I don't think Ian is in France, I think he's in Salford
Euro 2016 Radio Coverage
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Originally Posted by bwfcol:
“I don't think Ian is in France, I think he's in Salford”
“I don't think Ian is in France, I think he's in Salford”
So its fair to say all his off-tube games will come from Salford, would be interesting to know if talkSPORT are off-tubing the same games as 5live.
A BBC spokesman did say it would be in the "single figures" regarding the amount of games that 5live will off-tube, cant see past the group stage which games will be suitable to be off-tubed.
It really does put me off listening to a commentary when you know its off tube.
Might have tune into talkSPORT now and again
I don't think talkSPORT announce when their commentaries are off-tube. I fancy many of them are. At least the BBC is honest and up front.
Originally Posted by Paul_Crawford:
“So its fair to say all his off-tube games will come from Salford, would be interesting to know if talkSPORT are off-tubing the same games as 5live.
A BBC spokesman did say it would be in the "single figures" regarding the amount of games that 5live will off-tube, cant see past the group stage which games will be suitable to be off-tubed.
It really does put me off listening to a commentary when you know its off tube.
Might have tune into talkSPORT now and again”
“So its fair to say all his off-tube games will come from Salford, would be interesting to know if talkSPORT are off-tubing the same games as 5live.
A BBC spokesman did say it would be in the "single figures" regarding the amount of games that 5live will off-tube, cant see past the group stage which games will be suitable to be off-tubed.
It really does put me off listening to a commentary when you know its off tube.
Might have tune into talkSPORT now and again
”
Presumably when the BBC do off-tube commentary, they don't have just one single screen as reference? Would they be in a scaled down version of a TV gallery with the main output on a large screen and maybe some of the other camera feeds on smaller screens?
Originally Posted by IanFergus:
“I don't think talkSPORT announce when their commentaries are off-tube. I fancy many of them are. At least the BBC is honest and up front.”
“I don't think talkSPORT announce when their commentaries are off-tube. I fancy many of them are. At least the BBC is honest and up front.”
I am sure you are right, at least 5live have been honest about it, Phil Wye has even stated in his tweets which games are " studio based" can't imagine the talkSPORT equivalent being so honest.
Usually @Difference and @442 are in the know, so could these 2 gents kindly clarify how many games talkSPORT are doing off-tube?
Originally Posted by RobertSterling:
“Presumably when the BBC do off-tube commentary, they don't have just one single screen as reference? Would they be in a scaled down version of a TV gallery with the main output on a large screen and maybe some of the other camera feeds on smaller screens?”
“Presumably when the BBC do off-tube commentary, they don't have just one single screen as reference? Would they be in a scaled down version of a TV gallery with the main output on a large screen and maybe some of the other camera feeds on smaller screens?”
Austria vs Hungary is being off-tubed from Salford, Salford is where the BBC broadcast MoTD and Final Score from so you would think they would have access to different camera angles, different streams and anything else they might need to make the game as realistic as possible.
I would love to see a game being off-tubed from a BBC studio, would be quite interesting to see how they do things.
Has anyone got a link to a video where it shows a similar set up?
I thought all of Gary Taphouse's games on Talksport were off tube but I'm suddenly not 100 % sure as according to the diff he's with Stuart Pearce for this game-- unless Stuart comes home between England games? so far, I think the games Jim Proudfoot has done for talksport have all been on-site and Ian Danters also. I know the diff won't agree but while I don't mind off tubing, I prefer 5Live's more honest approach of telling people. I guess you could argue that Talksport don't actively pretend they are there its just not being honest by omition. that said, and for the purposes of balance, I listen to some games on TS because I prefer their commentators, Taphouse, Proudfoot and Dants in particular.
They could be off-tube from France. The TS commentary referred to the position of the fans in relation to the commentators, but there is a slight delay between TS and 5 Live Sports Extra even though that station is also off-tube. Usually when TalkSport is at the matches there isn't a delay.
