Here is today’s schedule on BBC 1 – Saturday 9th June 2012:
4.30 – Match of the Day Live: Euro 2012
7.10 – BBC News
7.30 – Match of the Day Live: Euro 2012
10.00 – BBC News and National Lottery Draws
10.30 – Formula One: Canadian Grand Prix – Qualifying Highlights
The problem with all this is that it’s minority interest television. Half of the UK population, roughly, is male, but not all of them like football or sport in general, not by a long way. A few women like sport, but not many. So add all the sports fans together and you still have way less than half the country being interested in BBC 1 tonight. But the BBC have a requirement to serve the whole of the UK population. That is not happening tonight. Two football matches, neither featuring a UK team, and going on for more than two and half hours. Much of that time will be spent not watching football, but instead listening to a load of total rubbish from four dull blokes sitting in a TV studio. Then there is Formula One. Formula One, not from this country either, and not even a race, just something called ‘qualifying’; yet that occupies an hour and a quarter of the BBC 1 schedule tonight.
Sport should be on Sky where it belongs.
The BBC are letting us down badly today and on many subsequent days when there is more of this ‘Euro 2012’, whatever it is. I wouldn’t mind, but I am paying the same amount of money for my TV licence as are the sports fans, but I’m not getting a service tonight.
Okay then, I realise that the BBC will get an audience for this stuff tonight, and if they get a similar or better audience than they would for whatever they would show normally, then my argument looks kind of weak. Also I’m not bothered to be honest, I have a subscription to LOVEFiLM, and have two DVD’s here that we haven’t yet watched. Also we are still only on the very early episodes of series seven of ‘The West Wing’, so perhaps we can finally enjoy the closing episodes of this excellent programme. I like the West Wing, but we just don’t seem to have the time to watch it.
So on balance I thank the BBC for giving us the opportunity to watch something worth watching, while they put minority interest programming on their flagship channel. I just wish I didn’t have to pay the BBC for the privilege.