and Mickey Thomas on commentary with ex-manager Any Morrell occasionally used. Catrin Heledd is pitchside reporter
Amy Salem and Llinos Lle hosted a 'Live from Olympic Way' show before Radio Wales Sport started at 1pm.
(UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships - Nick Hope)
BBC Radio Cymru
North Ferriby United v Wrexham (FA Trophy Final) - Eleri Siôn (host) Gareth Blainey and Waynne Phillips with Marc Lloyd Williams (who dumbfounded Eleri by saying North Ferriby would win) occasionally used. Catrin Heledd (first timer at Wembley she said) is pitchside reporter)
'Ar Y Marc', like Radio Wales, were also doing a pre-game show from Wembley stadium.
BBC 5 Live
North Ferriby United v Wrexham (FA Trophy Final) - Phil Parry
Fleetwood Town v Preston North End - Emily Croydon
There's always a chance the BBC will win the Sunday lunchtime package in the next radio rights auction, though.
So yes, under the current contract it's highly unlikely Liverpool v Man Utd (and vice versa) will be on Five Live, but that could change from 2015/16 onwards.
Sorry, went on holiday after I did the original post. There is a chance, but I think it's a very small one. I think it's pretty much certain Five Live won't be aiming to get any more packages than the ones they've got now, what with them needing to keep an eye on costs, so if they were to get Sunday lunchtimes they'd presumably have to give up one of the others, and I think Saturday lunchtime is probably better in the long run (lots of fans listening on the way to matches, plus it gives you a decent spread over the weekend).
A quick look at the head-to-heads on soccerbase shows both fixtures in 11/12 were on Saturday, a quick look at that seasons edition of this thread shows they were at lunchtime and on 5 Live. (Green and Ingham on both) I guess Champions League matches the following Tuesday and therefore Sky having to put it on Saturday are 5 Lives best chance of having it going forward.
Well, there you go, I couldn't remember it being on a Saturday for years.
Firstly, it suggest cricket will form part of its coverage. talkSPORT have had non-exclusive rights to T20 domestic cricket in the past. Would they go back down this route and broadcast more commentaries from the competition? They wouldn't be able to bid for home England test and one day matches as that's tied up with the BBC but would they consider going for away test matches again? They could broadcast it without interrupting their main schedule on talkSPORT as they had to in the past. Elsewhere, what is there to go for? Is there an appetite for other T20 competitions on UK radio? I know BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra has broadcast stuff from the Big Bash in the past.
Very unlikely that they would have domestic cricket on as the BBC does a good job with that and has a very good relationship with the ECB and are better placed to cover it with the BBC Local radio stations across the country. Another idea (very unlikely) is maybe some minor county cricket. I think that they could bid for the England cricket rights maybe. I think there is a place for the IPL on UK Radio.
Football isn't specifically mentioned but the new station would allow talkSPORT to offer more commentaries. Could they do more games from La Liga or Bundesliga? They have done the former on the main station while they have rights to Bundesliga via talkSPORT Live, their international service. Domestically, they could do more in the Football League and FA Cup. Would they consider doing commentaries from key "lower league" games such as the Paint Trophy, Conference Final, FA Trophy/Vase? I don't imagine rights would be that expensive - not would the logistics in doing so.
I think key Conference Premier, JPT and FA Trophy/Vase's games Is a look idea and maybe on weekends like this one they could have reporters at games from the 5th and 6th tier leagues.
Maybe they might bid for rights on the Saturday 3pm games. Another thing they could do is when they have weekday night commentaries on the main station we might see the type of show TS have on a Saturday afternoon.
Other potential sports talkSPORT 2 could cover live - motor racing, golf, speedway and NFL (and other American sports).
Speedway and other motor sports aren't really covered well on UK Radio so I think this would be a good thing for them to do and speedway comes across well on the radio.
Away from live sport, you'd could imagine hearing re-runs of several shows on the station - highlights of The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, Colin Murray, Hawksbee & Jacobs, The Two Mikes, The Warm Up, My Sporting Life.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were regular dedicated shows to specific sports such as boxing and even wrestling!
The two Mikes might be a good idea for a regular show maybe the late show or mid morning/breakfast? I thing I would like to hear is maybe some old talkSPORT/Talk Radio shows (both sport and non sport) from over the last 20 years.
I think they will join with talkSPORT overnight and weekend evenings (if no live sport).
Call Collymore with Jason Cundy, followed by The Press Pass presented by Steve Bunce from The Independent alongside Michael Calvin from The Independent on Sunday and Tom Hopkinson from the Sunday People and Full Contact with Brian Moore and Nick Evans
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifying Group D
Scotland v Gibraltar - Nigel Pearson
Republic of Ireland v Poland - David Brady
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifying Group F
Northern Ireland v Finland - Graham Beecroft
International Friendly
Brazil v Chile (Emirates Stadium) - Mike Bovill
Cricket World Cup Final
New Zealand v Australia - Jon Norman
Formula 1: Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang International Circuit - Pete Abbott
Some interesting messages about what might be on talkSPORT 2 when it launches. I'll go into my thoughts on the new stations when I next have time to do so.
Adrian Eames presented Sunday Sport from the Aviva Stadium alongside Kenny Cunningham and Pat Fenlon
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifying Group D
Republic of Ireland v Poland - John Kenny and Brian Kerr (7.45pm commentary)
I'm not sure if RTE Radio 1 had a pitchside reporter at the Aviva Stadium last night as they've not uploaded the evening edition of Sunday Sport to the RTE Radio Player.
Michael McMullan reported on the Republic of Ireland v Poland for Today FM during Philip Egan's sports bulletins, while I don't think Newstalk 106-108FM carried upates on the game during their evening programmes.
Wales U21 v Bulgaria U21 (2017 UEFA U21 qualifiers Group 5) - Ross Harries (hosting) and Rob Phillips (updates)
Wrexham v Barnet - David Stowell and Mickey Thomas (All frequencies / Online)
From Media Guardian: BBC Radio 5 Live too focused on football, claims TalkSport owner
Is there any merit to what they're saying?
In a word no. I find this very strange especially when you consider that the claim is made from Talksport's owner whose own station is totally dominated by football. Over the last few weeks have shown how diverse 5Live and Sports Extra are with comprehensive coverage of the cricket world cup, the 6 nations, super league, the Cheltenham festival etc.