5 Live Sports Extra's off-tube commentators sound like they're in a studio.
The Russia match will be off-tube on 5 Live tomorrow.
5 Live Sports Extra's off-tube commentators sound like they're in a studio.
The Russia match will be off-tube on 5 Live tomorrow.
I don't know for sure how many TalkSPORT are doing on total but I think it's safe to say Nigel Pearson and Ray Wilkins are off tube in London. The former has been doing speedway coverage for Sky this week. Wilkins has also been on SSN too.
Alan Parry and Stuart Pearce are doing the early game tomorrow, with Pearson and Wilkins at 5pm with Gary Taphouse and Micky Gray doing the evening kick off.
Alan Parry and Stuart Pearce are doing the early game tomorrow, with Pearson and Wilkins at 5pm with Gary Taphouse and Micky Gray doing the evening kick off.
I don't know how many of talkSPORT's commentaries are being done off-tube (I imagine a fair number of them are), but on a general note I've always felt it was ridiculous that they have consistently received criticism for covering some games at World Cups and European Championships - usually just a handful of mostly group games that don't involve any of the home nations - off-tube.
I now feel the same way about any criticism the BBC are receiving for covering a similar number of games off-tube (I wouldn't be surprised if nowadays at tournaments you are talking about both stations covering roughly the same amount of matches in this way). If anything, given how the Beeb's finances are more closely monitored these days, in retrospect it looks quite profligate how they would send a three person commentary team plus reporters and producers to pretty much every game of non-European World Cups in Japan/Korea 2002 and South Africa 2006.
talkSPORT and BBC Radio 5 Live are probably the only two radio broadcasters anywhere in the world that are covering every game from the European Championship live across their primary and sister stations (I eagerly stand to be corrected!). In contrast, I believe the major radio football broadcasters in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal typically only cover games involving their national team and perhaps one of two other major games, usually from the business end of the tournament. Even for World Cups, in the USA I think ESPN Radio produces commentaries on most/all matches - but that vast majority of these are broadcast off-tube, a far greater amount than those covered in this way by either British station.
What's more, prior to the advent of talkSPORT in time for Euro 2000, even in Britain far fewer matches than every non-clashing game at a World Cup or European Championship would be covered in the form of a live commentary by BBC Radio or the Capital Gold network. It was only really the challenge posed by talkSPORT, coupled with the launch of 5 Live Sports Extra, that prompted the BBC to shift into covering (almost) every game as they do now.
For all the complaints about off-tubing, if you look at the wider picture and make a fair assessment, you surely would have to conclude that British radio-listening football fans have never had it so good, especially compared to their continental European counterparts. I can live with an off-tube commentary as long as the commentators are good at their jobs, especially within the context of a 51-game tournament played outside UK shores that requires considerable expenditure to broadcast in full. We as British based radio listeners are very fortunate to be able to turn on not one but two national radio stations that are providing commentary on every game from Euro 2016.
Also, I have absolutely no problem with talkSPORT not signposting that some of their commentary teams are not working on-site. None of their TV counterparts who regularly cover games off-tube mention that they are working in this way and it must be said that this isn't something that viewers who comment on forums seem to expect of them. So why is radio as a medium treated differently?
I now feel the same way about any criticism the BBC are receiving for covering a similar number of games off-tube (I wouldn't be surprised if nowadays at tournaments you are talking about both stations covering roughly the same amount of matches in this way). If anything, given how the Beeb's finances are more closely monitored these days, in retrospect it looks quite profligate how they would send a three person commentary team plus reporters and producers to pretty much every game of non-European World Cups in Japan/Korea 2002 and South Africa 2006.
talkSPORT and BBC Radio 5 Live are probably the only two radio broadcasters anywhere in the world that are covering every game from the European Championship live across their primary and sister stations (I eagerly stand to be corrected!). In contrast, I believe the major radio football broadcasters in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal typically only cover games involving their national team and perhaps one of two other major games, usually from the business end of the tournament. Even for World Cups, in the USA I think ESPN Radio produces commentaries on most/all matches - but that vast majority of these are broadcast off-tube, a far greater amount than those covered in this way by either British station.
