Indeed, especially as the viewing figures dropped from about 100k to about 25k as soon as the MotoGP programme finished...

I think you're overselling the importance of the Champions League there a bit. Ben Shephard and Dave Jones present the secondary games on Sky and it hardly trivialises the competition. Matt Smith has presented hundreds of Champions League matches for ITV, plus the FA Cup Final and numerous World Cup games, and he's certainly well-known and respected by football fans having fronted the sport for over a decade. Dan Walker is a bit younger but he's anchored many events (the Olympics, the Open Golf) and is obviously adept at live sports broadcasting. He presents football coverage every week of the season.

You don't want to rely on the same presenters year in year out on your coverage, especially when you're a new channel that wants to emphasise the freshness of their coverage. If BT were to hire Stelling or Lineker to front the Champions League it'll look like football coverage on other channels, which isn't the point, the point is to build the BT brand and establish it as its own thing.

How much gravitas do you need to present Liverpool vs Ludogorets?

They're going to need more than one presenter, though, surely? As far as I know Humphrey presented all the time last season, even when Wigan were out and BT were just showing "general European" games as they are now.

With all Champions League and all Europa League (? can't quite remember if they've confirmed they're showing *every* Europa League game even though they have the rights to?) to show, if Richardson doesn't present at least some of them I'll be very surprised - and very disappointed.

Does anyone have any figures for BT's Arsenal v Man City game on Sat and Fletch and Sav?

BT Sport 1 - w/e 7 Sep 2014
1 AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY (SAT 1346) 110
2 AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY (SAT 1619) 100
3 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY (WED 1930) 69
4 AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY (SUN 1300) 59
5 RUGBY TONIGHT (MON 2000) 42
6 FA WSL (THU 1930) 28
7 30 FOR 30 (SUN 1615) 24
8 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY (THU 1602) 16
9 UFC (FRI 2400) 16
10 UFC (FRI 2700) 16

BT Sport 2 - w/e 7 Sep 2014
1 AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY (FRI 1900) 95
2 BOXING ALL ACCESS (SUN 2532) 22
3 FA WSL (SUN 1330) 18
4 ITU WORLD TRIATHLON SERIES MAGAZINE (SAT 1931) 16
5 SPORT IN FOCUS (SUN 1032) 15
6 BUNDESLIGA SPECIAL (SAT 1902) 12
7 MLS (SUN 2604) 11
8 UFC COUNTDOWN (THU 2200) 11
9 CLASSIC BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE (MON 1329) 10
10 CLASSIC BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE (MON 1259) 9

ESPN - w/e 7 Sep 2014
1 COLLEGE FOOTBALL (SAT 2035) 17
2 NASCAR SPRINT CUP HIGHLIGHTS (TUE 2130) 12
3 COLLEGE FOOTBALL (SAT 1701) 12
4 ESPN GOAL LINE (SAT 2357) 11
5 AFL (SAT 1001) 10
6 TOYOTA AFL INTERNATIONAL (TUE 2230) 8
7 MLB (TUE 2500) 8
8 NASCAR SPRINT CUP HIGHLIGHTS (MON 1659) 7
9 COLLEGE FOOTBALL (SAT 2500) 6
10 MLB 162 (TUE 2521) 5

An international week, so no great ratings on BT. Am I right in thinking those aren't exactly brilliant numbers for the return of the rugby either? Don't watch it personally but I seem to remember it getting more in the 150-180k range last season at times?

Decent ratings for the college football on ESPN, compared to the usual ratings for the channel anyway.

Not sure about the rugby but I would say down compared to last season's first few weeks.

Agreed about the college football perhaps ESPN highest total for a while.

Perhaps they could of expected a little higher for the Germany Argentina game on Weds night.

Not sure about that. Going head to head with the England friendly on ITV (free TV) and if England fans didn't want to watch because they saw Norway as a pointless match, the likelihood is they would have switched to a channel with a different genre on it (ie. The Great British Bake Off)

The Aviva rugby on BT rates quite a bit better when there is a PL game before it to provide a lead-in.

Some analysis of this was posted on here towards the end of last season.

Weekend PL ratings:

Arsenal v Man City (BT) - 662,000
Liverpool v Aston Villa (Sky) - 956,000
Man Utd v QPR (Sky) - 1,534,000

Not great for Ars/Man C - 150,000 below Man U/Swa (week 1) and 50,000 below Bur/Man U (week 3).

Very poor for Liv/Villa - though worth noting that the 15 mins earlier start time this season will pull the programme rating down a bit (back of the envelope calculation - approx 40,000, if the first 15 mins is rating very low which seems likely). But still a very poor figure in my opinion.

Nottm Forest v Derby (Sky) - 564,000

In contrast to the above - surprisingly good rating for the Championship game - in a slot when there would normally be a PL game in the vast majority of weeks.