No there isn't. I suppose it doesn't help that all these things can't help but come across like sour grapes, but I don't think they've got a case at all. The weekend before last they didn't cover Liverpool vs Man U and the other week when I was driving on a Thursday night they only offered the briefest of scoreflashes from the Europa League games alongside extensive chat on other sport. And of course during the day it's a news station first and foremost.
It's the same as any other broadcaster, football will always dominate the thinking because it's absolutely the number one sport by miles. If you were to monitor the amount of airtime given to football compared to other sport on any other network - Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC TV and indeed TalkSport - I'm pretty sure the results would be the same as Five Live. Demanding it to do less on some point of principle is no service to the licence payer.
I don't much care for that comment about them "pretending" to do commentary on matches they don't have the rights to either. Liverpool vs Man U is a major event and it would be ridiculous for BBC Radio not to give it as full coverage as possible. It's the same as Sky Sports News covering matches that are on BT Sport, they give as many reports as they can.
Five Live have already said that they'd be happy to share rights with other broadcasters, but that's not what the rights holders tend to offer.
Regarding UTV Radio's complaint about Radio 5 Live's emphasis on football compared to other sports, there's nothing to see here really - we've seen this sort of complaint from them and their predecessors as talkSPORT's ownership group in the past, it's in there commercial interest to stress this arguement prior to a BBC Trust review and I think this is little more than that and that little if anything will come of it.
I'd disagree with Steve in that I do think they have - or at least had - something of a point about 5 Live providing "continuous coverage" of certain matches talkSPORT have exclusive national radio rights too (specifically "top six" Premier League clashes at 1.30pm on Sundays), but in fairness on my very occasional listens to 5 Live it seems as if they have toned the extent of which they do this down markedly since talkSPORT's first season of holding the Sunday pre-3pm contract (when 5 Live would often provide as close to commentary as they could get away with, which was a bit off then but I don't believe this to be the case now). And anyway, talkSPORT gave up the moral highground here when they covered the Manchester City v QPR title decider in exactly the same way on the final day of that season - fighting fire with fire is one thing, but you can't have one rule for one and one for another.
If they wanted to offer a specific constructive criticism about 5 Live's approach to football, maybe it would be healthy both to them and to sports radio in general if they highlighted how 5 Live will often put a Premier League football discussion programme on Monday and Friday nights, therefore offering the same sort of thing talkSPORT are offering, in place of a possible live Football League commentary. This is something I've moaned about for years and years now - as a public service broadcaster, I think it would be better if Radio 5 Live rested the Monday Night Club or their Friday preview a bit more often than they currently do in order to offer Championship commentaries, particularly during the final third of the season when promotion and relegation issues are being sorted out. This happening would be good for talkSPORT as they'd have a monopoly on those preview/review shows, good for the listener as they'd get a choice of commentary or discussion show and I can't imagine it'd be dreadful for 5 Live's evening audience figures - it's got to be a better suggestion than just asking them to cut down on football aimlessly.
But again in fairness to 5 Live, their Good Friday and Easter Monday schedules are a lot stronger from this point of view this year than they were last year - they have three and two back-to-back Championship commentaries on the respective days, plus the first BBC Local Radio simulcast of a Football League commentary in what seems like ages (maybe since Christmas? Certainly since the start of the Cricket World Cup) on Easter Monday. So that's a step in the right direction, hopefully they'll keep it up and won't revert to prioritising Premier League chat over commentaries on late season Monday/Friday night Championship fixtures as they have in the past.
Stuart Linnell presenting The Sky Blues Live from the Ricoh Arena
League One
Coventry City v Leyton Orient - Clive Eakin and Claus Jorgensen (7.45pm commentary, also on Sky Blues Player)
BBC London 94.9
Andy Rowley presenting BBC London Sport from the Ricoh Arena
League One
Coventry City v Leyton Orient - Andy Rowley and Steve Froggatt (7.45pm commentary on 94.9FM, also on Orient Player), with Dave Victor at pitchside
Clive Eakin was heard on BBC London during their build-up, while Steve Froggatt made an appearance on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire prior to kick-off. Andy Rowley is an almost identical sound-a-like of Nat Coombs (Channel 4 NFL host, former BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra MLB and occasional talkSPORT presenter)!
There was an interesting exchange of posts over the weekend between 4-4-2 and Connor the Judg regarding potential content for the new talkSPORT 2 channel, which will be launched on the new Digital 2 DAB multiplex presumably at some point next year following the UTV Radio-backed consortium's successful bid for the license.
4-4-2 welcomed further thoughts and now I have some time I thought I'd detail what I expect to and would like to hear on the new station.
*Obviously the first thing that springs to mind is alternative option football commentaries to what the main talkSPORT station is providing. Not just clashing final group games during the major international football tournaments, which are a given, but also at times such as the upcoming FA Cup semi-final weekend, where talkSPORT have rights to two Premier League games in their usual timeslots which either slightly or completely overlap with the semi-finals. Earlier on in the FA Cup, talkSPORT 2 could broadcast 3pm commentaries from rounds 1/3 to 5 while sticking with their usual Around the Grounds show on the main station. They could also broadcast a secondary Premier League commentary during busy Wednesday night matchrounds and if they were to expand their Football League rights, perhaps additional League Cup games as well as Play-Off Semi-Finals and the lower league finals.
*In regards to overseas football, I think the current Bundesliga commentary service the talkSPORT Live international wing of their operation produces for the Bundesliga's website and TuneIn channel would be a sensible thing to add to the new station. I imagine the Bundesliga are at least partially funding the venture and they seem to be happy in opening up their international rights to as many sources as possible, so I doubt they'd be much negotiation needed to put some of these games onto talkSPORT 2. As it stands, they currently offer three commentaries most matchrounds - one on Friday night, one on Saturday at either 2.30pm or 5.30pm and one on Sunday, usually at 4.30pm. The Friday night match should sit nicely on talkSPORT 2, while finding a place for the two weekend matches could depend on what else the station is broadcasting - perhaps if 5.30pm became the regular Saturday timeslot they could follow domestic football/rugby union coverage with the Bundesliga.
*As for live coverage of other European leagues, as mentioned talkSPORT have provided commentaries on selected La Liga games over the past few seasons and I think this is the only other major European league that would command a radio audience right now. However, I don't think scheduling such games on talkSPORT 2 regularly would be that straight-forward - I don't think La Liga's governing body is as outward-looking as their German counterparts and recently there was a domestic lockout when it came to Spanish radio rights. Also, if talkSPORT want to broadcast NFL coverage on Sunday nights, they'd only really be able to cover La Liga in the second half of the season. I think what may be viable is occasional coverage of selected big matches - such as El Clasico, Madrid derbies and the final day of the season - rather than weekly match-ups that you get with the Bundesliga.