What's more, prior to the advent of talkSPORT in time for Euro 2000, even in Britain far fewer matches than every non-clashing game at a World Cup or European Championship would be covered in the form of a live commentary by BBC Radio or the Capital Gold network. It was only really the challenge posed by talkSPORT, coupled with the launch of 5 Live Sports Extra, that prompted the BBC to shift into covering (almost) every game as they do now.
For all the complaints about off-tubing, if you look at the wider picture and make a fair assessment, you surely would have to conclude that British radio-listening football fans have never had it so good, especially compared to their continental European counterparts. I can live with an off-tube commentary as long as the commentators are good at their jobs, especially within the context of a 51-game tournament played outside UK shores that requires considerable expenditure to broadcast in full. We as British based radio listeners are very fortunate to be able to turn on not one but two national radio stations that are providing commentary on every game from Euro 2016.
Also, I have absolutely no problem with talkSPORT not signposting that some of their commentary teams are not working on-site. None of their TV counterparts who regularly cover games off-tube mention that they are working in this way and it must be said that this isn't something that viewers who comment on forums seem to expect of them. So why is radio as a medium treated differently?
TalkSport clearly think listeners will have a problem with off-tube commentary, that's why they broadcast the stadium sound to fool the listeners into thinking the commentators are there. Why not broadcast the sound of the location where they're broadcasting from? If Ofcom was to introduce ar egulation requiring broadcasters to do that, do you think TalkSport would resist or accept it? Surely if off-tubing doesn't matter, there would be no reason to resist.
If you have official rights to a match and have access to the official effects feed from the stadium staging that game, why WOULDN'T you broadcast that along with the commentary? And why would Ofcom even bother challenging radio stations possessing official rights to a competition - be they BBC or commercial - from utilising audio feeds they are perfectly entitled to broadcast? I'm sorry wns_195, but your argument is a particularly facile one.
What would you prefer, hearing the canned audio crowd effects talkSPORT used to use when they were locked out from the auction to win official rights? Or maybe stations should look to radio on the continent and just not bother covering the games they are logistically unable to have a commentary team at? I can't believe anyone would feel not covering games would be better than coming to a compromise for games they logistically or financially cannot justify sending a commentary team to, but at least they wouldn't get bashed for having the temerity of covering dead rubber final group games that only go out on their DAB stations off-tube!
What would you prefer, hearing the canned audio crowd effects talkSPORT used to use when they were locked out from the auction to win official rights? Or maybe stations should look to radio on the continent and just not bother covering the games they are logistically unable to have a commentary team at? I can't believe anyone would feel not covering games would be better than coming to a compromise for games they logistically or financially cannot justify sending a commentary team to, but at least they wouldn't get bashed for having the temerity of covering dead rubber final group games that only go out on their DAB stations off-tube!
Tuesday 14th June - talkSPORT
Euro 2016 Live presented by Adrian Durham from Chantilly (4-7pm) and Mark Saggers from Paris (7-10pm)
UEFA Euro 2016 Group F
Austria v Hungary - Gary Taphouse and Stuart Pearce (5pm commentary)
Portugal v Iceland - Ian Danter and Michael Gray (8pm commentary)
Both Adrian and Nigel Adderley were conducting interviews from the England camp today, while Danny Gabbidon spoke to Chris Coleman at the Wales training base. Mark presented his leg of Euro 2016 Live from a Paris pavement café, which I think is the regular setting for their temporary studio in the city.
I listened to Ian Danter and Michael Gray's commentary on the later match and really enjoyed their tandem. I'm glad to see Swansea Steve has been enjoying Ian's work as well, it's great to hear Dants getting the chance to do regular commentaries for talkSPORT for the first time since Euro 2012. I wonder if this will lead to him getting further football commentary opportunities long-term - with TWG winning rights to a new package of Premier League commentaries and Dants being the existing host of talkSPORT 2's Matchday Live 2 programme, the show which these new games will air in, he's ideally poised to become the regular commentator on them given his strong showing in France.