I must admit I didn't think the Arsenal game would get over 700k but BT will be disappointed they didn't get more.

Like you say the Liverpool figure is poor considering it was Liverpool and they normally pull in a good audience.

Still think however the Merseyside Derby in a few weeks will see something near or above 900k for BT.

One other point do you think the 5.30 Saturday slot is any better than 12.45?
I must admit Considering some games Sky have had at that time they have Struggled to get much above 1k.
I just think if I was BT I would stay clear of 5.30 games on a Saturday.

I think Sat 5.30pm is a better slot than Sat 12.45pm - we know Sky ratings went up last season despite losing a proportion of 1st picks - and I think the evidence from Sky is that the same game will rate at least a bit better at 5.30pm than 12.45pm.

At the same time, it certainly isn't a great slot - I think the programme average is pulled down by a very low rating intro (due to the clash with football results discussed on here many times) and of course the match itself (and particularly the outro from 7.20pm to 8pm) face opposition from "Saturday night entertainment".

I suspect if we just looked at match averages (for all games) the Sat 5.30pm ratings would not look quite so bad relative to other slots - and the match average is of more relevance to the broadcasters - as it tells Sky/BT how many subscribers are actually watching the game.

Of course the broadcasters aren't just bidding for slots so the above is of limited relevance to the dilemma they face - as the Sat 12.45pm slot obviously has the 1st picks which makes it more attractive.

I put together this spreadsheet to see how the slots/teams compare. There's probably not enough data available to draw any meaningful conclusions, but it's interesting nonetheless:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=file%2cxlsx

Potential Average Forecasts:
QPR v Stoke: 300,000
Liverpool v Everton: 745,000
Manchester United v Everton: 946,000
Manchester City v Tottenham: 588,000
West Ham v Manchester City: 483,000
Newcastle v Liverpool: 636,000
Liverpool v Chelsea: 909,000
West Brom v Arsenal: 501,000

Thoughts?

I think you can put at least another 50k on top of the QPR game this weekend and I will be very very surprised if the Merseyside Derby wasn't well over 800k maybe even more nearer 900k.

West Ham Man City I doubt will be that high, more nearer 400k for me and West Brom Arsenal looks high as well.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Liverpool Chelsea was near the 1k mark but I doubt WBA Arsenal will be that high either but time will tell on all those.

There is another ready maid pro who's been little seen on uk TV, John Dykes who currently does a fantastic job on the premier league international channel on most match days. I wonder if he'd jump at the chance to be on UK TV.

that would be good, but i dont think he will...

Angus Scott is a possibility, as is Matt Smith (dont think either, but worth throwing into the mix)

Maybe add Gabby Logan, Dan Walker, Mark Poutgatch as very long shots

BT Sport to launch red button service called BT Sport Extra

Do you have a link?

It's been confirmed in the satellite news thread on here, but if there are extra details on what will be shown etc...

I think that Villa are ratings poison these days. Didn't Newcastle V Villa tank on BT Sports as well?

There are certainly options out there that BT could get if they wanted to and who would all be vastly better than Jake.
Some may not be tempted to move (I have to be honest I can't see Gabby Logan or Mark Chapman leaving the BBC for example) but I'm sure others could be tempted.

John Dykes was a good idea that someone suggested - when I've been abroad and caught him presenting worldwide coverage of the PL games he's been pretty good and is unknown really in the UK so no one would really have any pre-conceived notion with him and he seems a nice bloke on Twitter (unlike Jake who is pretty much an example of how not to use Twitter).

For me, BT's main football coverage (I.E Premier League/FA Cup/'Fletch and Sav') still has a number of issues with Jake and Owen being two of the major ones. Replacing them both for the CL coverage (though I sadly don't think BT will with Owen and will choose to stick their heads in the sand) would make BT's coverage much more bearable.

Also, what is the BT obsession with that idiot Piers Morgan? He was on that Fletcher and Savage show on Saturday (and quite frankly a show involving Owen, Savage and Morgan seems my idea of TV hell) and it sounds like he'll be on Clare Balding's show too. It's as if BT are trying to make me dislike them sometimes with the decisions they make and people they put on.

I quite like Manish Bhasin I think he hosts a PL show abroad

Its not just BT that Morgan is involved with at the moment, he seems to have Talksport radio after him as well.

Would not mind him at all.
Very good presenter, not wooden, has a laugh and i liked him alot in the SETANTA days

PL Coverage: Jake Humphrey
FA Cup: Jake Humphrey
Scottish Football: Daryl Currie
Non-league: Mark Clemment
Champions League:
BTS1 (main game): James Richardson
BTS2 (second game): Paul Dempsey
BTS3 (Celtic/3rd game): Daryl Currie
Europa League:
BTS1 (main games): Jake Humphrey
BTS2 (2nd games): Lindsay Hipgrave