*I wonder if talkSPORT 2 could provide a home for some of the best bits of UTV Radio's local sports coverage? While I don't think they'd be allowed to pick up local radio commentaries on the Premier League clubs covered by their network or if they'd be any great interest in slanted local commentaries on their Football League clubs, perhaps they'd be a place for their rugby league coverage - which in theory should be more balanced given the close proximity of the clubs in the North-West - and especially their highly-rated pan-network Gerr'um Onside magazine show. Going back to football, were one of the clubs who has local coverage on a UTV Radio station to make the Europa League - as Bolton, Wigan, Stoke and Swansea have done in the recent past - perhaps any local radio commentaries on such games could be simulcast on talkSPORT 2? The Europa League doesn't receive great national radio coverage so they'd be a gap in the market for this kind of thing. Of course, all this assumes UTV Radio don't sell off their local stations (as had been reported they were interested in doing) now they've won the Digital 2 license.
*Rugby union and specifically the Aviva Premiership should be a good fit for talkSPORT 2. They have a commentary rights deal with Premiership Rugby that they don't make a great deal of use of currently, but could do when their secondary channel launches. Having regular commentaries on one of the Saturday afternoon games, perhaps the 3.15pm BT Sport TV games, could prove a strong alternative to the football coverage the main station and other national stations provide. I'm not sure how much of an audience they'd be for such a service; as while Radio 5 Live Sports Extra are not likely to regularly cover the Premiership in terms of weekly commentaries, BBC Local Radio does and unlike Football League clubs their commentaries are available online and via apps, giving them a wide reach beyond their immediate target audience, so they'd be fighting strong, established competition. However, if like with the Bundesliga they could come to an agreement with the governing body to partly support coverage it may be more viable. I believe Nick Heath - a reporter heard on talkSPORT covering games for the Talking Rugby agency - records commentaries for the Aviva Premiership website's edits of games, so perhaps if an audio stream of talkSPORT 2's live coverage was available on the league's website and for later use on highlights edits, it could work well.
*There's talk of talkSPORT 2 broadcasting programmes produced by independent production companies - which is something the main station has never, ever done in the past to the best of my knowledge. If this was the case, then I would hope it would herald them making a play towards rights to the NFL and perhaps other North American sports leagues such as Major League Baseball - both of which have had long runs on UK radio in recent years, with independent production company USP Content producing coverage both on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and Absolute Radio 90s. The former station built up an audience for both sports and I believe only dropped regular coverage of them because they were difficult to justify doing given the financial limitations applied to the BBC in recent years. I doubt the actual rights cost much if anything to acquire, and if talkSPORT 2 could find a sponsor (as they have for things like Europa League football) US sports coverage could be sustainable. The NFL would fill Sunday nights 6pm-midnight between September and December with weekend evening/overnight coverage of the postseason during January, it'd be a good fit IMO but it would probably pay to get the production company with the experience of working on previous coverage involved.
*A link-up with William Hill Racing Radio could help to easily fill weekday daytimes, which might otherwise be difficult to fill with live content that won't duplicate the flagship shows on the main station. They could simulcast their live horse racing commentaries and coverage from midday to 6pm, bookended by podcasts or repeats of other talkSPORT programmes post-overnights/breakfast and prior to evening sports coverage.
*I think repeating certain talkSPORT programmes, particularly their strong, off-peak weekend specialists sports shows, would be well worth doing. Their Saturday morning Football League show Up The League is excellent, yet with a 6am start time it's on far too early for much of its potential audience. Putting it on talkSPORT 2 at either 11am or midday on Saturday prior to Matchday Live at 1pm would be ideal. Equally rugby union show Full Contact and the award-winning My Sporting Life are prime for repeating - My Sporting Life would work well in at 10pm-midnight slot on weeknights prior to an overnight simulcast.
*Like others I think talkSPORT 2 and talkRADIO as well will simulcast talkSPORT's existing overnight show Extra Time, with the more general discussions of The Two Mikes being suitable for the latter station. Perhaps the former might also begin their simulcast at midnight with the final hour of The Sports Bar, particularly if their evening plan consists of a live sports show between 7-10pm and then a two hour repeat of something like My Sporting Life or Full Contact between 10pm-midnight.
*I agree with 4-4-2's suggestion that we'll get programmes about boxing and professional wrestling on talkSPORT 2. For a few years now talkSPORT have occasionally broadcast the Fight Club show on Saturday nights with no live football commentary, the presenter of which Gareth A. Davies also has a regular slot on Extra Time, has recently been given one on Kick Off and has done a boxing podcast for talkSPORT.com in the past. I think it's almost certain that a boxing programme of some form will find its way onto talkSPORT 2. With pro wrestling, talkSPORT had a wrestling strand for a few years going way back now, but more recently talkSPORT.com has launched a podcast called The Gorilla Position which has been trailed on the main station. I'm sure they could bulk that out with commercial breaks and what not and turn it into an hour/two hour talkSPORT 2 show.
*Recently we've heard some shows that are a bit different to the norm on talkSPORT, like Matt Forde's Sports Party and Talk To Me with Terry Tibbs. I could see Forde and Kayvan Novak (the voice behind the Tibbs character) more at home on talkRADIO as part of their promised comedy strand rather than on talkSPORT 2, but the Sports Party recordings could find a place on 2 as well.
*I'd like to see golf back on talkSPORT in some shape or form, I always enjoyed their long-running annual coverage of The Open Championship prior to Moz Dee's decision to can it with a year remaining on their contract when he became programme controller in 2008. I'd be interested to see talkSPORT 2 attempt to pick up rights to the event once again, perhaps through coming to an agreement with the European Tour to simulcast their bespoke audio commentary service on The Open and Ryder Cups held in Europe that is available online and is carried by Canada's TSN Radio network. Notable broadcasters familiar to UK radio listeners like Richard Kaufman and Ron Jones are involved in their coverage and it's of a high standard, add Bob Bubka and Rupert Bell and you're looking at a similar team to the talkSPORT golf team of old.