Euro 2016 Live presented by Adrian Durham from Chantilly (4-7pm) and Mark Saggers from Paris (7-10pm)
UEFA Euro 2016 Group F
Austria v Hungary - Gary Taphouse and Stuart Pearce (5pm commentary)
Portugal v Iceland - Ian Danter and Michael Gray (8pm commentary)
Both Adrian and Nigel Adderley were conducting interviews from the England camp today, while Danny Gabbidon spoke to Chris Coleman at the Wales training base. Mark presented his leg of Euro 2016 Live from a Paris pavement café, which I think is the regular setting for their temporary studio in the city.
I listened to Ian Danter and Michael Gray's commentary on the later match and really enjoyed their tandem. I'm glad to see Swansea Steve has been enjoying Ian's work as well, it's great to hear Dants getting the chance to do regular commentaries for talkSPORT for the first time since Euro 2012. I wonder if this will lead to him getting further football commentary opportunities long-term - with TWG winning rights to a new package of Premier League commentaries and Dants being the existing host of talkSPORT 2's Matchday Live 2 programme, the show which these new games will air in, he's ideally poised to become the regular commentator on them given his strong showing in France.
Originally Posted by wns_195:
“TalkSport clearly think listeners will have a problem with off-tube commentary, that's why they broadcast the stadium sound to fool the listeners into thinking the commentators are there. Why not broadcast the sound of the location where they're broadcasting from? If Ofcom was to introduce ar egulation requiring broadcasters to do that, do you think TalkSport would resist or accept it? Surely if off-tubing doesn't matter, there would be no reason to resist.”
“TalkSport clearly think listeners will have a problem with off-tube commentary, that's why they broadcast the stadium sound to fool the listeners into thinking the commentators are there. Why not broadcast the sound of the location where they're broadcasting from? If Ofcom was to introduce ar egulation requiring broadcasters to do that, do you think TalkSport would resist or accept it? Surely if off-tubing doesn't matter, there would be no reason to resist.”
The sound of the location they're broadcasting from? So basically silence with just the commentators. Aye oryt! In any case both 5 Live and Talksport offtube commentaries have authentic stadium crowd noise underneath the commentators. That is whether they are offtube at the IBC, London or Salford. No idea what your baffling post is about there.
Sky or BT don't say they are offtube covering foreign games. It is quite cool for 5 Live to admit it but in the grand scheme of things it is, what it is.
Let's face it, the BBC only admit it because they are "BBC" and the Daily Mail would wet their knickers over it.
They wouldn't say 'studio' if they didn't have to because the BBC can't lie unlike The Daily Mail/Telegraph/Tories etc.
They wouldn't say 'studio' if they didn't have to because the BBC can't lie unlike The Daily Mail/Telegraph/Tories etc.
Originally Posted by bwfcol:
“Let's face it, the BBC only admit it because they are "BBC" and the Daily Mail would wet their knickers over it.”
“Let's face it, the BBC only admit it because they are "BBC" and the Daily Mail would wet their knickers over it.”
This.
There are no off-tube commentaries by the BBC tomorrow, but they are, as expected, simulcasting BBC Ulster's commentary of Northern Ireland v Ukraine.
Italy v Sweden on Friday appears to be from Salford, as does Iceland v Hungary on Saturday and Romania v Albania on Sunday.
On Ian Danter, surely he's nailed on for talkSPORT 2's Premier League commentaries next season? I agree The Difference.
Italy v Sweden on Friday appears to be from Salford, as does Iceland v Hungary on Saturday and Romania v Albania on Sunday.
On Ian Danter, surely he's nailed on for talkSPORT 2's Premier League commentaries next season? I agree The Difference.
he certainly should be-- unless they prefer him in his role presenting Matchday Live 2 or whatever its called? He's actually very good at that as well!
