Sign the Petition to save BBCRB Commentary

thefruits · by **thefruits** » 23 Jul 2006 08:33

Thought it best to start a new thread.. dedicated solely to raising awareness of the petition being raised to influence and cajole the club into changing their short-sighted, ill-judged and entirely pernicious decision to disenfranchise a great number of Reading fans over a measly amount of money.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/ ... i?BBCBERKS

Alternatively let the local rag know your views by emailing Hilary Scott here

hscott@reading-epost.co.uk

Or better still let Mr Mad know your views at

jmadejski@readingfc.co.uk

Please support the loyal royals

Please keep this thread visible for others to join the cause by leaving comments below

Thanks to Andy Halls for setting up the petition.. now 380 names strong and rising. Lets get this to a 1000 by Monday

Remember its not about the ones who have season tickets or live within Central Reading. Its for those who don't. Those who will be effectively cut off from the club all for a few pennies.

WestCoast Life · by **WestCoast Life** » 23 Jul 2006 09:22

Dave Kitson appears to have signed

374. Dave Kitson Personally, I think the fans should be able to choose what they want to listen to. It's your football club.

It looks genuine and we know from his recent comments that he reads HNA.

thefruits · by **thefruits** » 23 Jul 2006 09:30

Perhaps the players could stump up the difference between what the BBC offered and what JM was looking for. Say its £50k... between 20 of them thats £2500 for the season each. Doubt whether they would miss it much. How about getting Grahame Murty to support the cause, he's been a big fan of BBCRB coverage ?

firstdivision · by **firstdivision** » 23 Jul 2006 09:32

I have taken the liberty of emailing Martin Salter for his take on the situation. You may like to do the same.

salterm@parliament.uk

He has the interest of a fan and the ability to do something.

WestCoast Life · by **WestCoast Life** » 23 Jul 2006 09:34

thefruits Perhaps the players could stump up the difference between what the BBC offered and what JM was looking for. Say its £50k... between 20 of them thats £2500 for the season each. Doubt whether they would miss it much. How about getting Grahame Murty to support the cause, he's been a big fan of BBCRB coverage ?

I don't think the money was really the issue - look at some of the other posts on this subject. Remember who owns Reading 107 ...

Royal Rother · by **Royal Rother** » 23 Jul 2006 09:34

Cut off from the club? I thought BBCRB were still doing previews, reviews, goal flashes etc. just not full commentary, because somebody else outbid them?

I am not happy about this decision as I will be one of the outlying fans unable to get full radio commentary now, but there's the internet, there's Sky updates, there's MOTD, there's Sky evening highlights show etc etc.

If JM, who has sunk millions and millions to get us where we are now, sees an opportunity to boost advertising revenue and audience figures in one of his businesses by purchasing the rights to exclusive commentaries, which I assume is the underlying motivation, then I can respect that as a business move. It is his sound business sense that has helped achieve the dream, and whilst I also appreciate any move made by the fans to bring dissatisfaction to his attention, I do hope that it is done by all participants with the respect the man deserves, rather than childish and disrespectful namecalling.

thefruits · by **thefruits** » 23 Jul 2006 09:40

Royal Bother. I agree that name calling would be wholly undeserved and is not the motive of the petition or any emails that I have seen or sent.

This decision would be fine if it was a simple transfer of rights from one broadcaster to another with similar reach and breadth.

It is not. It will result in literally thousands of fans losing access to something which has brought them enjoyment in an accessible manner. R107 does not reach across the County and Reading is the only club in a very wide catchment area and serves (and is served by that community).

I don't think a club in London, Manchester, Birmingham or any other metropolitan area would take such a short-sighted view to cut itself off from its supporters in this manner.

thefruits · by **thefruits** » 23 Jul 2006 09:45

WestCoast Life
thefruits Perhaps the players could stump up the difference between what the BBC offered and what JM was looking for. Say its £50k... between 20 of them thats £2500 for the season each. Doubt whether they would miss it much. How about getting Grahame Murty to support the cause, he's been a big fan of BBCRB coverage ?

I don't think the money was really the issue - look at some of the other posts on this subject. Remember who owns Reading 107 ...

Errrr... from the Reading FC website

"We are delighted that Reading 107 have been able to meet the new valuation and we look forward to assisting them with their live coverage.

"We greatly value our long-term partnership with BBC Radio Berkshire, but unfortunately on this occasion they haven't been able to match the valuation for live commentary rights."

Looks to me thats its purely financial. Agree ?

WestCoast Life · by **WestCoast Life** » 23 Jul 2006 09:50

thefruits
WestCoast Life
thefruits Perhaps the players could stump up the difference between what the BBC offered and what JM was looking for. Say its £50k... between 20 of them thats £2500 for the season each. Doubt whether they would miss it much. How about getting Grahame Murty to support the cause, he's been a big fan of BBCRB coverage ?

I don't think the money was really the issue - look at some of the other posts on this subject. Remember who owns Reading 107 ...