*The one area I'm not sure about is cricket. UTV Radio has promised coverage of it on talkSPORT 2, but short of summer magazine shows and fleeting coverage of limited-overs internationals, they have no form in this area whatsoever. For me it was a great shame that we never heard what a TWG-owned talkSPORT would have done with the Twenty20 Cup rights Kelvin MacKenzie purchased almost immediately prior to selling up - it would have been interesting to have heard expansive coverage, but in the end we got finals day for a few years and now we are lucky if we hear Jack Bannister/Jon Norman reporting on that. County cricket is such an under-covered area on talkSPORT and now BBC Local Radio - with support from the counties themselves, who jointly stream their audio commentaries - seem to have this area sewn up very strongly as Connor has said. If anything the BBC's DQF directive has actually boosted county cricket coverage, what with Radio 5 Live Sports Extra now simulcasting local radio coverage to help justify it. With the BBC also holding the ECB contract for the national team, it's very difficult to see how talkSPORT 2 could break in in terms of live coverage; unless of course they looked to go for England's winter tours or even wanted to simulcast international Test/limited-overs matches involving other nations from ABC Radio or Fairfax Radio in Australia, Radio Sport in New Zealand, Radio 2000 in South Africa and/or the Line and Length Network in the West Indies.
Apologies for such a long post, but I'm excited to see what talkSPORT 2 offers when it launches and have a lot of thoughts what it could and should do, so seeing as the invitation to comment was put out I hope you don't mind indulging me!
Phil Wye has tweeted all the details for 5 Live / SE matches over the next few days. Villa v QPR stands out with a commentary team of Simon Brotherton and Stuart Pearce. Simon hasn't done a radio commentary since the 12/13 season and a debut for Pearce who will join the long list of summarisers to have done matches for 5 Live and talkSPORT.
UTV/talkSPORT have released the document which contains their submission to the BBC Trust over their thoughts for the BBC's speech services (with focus on 5 Live/5Live Sports Extra).
Further to what was contained in the Media Guardian report, it is claimed by UTV that 5 live competes head on with rival providers when it could be using them as a spur for
increased distinctiveness" which can be read fro page 19 onwards.
The bottom line, as you'd expect from UTV/talkSPORT, is that they want to be seen as the main football station and want to see 5 Live draw back on their coverage to do less to directly compete with them, especially when they have rights to games (such as their deal with Liverpool in the Champions League this season).
Having said that, there's little or even no mention of Thursday nights on 5 Live where they do plenty of minority sport such as cycling (BeSpoke with OJ Borg) and extreme sports and don't compete with talkSPORT's Europa League coverage or football discussion show.
It's an interesting read - if you REALLY like this sort of thing - and there's some merit to what they say. How much of it is taken on board is another thing.
Championship
Birmingham City v Rotherham United - Richard Wilford (Live DAB in Birmingham & Freeview Commentary)
Nottingham Forrest v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Mike Taylor & Paul Franks (Live FM & DAB in Black Country Commentary)
League One
Walsall v Notts County - Tom Marlow (FM Updates)
Free Radio 80s
Tom Ross's Goalzone Live from St Andrews
Championship
Birmingham City v Rotherham United - Tom Ross & Kevan Broadhurst (Updates)
Nottingham Forrest v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Chris Coles & Andy Thompson (Live Commentary)
Phil Wye has tweeted all the details for 5 Live / SE matches over the next few days. Villa v QPR stands out with a commentary team of Simon Brotherton and Stuart Pearce. Simon hasn't done a radio commentary since the 12/13 season and a debut for Pearce who will join the long list of summarisers to have done matches for 5 Live and talkSPORT.
Thanks for posting that. Stuart Pearce was actually on talkSPORT's The Sports Bar last night (he was the subject of one of that show's usual lengthy Thursday night studio interviews) and he mentioned that he'd be doing some co-commentary on Tuesday, so I was wondering who he'd be working for if not talkSPORT.
I'm surprised it's been that long since Simon Brotherton last did a radio commentary. Radio 5 Live have assembled a really strong commentary pairing for Aston Villa v QPR, I'm a big fan of Pearce's co-commentary and punditry work so I'll try and give it a listen.
UTV/talkSPORT have released the document which contains their submission to the BBC Trust over their thoughts for the BBC's speech services (with focus on 5 Live/5Live Sports Extra).
It's an interesting read - if you REALLY like this sort of thing - and there's some merit to what they say. How much of it is taken on board is another thing.
Thanks for posting that 4-4-2, it's interesting that UTV Radio have made the document available to the public, especially so soon after lodging the submission.
I've only had a quick scan through it, but while I certainly don't agree with everything including many of the broad conclusion, as you say there is some merit to some of the things they say. I'm glad they've highlighted how 5 Live broadcast the Monday Night Club and their Friday previews when they could be doing commentary on the Football League or other sports - this is something I and others have long thought should change - and it's also good that they've highlighted how Radio 5 Live will sometimes cover the same Champions League games to talkSPORT.
As I've long argued on here, with the BBC being the public service broadcaster, in these sort of circumstances the onus should be on them to provide an alternative match. While I don't believe 5 Live should be forced into picking a dead rubber over a crucial group qualifying decider that talkSPORT are covering, if for example it's known for months in advance that talkSPORT will be providing commentary on all of Liverpool's Champions League matches and they are playing their second group game at Benfica, while Arsenal are hosting Porto at the same time, then the onus should definitely be on 5 Live to opt for Arsenal v Porto. I do not think this is an unreasonable suggestion and an attempt to implement it would clearly result in better choice for radio listeners.
Ian Danter presenting Matchday Live from the City Ground with Alvin Martin at Craven Cottage, followed by Call Collymore with Danny Kelly and Kick Off: The Player's Lounge with Matt Holland and Shaun Derry
Championship
Birmingham City v Rotherham United - Dave Rowe
Brighton & Hove Albion v Norwich City - Elliot Cook
Fulham v Brentford - Ian Abrahams and Alvin Martin
Middlesbrough v Wigan Athletic - Graham Courtney
Millwall v Charlton Athletic - Tony Incenzo
Nottingham Forest v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Geoff Peters and Ian Danter
Ipswich Town v AFC Bournemouth - Kev Lawrence
Derby County v Watford - Nigel Pearson
League One
Preston North End v Rochdale - Simon Humphreys
Scunthorpe United v Peterborough United - Alan Biggs
Great to hear talkSPORT broadcasting a full Matchday Live on Good Friday, it's the first time they've broadcast a Football League Around the Grounds show on this bank holiday for a number of years. You can't beat having Dants and Alvin hosting such a show either. I see there's another edition of Matchday Live listed for Easter Monday too.