I remember back when TalkSport first started covering the big tournaments 'unnofficially' (Euro 2000? Could have been WC2002), the BBC went ape and, although they probably wanted TS to totally stop, they came to an agreement where they had to state that they were doing off-tube commentary ('We are not the BBC, we are bringing you commentary via our screens at TalkSport').
It didn't really bother me to be honest as it was nice to have a choice of commentaries. I even remember Ian Payne remarking on it on 5 Live at one point by promoting the final saying something along the lines of 'you can either listen to us live from the stadium or a few blokes outside in a bus' which I thought was odd at the time.
Ultimately, as long as the commentator doesn't say he's live in the stadium when they're not, it's not too much of a big deal.
It didn't really bother me to be honest as it was nice to have a choice of commentaries. I even remember Ian Payne remarking on it on 5 Live at one point by promoting the final saying something along the lines of 'you can either listen to us live from the stadium or a few blokes outside in a bus' which I thought was odd at the time.
Ultimately, as long as the commentator doesn't say he's live in the stadium when they're not, it's not too much of a big deal.
Originally Posted by bwfcol:
“Let's face it, the BBC only admit it because they are "BBC" and the Daily Mail would wet their knickers over it.
They wouldn't say 'studio' if they didn't have to because the BBC can't lie unlike The Daily Mail/Telegraph/Tories etc.”
“Let's face it, the BBC only admit it because they are "BBC" and the Daily Mail would wet their knickers over it.
They wouldn't say 'studio' if they didn't have to because the BBC can't lie unlike The Daily Mail/Telegraph/Tories etc.”
True.
However I bet your average fan thinks all live games whether they be on TV or Radio are covered by a commentator at the ground, most fans I bet don't even know what off-tubing is.
In this Euros we have had a blogs about various aspects, would love Ian Brown to do a blog on off-tubing and how it works etc. Would be great since he is doing most of the off-tubing for 5live.
Originally Posted by Paul_Crawford:
“True.
However I bet your average fan thinks all live games whether they be on TV or Radio are covered by a commentator at the ground, most fans I bet don't even know what off-tubing is.
In this Euros we have had a blogs about various aspects, would love Ian Brown to do a blog on off-tubing and how it works etc. Would be great since he is doing most of the off-tubing for 5live.”
“True.
However I bet your average fan thinks all live games whether they be on TV or Radio are covered by a commentator at the ground, most fans I bet don't even know what off-tubing is.
In this Euros we have had a blogs about various aspects, would love Ian Brown to do a blog on off-tubing and how it works etc. Would be great since he is doing most of the off-tubing for 5live.”
I could be wrong, but you posted above that at Salford, Ian Brown would have lots of screens and access to different shots, in reality I think he'll be like every other offtube commentary in a broom cupboard with a tv or two and commentates as he sees it.
BBC Radio 5 Live - Wednesday 15th June
5 Live Sport with Mark Chapman (13:00-16:00)
Russia v Slovakia (2pm) - Ian Brown and Trevor Sinclair (Off-Tube)
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra - Wednesday 15th June
5 Live Sport: Live UEFA Euro 2016 - Group A (16:45-19:00)
Romania v Switzerland (5pm) - John Acres and Pat Nevin (Off-Tube)
BBC Radio 5 Live - Wednesday 15th June
5 Live Sport with Kelly Cates (19:00-22:00)
France v Marseille (8pm) - Alistair Bruce-Ball and Neil Lennon (Live from Bordeaux)
5 Live UEFA Euro 2016 Football Social (22:00-22:30)
Your calls and social media reaction to today's three UEFA Euro 2016 matches
5 Live Sport with Mark Chapman (13:00-16:00)
Russia v Slovakia (2pm) - Ian Brown and Trevor Sinclair (Off-Tube)
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra - Wednesday 15th June
5 Live Sport: Live UEFA Euro 2016 - Group A (16:45-19:00)
Romania v Switzerland (5pm) - John Acres and Pat Nevin (Off-Tube)
BBC Radio 5 Live - Wednesday 15th June
5 Live Sport with Kelly Cates (19:00-22:00)
France v Marseille (8pm) - Alistair Bruce-Ball and Neil Lennon (Live from Bordeaux)
5 Live UEFA Euro 2016 Football Social (22:00-22:30)
Your calls and social media reaction to today's three UEFA Euro 2016 matches
Tweet from Gary Taphouse: 'Unexpected night off for me tomorrow after a commentary re-shuffle. Back on Saturday for #ISL v #HUN #EURO2016'
Originally Posted by 4-4-2:
“On Ian Danter, surely he's nailed on for talkSPORT 2's Premier League commentaries next season? I agree The Difference.”
