Originally Posted by sporter92:
“That is really disappointing for fans of the Pro12 in England, Scotland & Wales. Usually when the BBC broadcast these sort of concerts from Radio on the Red Button they are on a loop on the Red Button for the whole week on 301. So I believe the BBC should show Ulster v Scarlets Live from BBC NI, have the concert live on BBC Radio 2 website and on a loop on 301 for the next week”
It's not really that disappointing for fans in Wales as the game will also be live on S4C. Their coverage is of a good standard and even if you don't speak Welsh, you can access an English language commentary via the Red Button. Charlo and other Scrum V regulars usually do the English language commentary on days when there isn't a live BBC Two Wales game.
It's fans with Freeview in England and Scotland who will lose out, as neither the S4C or BBC Two Northern Ireland coverage will be available via that platform in those countries.
Originally Posted by pakokelso93:
“I wonder if Alastair Ekykn is an exclusive thing with BT or if he will crop up either on radio or TV for the BBC during the internationals... Conor McNamara is pretty average as a rugby commentator and for me a poor third-choice TV comm for the Beeb. Anyone else with potential coming through from 5 Live that could do Network commentary on Autumn's or 6N? Jonathan Charles maybe getting a promotion from Scrum V?”
Gareth Charles is the Scrum V commentator. He's commentated for the BBC Network before in the early days of the Six Nations and IMO is clearly as good as anyone on the network side, but the problem with using him would be that it would leave a gap in the BBC Radio Wales coverage - a fillable one perhaps given the depth of BBC Wales' rugby coverage team, but it doesn't seem that much of a step up for Charlo to go from doing games like Wales v England on the radio to the third best game, probably a dead rubber, on Super Saturday on TV in my honest opinion. You could say the same thing about Jim Neilly, who is the lead voice of both Ulster Rugby Live and BBC Radio Ulster's coverage of Ireland games, as well for that matter.
I think it makes much more sense to have Conor McNamara or someone else commentating on the 1/2 Six Nations games they'll be required for with Eddie Butler and Andrew Cotter doing the rest rather than messing around with BBC Radio's Six Nations coverage in the Celtic nations personally. I think McNamara is a decent commentator and to be honest - I know you won't agree - I find him much more listenable than Cotter who I find really grating.
Of course if Alastair Eykyn is allowed to work between the BBC and BT Sport, you'd expect Nick Mullins to be afforded the same opportunities, so it could well go back to it being Butler, Mullins and Cotter being the three BBC TV commentators and Ian Robertson and Eykyn being the lead Radio 5 Live duo with McNamara doing some games for Sports Extra. If not, I think we'd all expect Robertson to stick around on the radio side with McNamara and possibly even Cotter doing games when not required by TV, then maybe someone like Gareth Lewis (the former Scrum V host and current Radio Wales drivetime presenter who commentated/reported on a few games for Sports Extra/5 Live this year), James Burridge (BBC Radio Northampton's Northampton Saints commentator who does a fair bit for 5 Live) or Jason Harris (BBC Three Counties Radio's Saracens commentator who will be commentating on the British & Irish Lions Test matches for Swansea Sound this summer) stepping up when they are unavailable.