As I've long argued on here, with the BBC being the public service broadcaster, in these sort of circumstances the onus should be on them to provide an alternative match. While I don't believe 5 Live should be forced into picking a dead rubber over a crucial group qualifying decider that talkSPORT are covering, if for example it's known for months in advance that talkSPORT will be providing commentary on all of Liverpool's Champions League matches and they are playing their second group game at Benfica, while Arsenal are hosting Porto at the same time, then the onus should definitely be on 5 Live to opt for Arsenal v Porto. I do not think this is an unreasonable suggestion and an attempt to implement it would clearly result in better choice for radio listeners.
I don't agree; why should the BBC's PSB status immediately force them to take "inferior" games?
The BBC have an obligation to obtain the best value for licence fee payers. If they spend £x amount on radio rights to the Champions' League, then only provide commentary on poorer games, they would be failing in their obligation.
Radio stations can't buy rights to the Champions League as such - there's no way to buy them from UEFA or any central body as that's not how it works. They're sold by the home club for each indvidual game.
I take your point, though. Are talkSPORT proposing that the BBC shouldn't have done Real Madrid v Liverpool when it was clearly the biggest game of the night?
If TS are so concerned, why don't they buy rights to Football League, SPL or minority sports?
The BBC can't just cover crap hardly anyone cares about but it should offer a balance
They could do more FL games but then statistically they're doing even more live football and they'll get beaten up over that.
There Friday and Monday shows also covers other sports, the last hour on Friday is generally on other sports. And Monday has had a cricket show in etc. if they did more commentary, fans of those sports could lose out.
The podcasts of those two shows rate highly so they must have some fans around.n
Comments
North Ferriby United v Wrexham (FA Trophy Final) - Steffan Garrero (host) Carl Roberts and Mickey Thomas on commentary with ex-manager Any Morrell occasionally used. Catrin Heledd is pitchside reporter
Amy Salem and Llinos Lle hosted a 'Live from Olympic Way' show before Radio Wales Sport started at 1pm.
(UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships - Nick Hope)
BBC Radio Cymru
North Ferriby United v Wrexham (FA Trophy Final) - Eleri Siôn (host) Gareth Blainey and Waynne Phillips with Marc Lloyd Williams (who dumbfounded Eleri by saying North Ferriby would win) occasionally used. Catrin Heledd (first timer at Wembley she said) is pitchside reporter)
'Ar Y Marc', like Radio Wales, were also doing a pre-game show from Wembley stadium.
BBC 5 Live
North Ferriby United v Wrexham (FA Trophy Final) - Phil Parry
Fleetwood Town v Preston North End - Emily Croydon
Presented by Richard Gordon from Hampden Park on 810MW, with Robert Snodgrass.
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group D
Scotland v Gibraltar (5pm) - Liam McLeod, Billy Dodds and Willie Miller (commentary) with Chick Young pitchside
Sorry, went on holiday after I did the original post. There is a chance, but I think it's a very small one. I think it's pretty much certain Five Live won't be aiming to get any more packages than the ones they've got now, what with them needing to keep an eye on costs, so if they were to get Sunday lunchtimes they'd presumably have to give up one of the others, and I think Saturday lunchtime is probably better in the long run (lots of fans listening on the way to matches, plus it gives you a decent spread over the weekend).
Well, there you go, I couldn't remember it being on a Saturday for years.
I think key Conference Premier, JPT and FA Trophy/Vase's games Is a look idea and maybe on weekends like this one they could have reporters at games from the 5th and 6th tier leagues.
Maybe they might bid for rights on the Saturday 3pm games. Another thing they could do is when they have weekday night commentaries on the main station we might see the type of show TS have on a Saturday afternoon.
Speedway and other motor sports aren't really covered well on UK Radio so I think this would be a good thing for them to do and speedway comes across well on the radio.
The two Mikes might be a good idea for a regular show maybe the late show or mid morning/breakfast? I thing I would like to hear is maybe some old talkSPORT/Talk Radio shows (both sport and non sport) from over the last 20 years.
I think they will join with talkSPORT overnight and weekend evenings (if no live sport).
Call Collymore with Jason Cundy, followed by The Press Pass presented by Steve Bunce from The Independent alongside Michael Calvin from The Independent on Sunday and Tom Hopkinson from the Sunday People and Full Contact with Brian Moore and Nick Evans
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifying Group D
Scotland v Gibraltar - Nigel Pearson
Republic of Ireland v Poland - David Brady
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifying Group F
Northern Ireland v Finland - Graham Beecroft
International Friendly
Brazil v Chile (Emirates Stadium) - Mike Bovill
Cricket World Cup Final
New Zealand v Australia - Jon Norman
Formula 1: Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang International Circuit - Pete Abbott
Some interesting messages about what might be on talkSPORT 2 when it launches. I'll go into my thoughts on the new stations when I next have time to do so.
Adrian Eames presented Sunday Sport from the Aviva Stadium alongside Kenny Cunningham and Pat Fenlon
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifying Group D
Republic of Ireland v Poland - John Kenny and Brian Kerr (7.45pm commentary)
I'm not sure if RTE Radio 1 had a pitchside reporter at the Aviva Stadium last night as they've not uploaded the evening edition of Sunday Sport to the RTE Radio Player.
Michael McMullan reported on the Republic of Ireland v Poland for Today FM during Philip Egan's sports bulletins, while I don't think Newstalk 106-108FM carried upates on the game during their evening programmes.
Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off: Monday Night Feist Night alongside Stan Collymore
Under-21 International Friendly
England Under-21s v Germany Under-21s - Graham Courtney
Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off: International Special
International Friendly
Italy v England - Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore (7.45pm commentary)
Wales U21 v Bulgaria U21 (2017 UEFA U21 qualifiers Group 5) - Ross Harries (hosting) and Rob Phillips (updates)
Wrexham v Barnet - David Stowell and Mickey Thomas (All frequencies / Online)
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/01/bbc-radio-5-live-football-talksport-owner-utv?CMP=share_btn_tw
Is there any merit to what they're saying?
In a word no. I find this very strange especially when you consider that the claim is made from Talksport's owner whose own station is totally dominated by football. Over the last few weeks have shown how diverse 5Live and Sports Extra are with comprehensive coverage of the cricket world cup, the 6 nations, super league, the Cheltenham festival etc.