“On Ian Danter, surely he's nailed on for talkSPORT 2's Premier League commentaries next season? I agree The Difference.”
Originally Posted by swansea steve:
“he certainly should be-- unless they prefer him in his role presenting Matchday Live 2 or whatever its called? He's actually very good at that as well!”
“he certainly should be-- unless they prefer him in his role presenting Matchday Live 2 or whatever its called? He's actually very good at that as well!”
I think there's a possibility that talkSPORT 2 might retain Ian Danter as the presenter of Matchday Live 2 and use someone else - possibly one of the Nigels, Pearson or Adderley - as their regular Saturday 3pm commentator. Alternatively, Dants could both anchor coverage and commentate on these games (as Andrew McKenna does with Premiership rugby union and Mark Wilson does with rugby league's Super League), although if this is the case it might then make sense for them to either shift the start time of MDL2 from 1pm to 2pm, or even just simulcast Matchday Live from 1pm before opting out of it for commentary at around 2.45pm. A third possibility is that someone like Andrew McKenna takes over as studio host with Dants concentrating solely on the commentary.
On the subject of talkSPORT (and apologies for deviating onto slightly off-topic domestic ground), but I wonder if the beginning of a new three-year Premier League rights cycle might prompt changes to their regular commentary line-up. When talkSPORT last renewed rights in 2013/14 and maintained Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore as their regular commentary pairing for 5.30pm Saturday and 1.30pm Sunday fixtures, Jim Proudfoot was about to start the final season of his four-year absence from the talkSPORT airwaves and Matterface was yet to have become a regular on ITV's football coverage. Now that Sam has prioritised ITV over talkSPORT at tournament time both in Brazil two summers ago and in France this year, and Jim has returned to the fold as their lead commentator on almost everything bar the Premier League, I think it is right to give Jim the opportunity to be their regular commentator in one of the two weekend timeslots. I believe JP has become a regular commentator for the Premier League's television international feed on Saturdays (either on 12.45pm or 5.30pm games) since leaving Absolute Radio, but I don't think he works for them that often or at all on Sundays. So I'd look to put Jim with Stan as talkSPORT's regular Sunday afternoon commentary team, while keeping Sam and Stan together on Saturday nights.
For me, Jim is vastly superior as a commentator of the two and if he is available to commentate for them regularly at weekends I think he should be given the opportunity. Given how Sam has prioritised his TV work over talkSPORT in recent years (don't get me wrong, I'm not faulting him for that as I expect it pays better and it does reach a wider audience), I don't think the station is duty bound to maintain the frequency of commentary matches he was getting during the last two rights cycles, the most recent of which began when he was able to commit himself to the station more regularly than he is able to now.
Wednesday 15th June - talkSPORT
Euro 2016 Live presented by Adrian Durham from Chantilly (1-7pm) and Mark Saggers from Paris alongside Jim Proudfoot (7-10pm)
UEFA Euro 2016 Group B
Russia v Slovakia - Alan Parry and Stuart Pearce (2pm commentary)
UEFA Euro 2016 Group A
Romania v Switzerland - Nigel Pearson and Ray Wilkins (5pm commentary), with Ian Abrahams reporting
France v Albania - Gary Taphouse and Michael Gray (8pm commentary)
Nigel Adderley was reporting from Lens and conducting interviews with the England squad, Danny Gabbidon was heard during the day covering Wales and Keith Gillespie discussed Northern Ireland in the build-up to the second live game. At half-time in that, we heard from Stan Collymore reporting from Lille on incidents with supporters in the city - they also called upon a couple of print journalists to cover things in this respect. Part of Jim Proudfoot's remit as Mark Saggers' co-host this evening was to discuss the release of the 2016/17 Premier League fixtures.