Errrr... from the Reading FC website

"We are delighted that Reading 107 have been able to meet the new valuation and we look forward to assisting them with their live coverage.

"We greatly value our long-term partnership with BBC Radio Berkshire, but unfortunately on this occasion they haven't been able to match the valuation for live commentary rights."

Looks to me thats its purely financial. Agree ?

well they are hardly going to say "The chairman instructed us to support his other business to the detriment of the fans"

it is known as 'spin' (or BS by another name)

thefruits · by **thefruits** » 23 Jul 2006 09:53

firstdivision I have taken the liberty of emailing Martin Salter for his take on the situation. You may like to do the same.

salterm@parliament.uk

He has the interest of a fan and the ability to do something.

I notice that he appears to have signed the petition already. Number 370 ?

Riseley · by **Riseley** » 23 Jul 2006 10:00

371. Riseley I am so shocked, I plan a complete takeover of the club and will replace Void Butler and Co with the HNA? moderating team, and Spacey for good grammer. But I warn you, don't call him dumb and don't you dare bring your dogs to football - that is all.

The above is not yours truly. Certain elements will bring this petition into disrepute if we are not careful. Are 'Martin Salter' or 'Dave Kitson' the real deal?

Jaques Francais · by **Jaques Francais** » 23 Jul 2006 10:51

The decision to change the commentry was a commercial one, pure and simple. If you really think a petition will make any difference to a business decision, influenced by money, then by all means waste your time filling it in. But it won't.

susieroyal · by **susieroyal** » 23 Jul 2006 11:09

thefruits
firstdivision I have taken the liberty of emailing Martin Salter for his take on the situation. You may like to do the same.

salterm@parliament.uk

He has the interest of a fan and the ability to do something.

I notice that he appears to have signed the petition already. Number 370 ?

I'd expect that the real Martin Salter knows how to spell forgotten correctly.

thefruits · by **thefruits** » 23 Jul 2006 11:12

Jaques Francais The decision to change the commentry was a commercial one, pure and simple. If you really think a petition will make any difference to a business decision, influenced by money, then by all means waste your time filling it in. But it won't.

Perhaps you're right... but you never know...

It isn't impossible... see below article...

http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/s ... 77,00.html

'Companies like McDonald's, lock manufacturer Kryptonite and computer firm Dell have all fallen foul of internet buzz in recent years. Because search engines like Google can allow grassroots campaigns to become highly visible, industry insiders agree decisions can be shaped by a small number of activists.

"It's always been the case that vocal minorities are listened to by media organisations, brands, advertisers and marketers - normally because they're thought to represent a wider swath of opinion," said Tom Coates, a technologist with Yahoo! and prominent blogger.

"TV and radio programmes are censored or pulled on the green-inked letters of a few hundred people, products removed from shelves because of less than 100 complaints.

"On that basis, these figures start to sound like a pretty large number of people, and probably a much more representative sample than perhaps before."

Mr Reynolds admits the idea of small groups being able to pressurise wider decisions is nothing new, but those who ignore online buzz do so at their peril: "You can bury your head in the sand, but very quickly you'll look like a very old-fashioned company."

Oh and we're up to 425 signatures now... and rising

gazzer, loyal royal · by **gazzer, loyal royal** » 23 Jul 2006 11:18

thefruits How about getting Grahame Murty to support the cause, he's been a big fan of BBCRB coverage ?

316, Murts has already signed it, looking good

well done mate

reading98 · by **reading98** » 23 Jul 2006 11:57

478. Jamie Cureton As former Reading player and avid listener of BBC Radio Berks, I would like to say how sorry I am to see this happen. The fans have been pushed to the side in order for the football club to make money! The fans will be here long term, John, Premiership football may not be! Good luck next season.

I don't know if it is real but it is good to see former players on the petition list but again not sure if it is him or not

Jay · by **Jay** » 23 Jul 2006 12:04

Seems genuine enough.

I hope people don't piss around with the petition, not if we want it to amount to anything!

Riseley · by **Riseley** » 23 Jul 2006 12:41

Mike Lewis, Cureton, Kitson, and Salter are 100% genuine. Must go now as the pixies down the bottom of my garden are calling me.

floyd__streete · by **floyd__streete** » 23 Jul 2006 12:43

Royal Rother If JM, who has sunk millions and millions to get us where we are now, sees an opportunity to boost advertising revenue and audience figures in one of his businesses by purchasing the rights to exclusive commentaries, which I assume is the underlying motivation, then I can respect that as a business move. It is his sound business sense that has helped achieve the dream, and whilst I also appreciate any move made by the fans to bring dissatisfaction to his attention, I do hope that it is done by all participants with the respect the man deserves, rather than childish and disrespectful namecalling.

Absolutely, totally agree with this.

floyd__streete · by **floyd__streete** » 23 Jul 2006 12:45

Do people really think that the players are likely to bother signing this, perhaps risking a ticking off from the football club?

Sign the Petition to save BBCRB Commentary

Sign the Petition to save BBCRB Commentary

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