BBC WM
BBC WM Sport with Rob Gurney
Women's Super League 1
Liverpool v Birmingham City - Rob Gurney & Nikki Lloyd (Live DAB & Online Commentary at 7:30pm)
No there isn't. I suppose it doesn't help that all these things can't help but come across like sour grapes, but I don't think they've got a case at all. The weekend before last they didn't cover Liverpool vs Man U and the other week when I was driving on a Thursday night they only offered the briefest of scoreflashes from the Europa League games alongside extensive chat on other sport. And of course during the day it's a news station first and foremost.
It's the same as any other broadcaster, football will always dominate the thinking because it's absolutely the number one sport by miles. If you were to monitor the amount of airtime given to football compared to other sport on any other network - Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC TV and indeed TalkSport - I'm pretty sure the results would be the same as Five Live. Demanding it to do less on some point of principle is no service to the licence payer.
I don't much care for that comment about them "pretending" to do commentary on matches they don't have the rights to either. Liverpool vs Man U is a major event and it would be ridiculous for BBC Radio not to give it as full coverage as possible. It's the same as Sky Sports News covering matches that are on BT Sport, they give as many reports as they can.
Five Live have already said that they'd be happy to share rights with other broadcasters, but that's not what the rights holders tend to offer.
I'd disagree with Steve in that I do think they have - or at least had - something of a point about 5 Live providing "continuous coverage" of certain matches talkSPORT have exclusive national radio rights too (specifically "top six" Premier League clashes at 1.30pm on Sundays), but in fairness on my very occasional listens to 5 Live it seems as if they have toned the extent of which they do this down markedly since talkSPORT's first season of holding the Sunday pre-3pm contract (when 5 Live would often provide as close to commentary as they could get away with, which was a bit off then but I don't believe this to be the case now). And anyway, talkSPORT gave up the moral highground here when they covered the Manchester City v QPR title decider in exactly the same way on the final day of that season - fighting fire with fire is one thing, but you can't have one rule for one and one for another.
If they wanted to offer a specific constructive criticism about 5 Live's approach to football, maybe it would be healthy both to them and to sports radio in general if they highlighted how 5 Live will often put a Premier League football discussion programme on Monday and Friday nights, therefore offering the same sort of thing talkSPORT are offering, in place of a possible live Football League commentary. This is something I've moaned about for years and years now - as a public service broadcaster, I think it would be better if Radio 5 Live rested the Monday Night Club or their Friday preview a bit more often than they currently do in order to offer Championship commentaries, particularly during the final third of the season when promotion and relegation issues are being sorted out. This happening would be good for talkSPORT as they'd have a monopoly on those preview/review shows, good for the listener as they'd get a choice of commentary or discussion show and I can't imagine it'd be dreadful for 5 Live's evening audience figures - it's got to be a better suggestion than just asking them to cut down on football aimlessly.
But again in fairness to 5 Live, their Good Friday and Easter Monday schedules are a lot stronger from this point of view this year than they were last year - they have three and two back-to-back Championship commentaries on the respective days, plus the first BBC Local Radio simulcast of a Football League commentary in what seems like ages (maybe since Christmas? Certainly since the start of the Cricket World Cup) on Easter Monday. So that's a step in the right direction, hopefully they'll keep it up and won't revert to prioritising Premier League chat over commentaries on late season Monday/Friday night Championship fixtures as they have in the past.
BBC 5LSX - Caroline Barker (hosting) Chris Latchem and Sophie Brennan with Kate McKenna on interviewing duty - even during the game.
Stuart Linnell presenting The Sky Blues Live from the Ricoh Arena
League One
Coventry City v Leyton Orient - Clive Eakin and Claus Jorgensen (7.45pm commentary, also on Sky Blues Player)
BBC London 94.9
Andy Rowley presenting BBC London Sport from the Ricoh Arena
League One
Coventry City v Leyton Orient - Andy Rowley and Steve Froggatt (7.45pm commentary on 94.9FM, also on Orient Player), with Dave Victor at pitchside
Clive Eakin was heard on BBC London during their build-up, while Steve Froggatt made an appearance on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire prior to kick-off. Andy Rowley is an almost identical sound-a-like of Nat Coombs (Channel 4 NFL host, former BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra MLB and occasional talkSPORT presenter)!
4-4-2 welcomed further thoughts and now I have some time I thought I'd detail what I expect to and would like to hear on the new station.
*Obviously the first thing that springs to mind is alternative option football commentaries to what the main talkSPORT station is providing. Not just clashing final group games during the major international football tournaments, which are a given, but also at times such as the upcoming FA Cup semi-final weekend, where talkSPORT have rights to two Premier League games in their usual timeslots which either slightly or completely overlap with the semi-finals. Earlier on in the FA Cup, talkSPORT 2 could broadcast 3pm commentaries from rounds 1/3 to 5 while sticking with their usual Around the Grounds show on the main station. They could also broadcast a secondary Premier League commentary during busy Wednesday night matchrounds and if they were to expand their Football League rights, perhaps additional League Cup games as well as Play-Off Semi-Finals and the lower league finals.
*In regards to overseas football, I think the current Bundesliga commentary service the talkSPORT Live international wing of their operation produces for the Bundesliga's website and TuneIn channel would be a sensible thing to add to the new station. I imagine the Bundesliga are at least partially funding the venture and they seem to be happy in opening up their international rights to as many sources as possible, so I doubt they'd be much negotiation needed to put some of these games onto talkSPORT 2. As it stands, they currently offer three commentaries most matchrounds - one on Friday night, one on Saturday at either 2.30pm or 5.30pm and one on Sunday, usually at 4.30pm. The Friday night match should sit nicely on talkSPORT 2, while finding a place for the two weekend matches could depend on what else the station is broadcasting - perhaps if 5.30pm became the regular Saturday timeslot they could follow domestic football/rugby union coverage with the Bundesliga.
*As for live coverage of other European leagues, as mentioned talkSPORT have provided commentaries on selected La Liga games over the past few seasons and I think this is the only other major European league that would command a radio audience right now. However, I don't think scheduling such games on talkSPORT 2 regularly would be that straight-forward - I don't think La Liga's governing body is as outward-looking as their German counterparts and recently there was a domestic lockout when it came to Spanish radio rights. Also, if talkSPORT want to broadcast NFL coverage on Sunday nights, they'd only really be able to cover La Liga in the second half of the season. I think what may be viable is occasional coverage of selected big matches - such as El Clasico, Madrid derbies and the final day of the season - rather than weekly match-ups that you get with the Bundesliga.