I tuned into commentary on the first game of the day, which was also Alan Parry's first game of the tournament and his first for talkSPORT since Brazil 2014, and really enjoyed his tandem with Stuart Pearce. Parry hasn't lost his touch as a radio commentator and sounded as strong as I remember him being two years ago. Pearce was a revelation when I first heard him co-commentate in Brazil, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself rating him as one of the best pundits of that tournament, and he lived up to my expectations today - he had done his homework, could draw upon his experiences of seeing the younger players at Under-21 level and generally combined well with Parry.
Tomorrow's coverage team will see Mark Saggers host coverage of England v Wales with commentary from Jim Proudfoot, Stan Collymore and Danny Gabbidon plus Nigel Adderley at pitchside, while for Ukraine v Northern Ireland it'll be Ian Danter and Keith Gillespie commentating with Colin Murray at pitchside - Colin and Keith will be part of the presenting team for the mid-morning show from Lyon earlier in the day. Ian Abrahams and Matt Holland will be the commentary team on Germany v Poland at 8pm, with Adrian Durham listed to host coverage from 4-10pm. Given that Paris-based Abrahams is commentating on the late game (this surely must be the game Gary Taphouse was originally scheduled to commentate on), I expect all three matches will be covered on-site.
Euro 2016 Live presented by Adrian Durham from Chantilly (1-7pm) and Mark Saggers from Paris alongside Jim Proudfoot (7-10pm)
UEFA Euro 2016 Group B
Russia v Slovakia - Alan Parry and Stuart Pearce (2pm commentary)
UEFA Euro 2016 Group A
Romania v Switzerland - Nigel Pearson and Ray Wilkins (5pm commentary), with Ian Abrahams reporting
France v Albania - Gary Taphouse and Michael Gray (8pm commentary)
Nigel Adderley was reporting from Lens and conducting interviews with the England squad, Danny Gabbidon was heard during the day covering Wales and Keith Gillespie discussed Northern Ireland in the build-up to the second live game. At half-time in that, we heard from Stan Collymore reporting from Lille on incidents with supporters in the city - they also called upon a couple of print journalists to cover things in this respect. Part of Jim Proudfoot's remit as Mark Saggers' co-host this evening was to discuss the release of the 2016/17 Premier League fixtures.
I tuned into commentary on the first game of the day, which was also Alan Parry's first game of the tournament and his first for talkSPORT since Brazil 2014, and really enjoyed his tandem with Stuart Pearce. Parry hasn't lost his touch as a radio commentator and sounded as strong as I remember him being two years ago. Pearce was a revelation when I first heard him co-commentate in Brazil, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself rating him as one of the best pundits of that tournament, and he lived up to my expectations today - he had done his homework, could draw upon his experiences of seeing the younger players at Under-21 level and generally combined well with Parry.
Tomorrow's coverage team will see Mark Saggers host coverage of England v Wales with commentary from Jim Proudfoot, Stan Collymore and Danny Gabbidon plus Nigel Adderley at pitchside, while for Ukraine v Northern Ireland it'll be Ian Danter and Keith Gillespie commentating with Colin Murray at pitchside - Colin and Keith will be part of the presenting team for the mid-morning show from Lyon earlier in the day. Ian Abrahams and Matt Holland will be the commentary team on Germany v Poland at 8pm, with Adrian Durham listed to host coverage from 4-10pm. Given that Paris-based Abrahams is commentating on the late game (this surely must be the game Gary Taphouse was originally scheduled to commentate on), I expect all three matches will be covered on-site.
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