*I wonder if talkSPORT 2 could provide a home for some of the best bits of UTV Radio's local sports coverage? While I don't think they'd be allowed to pick up local radio commentaries on the Premier League clubs covered by their network or if they'd be any great interest in slanted local commentaries on their Football League clubs, perhaps they'd be a place for their rugby league coverage - which in theory should be more balanced given the close proximity of the clubs in the North-West - and especially their highly-rated pan-network Gerr'um Onside magazine show. Going back to football, were one of the clubs who has local coverage on a UTV Radio station to make the Europa League - as Bolton, Wigan, Stoke and Swansea have done in the recent past - perhaps any local radio commentaries on such games could be simulcast on talkSPORT 2? The Europa League doesn't receive great national radio coverage so they'd be a gap in the market for this kind of thing. Of course, all this assumes UTV Radio don't sell off their local stations (as had been reported they were interested in doing) now they've won the Digital 2 license.
*Rugby union and specifically the Aviva Premiership should be a good fit for talkSPORT 2. They have a commentary rights deal with Premiership Rugby that they don't make a great deal of use of currently, but could do when their secondary channel launches. Having regular commentaries on one of the Saturday afternoon games, perhaps the 3.15pm BT Sport TV games, could prove a strong alternative to the football coverage the main station and other national stations provide. I'm not sure how much of an audience they'd be for such a service; as while Radio 5 Live Sports Extra are not likely to regularly cover the Premiership in terms of weekly commentaries, BBC Local Radio does and unlike Football League clubs their commentaries are available online and via apps, giving them a wide reach beyond their immediate target audience, so they'd be fighting strong, established competition. However, if like with the Bundesliga they could come to an agreement with the governing body to partly support coverage it may be more viable. I believe Nick Heath - a reporter heard on talkSPORT covering games for the Talking Rugby agency - records commentaries for the Aviva Premiership website's edits of games, so perhaps if an audio stream of talkSPORT 2's live coverage was available on the league's website and for later use on highlights edits, it could work well.
*There's talk of talkSPORT 2 broadcasting programmes produced by independent production companies - which is something the main station has never, ever done in the past to the best of my knowledge. If this was the case, then I would hope it would herald them making a play towards rights to the NFL and perhaps other North American sports leagues such as Major League Baseball - both of which have had long runs on UK radio in recent years, with independent production company USP Content producing coverage both on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and Absolute Radio 90s. The former station built up an audience for both sports and I believe only dropped regular coverage of them because they were difficult to justify doing given the financial limitations applied to the BBC in recent years. I doubt the actual rights cost much if anything to acquire, and if talkSPORT 2 could find a sponsor (as they have for things like Europa League football) US sports coverage could be sustainable. The NFL would fill Sunday nights 6pm-midnight between September and December with weekend evening/overnight coverage of the postseason during January, it'd be a good fit IMO but it would probably pay to get the production company with the experience of working on previous coverage involved.
*A link-up with William Hill Racing Radio could help to easily fill weekday daytimes, which might otherwise be difficult to fill with live content that won't duplicate the flagship shows on the main station. They could simulcast their live horse racing commentaries and coverage from midday to 6pm, bookended by podcasts or repeats of other talkSPORT programmes post-overnights/breakfast and prior to evening sports coverage.
*I think repeating certain talkSPORT programmes, particularly their strong, off-peak weekend specialists sports shows, would be well worth doing. Their Saturday morning Football League show Up The League is excellent, yet with a 6am start time it's on far too early for much of its potential audience. Putting it on talkSPORT 2 at either 11am or midday on Saturday prior to Matchday Live at 1pm would be ideal. Equally rugby union show Full Contact and the award-winning My Sporting Life are prime for repeating - My Sporting Life would work well in at 10pm-midnight slot on weeknights prior to an overnight simulcast.
*Like others I think talkSPORT 2 and talkRADIO as well will simulcast talkSPORT's existing overnight show Extra Time, with the more general discussions of The Two Mikes being suitable for the latter station. Perhaps the former might also begin their simulcast at midnight with the final hour of The Sports Bar, particularly if their evening plan consists of a live sports show between 7-10pm and then a two hour repeat of something like My Sporting Life or Full Contact between 10pm-midnight.
*I agree with 4-4-2's suggestion that we'll get programmes about boxing and professional wrestling on talkSPORT 2. For a few years now talkSPORT have occasionally broadcast the Fight Club show on Saturday nights with no live football commentary, the presenter of which Gareth A. Davies also has a regular slot on Extra Time, has recently been given one on Kick Off and has done a boxing podcast for talkSPORT.com in the past. I think it's almost certain that a boxing programme of some form will find its way onto talkSPORT 2. With pro wrestling, talkSPORT had a wrestling strand for a few years going way back now, but more recently talkSPORT.com has launched a podcast called The Gorilla Position which has been trailed on the main station. I'm sure they could bulk that out with commercial breaks and what not and turn it into an hour/two hour talkSPORT 2 show.
*Recently we've heard some shows that are a bit different to the norm on talkSPORT, like Matt Forde's Sports Party and Talk To Me with Terry Tibbs. I could see Forde and Kayvan Novak (the voice behind the Tibbs character) more at home on talkRADIO as part of their promised comedy strand rather than on talkSPORT 2, but the Sports Party recordings could find a place on 2 as well.
*I'd like to see golf back on talkSPORT in some shape or form, I always enjoyed their long-running annual coverage of The Open Championship prior to Moz Dee's decision to can it with a year remaining on their contract when he became programme controller in 2008. I'd be interested to see talkSPORT 2 attempt to pick up rights to the event once again, perhaps through coming to an agreement with the European Tour to simulcast their bespoke audio commentary service on The Open and Ryder Cups held in Europe that is available online and is carried by Canada's TSN Radio network. Notable broadcasters familiar to UK radio listeners like Richard Kaufman and Ron Jones are involved in their coverage and it's of a high standard, add Bob Bubka and Rupert Bell and you're looking at a similar team to the talkSPORT golf team of old.
*The one area I'm not sure about is cricket. UTV Radio has promised coverage of it on talkSPORT 2, but short of summer magazine shows and fleeting coverage of limited-overs internationals, they have no form in this area whatsoever. For me it was a great shame that we never heard what a TWG-owned talkSPORT would have done with the Twenty20 Cup rights Kelvin MacKenzie purchased almost immediately prior to selling up - it would have been interesting to have heard expansive coverage, but in the end we got finals day for a few years and now we are lucky if we hear Jack Bannister/Jon Norman reporting on that. County cricket is such an under-covered area on talkSPORT and now BBC Local Radio - with support from the counties themselves, who jointly stream their audio commentaries - seem to have this area sewn up very strongly as Connor has said. If anything the BBC's DQF directive has actually boosted county cricket coverage, what with Radio 5 Live Sports Extra now simulcasting local radio coverage to help justify it. With the BBC also holding the ECB contract for the national team, it's very difficult to see how talkSPORT 2 could break in in terms of live coverage; unless of course they looked to go for England's winter tours or even wanted to simulcast international Test/limited-overs matches involving other nations from ABC Radio or Fairfax Radio in Australia, Radio Sport in New Zealand, Radio 2000 in South Africa and/or the Line and Length Network in the West Indies.
Apologies for such a long post, but I'm excited to see what talkSPORT 2 offers when it launches and have a lot of thoughts what it could and should do, so seeing as the invitation to comment was put out I hope you don't mind indulging me!
You can read the sizable piece here if you so wish: http://utv.vo.llnwd.net/o16/talkSPORT/press/BBC-Trust-speech-radio-service-review-Mar15-UTV-final-public-submission.pdf
Further to what was contained in the Media Guardian report, it is claimed by UTV that 5 live competes head on with rival providers when it could be using them as a spur for
increased distinctiveness" which can be read fro page 19 onwards.
The bottom line, as you'd expect from UTV/talkSPORT, is that they want to be seen as the main football station and want to see 5 Live draw back on their coverage to do less to directly compete with them, especially when they have rights to games (such as their deal with Liverpool in the Champions League this season).
Having said that, there's little or even no mention of Thursday nights on 5 Live where they do plenty of minority sport such as cycling (BeSpoke with OJ Borg) and extreme sports and don't compete with talkSPORT's Europa League coverage or football discussion show.
It's an interesting read - if you REALLY like this sort of thing - and there's some merit to what they say. How much of it is taken on board is another thing.
BBC WM
BBC WM Sport with Paul Franks
Championship
Birmingham City v Rotherham United - Richard Wilford (Live DAB in Birmingham & Freeview Commentary)
Nottingham Forrest v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Mike Taylor & Paul Franks (Live FM & DAB in Black Country Commentary)
League One
Walsall v Notts County - Tom Marlow (FM Updates)
Free Radio 80s
Tom Ross's Goalzone Live from St Andrews
Championship
Birmingham City v Rotherham United - Tom Ross & Kevan Broadhurst (Updates)
Nottingham Forrest v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Chris Coles & Andy Thompson (Live Commentary)
Thanks for posting that. Stuart Pearce was actually on talkSPORT's The Sports Bar last night (he was the subject of one of that show's usual lengthy Thursday night studio interviews) and he mentioned that he'd be doing some co-commentary on Tuesday, so I was wondering who he'd be working for if not talkSPORT.
I'm surprised it's been that long since Simon Brotherton last did a radio commentary. Radio 5 Live have assembled a really strong commentary pairing for Aston Villa v QPR, I'm a big fan of Pearce's co-commentary and punditry work so I'll try and give it a listen.
Thanks for posting that 4-4-2, it's interesting that UTV Radio have made the document available to the public, especially so soon after lodging the submission.
I've only had a quick scan through it, but while I certainly don't agree with everything including many of the broad conclusion, as you say there is some merit to some of the things they say. I'm glad they've highlighted how 5 Live broadcast the Monday Night Club and their Friday previews when they could be doing commentary on the Football League or other sports - this is something I and others have long thought should change - and it's also good that they've highlighted how Radio 5 Live will sometimes cover the same Champions League games to talkSPORT.
As I've long argued on here, with the BBC being the public service broadcaster, in these sort of circumstances the onus should be on them to provide an alternative match. While I don't believe 5 Live should be forced into picking a dead rubber over a crucial group qualifying decider that talkSPORT are covering, if for example it's known for months in advance that talkSPORT will be providing commentary on all of Liverpool's Champions League matches and they are playing their second group game at Benfica, while Arsenal are hosting Porto at the same time, then the onus should definitely be on 5 Live to opt for Arsenal v Porto. I do not think this is an unreasonable suggestion and an attempt to implement it would clearly result in better choice for radio listeners.
Ian Danter presenting Matchday Live from the City Ground with Alvin Martin at Craven Cottage, followed by Call Collymore with Danny Kelly and Kick Off: The Player's Lounge with Matt Holland and Shaun Derry
Championship
Birmingham City v Rotherham United - Dave Rowe
Brighton & Hove Albion v Norwich City - Elliot Cook
Fulham v Brentford - Ian Abrahams and Alvin Martin
Middlesbrough v Wigan Athletic - Graham Courtney
Millwall v Charlton Athletic - Tony Incenzo
Nottingham Forest v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Geoff Peters and Ian Danter
Ipswich Town v AFC Bournemouth - Kev Lawrence
Derby County v Watford - Nigel Pearson
League One
Preston North End v Rochdale - Simon Humphreys
Scunthorpe United v Peterborough United - Alan Biggs
Great to hear talkSPORT broadcasting a full Matchday Live on Good Friday, it's the first time they've broadcast a Football League Around the Grounds show on this bank holiday for a number of years. You can't beat having Dants and Alvin hosting such a show either. I see there's another edition of Matchday Live listed for Easter Monday too.
I don't agree; why should the BBC's PSB status immediately force them to take "inferior" games?
The BBC have an obligation to obtain the best value for licence fee payers. If they spend £x amount on radio rights to the Champions' League, then only provide commentary on poorer games, they would be failing in their obligation.
I take your point, though. Are talkSPORT proposing that the BBC shouldn't have done Real Madrid v Liverpool when it was clearly the biggest game of the night?
The BBC can't just cover crap hardly anyone cares about but it should offer a balance
They could do more FL games but then statistically they're doing even more live football and they'll get beaten up over that.
There Friday and Monday shows also covers other sports, the last hour on Friday is generally on other sports. And Monday has had a cricket show in etc. if they did more commentary, fans of those sports could lose out.
The podcasts of those two shows rate highly so they must have some fans around.n