ITV are a disgrace

[JR]

We were the second game shown today, yet itv failed to:

- show the team line-ups
- discuss whether the kebe goal was a fa cup record
- show the first yellow card for the west brom player

It is a pathetic highlights show that has little interest in showing proper highlights and detailed analysis of the games. You can often tell the quality of a show by its pundits and itv have the losers wise and burley as their top men. How anyone can employ wise is beyond me.

[AthleticoSpizz]

I feel your angst JR

but it was only a couple of decades ago that the likes or Reading didn't even exist on TV


any coverage is better than no coverage, and ITV FA Cup games (unlike those Sky shysters) are "free to air" to all.



a big-up to Stan Collymore on TalkSquawk who is really championing the "non-Premiership" teams on the radio

[rollsy]

same as the pre match coverage on the radio this morning. CHELSEA ARE PLAYING CARDIFF AND MAN CITY ARE PLAYING STOKE...........and there are some other games on but you would not be interested in that now would you? YES! YES I WOULD YOU ELITIST PRICK!

[Jackson Corner]

If you watched it you would think we were lucky to get a draw, they showed Albions chances but none of ours in the second half. Instead spent most of the opening drooling over Drogba. Then showed loads of the Pompey Saints game even though it had been on live earlier in the day.

[Woodcote Royal]

I feel your angst JR

but it was only a couple of decades ago that the likes or Reading didn't even exist on TV


any coverage is better than no coverage, and ITV FA Cup games (unlike those Sky shysters) are "free to air" to all.

So because it's free the fact it's utter sh*te doesn't matter

ITV are a truly loathsome broadcaster these days only interested in turning out garbage for the brain dead/economically inactive.

They buy the rights to a major sporting competition and spend the bare mininum they can get away with broadcasting it............................SKY are worth 10 ITV's.

[From Despair To Where?]

ITV's attitude to Sport was summed up by their coverage of the San Marino Grand Prix about 5 years ago.

2 laps to go, 2 drivers involved in the closest finish to a Grand Prix in living memory and ITV oxf*rd off to an advert break.

Alternatively, there's the Dan Gosling extra time winner in the Liverpool derby last season in the FA Cup.


More interested in advertising revenue and gurning celebrity and ratings than providing decent coverage of the event itself. It's why they are never allowed anywhere near the Olympics.


It's not just Sport. When Chris Morris wrote The Day Today over 15 years ago, he wasn't writing satire, he was writing the blueprint for ITV News in the 20th Century.

[Barry the bird boggler]

It's a disgrace the FA Cup and England games were awarded to ITV after their total incompetence in the ITV Digital fiasco.

The BBC, though not perfect, are so much better at providing coverage and getting somewhere near a balance between action and the endless hype and pundit yak you get with Sky. It's no coincidence the quality of FL coverage has improved 100 fold since ITV lost out on that.

At least 50% of the England world cup campaign will have decent coverage.

[LUX]

...........................SKY are worth 10 ITV's.

unfortunately true, as far as sport goes.

[Jerry St Clair]

- discuss whether the kebe goal was a fa cup record
- show the first yellow card for the west brom player

Personally, I'd rather not hear Andy Townsend et al pontificate on these matters. "I've seen 'em given' Brian"

'greed in the team line-ups though. Utterly amateurish.

[Rawlie19]

Also if you watch football on ITV on a TV that's 40" or bigger then the picture is appalling. They should at least make HD accessible to all with the technology if they're going to ramp down their normal coverage so badly.

And what was wrong with their stopwatch they put on the first goal? after only 10 seconds it was running at least 2 seconds fast. You wanna get that looked at fellas!

[1871 Royal]

The ITV picture is shockingly awful, the HD thing irritates my uncle.

Oh and I know its not "The Team" but as we are on the subject of ITV .....

F1 Coverage on BBC >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>F1 Coverage on ITV

[Jack Celliers]

I thought it was fine, but then I always liked the Championship - Reading being on telly at all is still a novelty.

We were second game on - despite only being championship teams - and the programme was only an hour long, so there was not enough time to set the scene for every game. At least we were spared the Motty analyis that the early goal would have enjoyed on BBC and Andy Gray claiming that the red card was harsh, which he does every week on sky.

The only shocking thing was that they missed the red card for Long, but ITV have been doing that for 20 years.

[Big Foot]

Nope, I saw the red card on my tele

Hate ITV's coverage of all games, ad break here and then ad break there....at least with MoTD it's a solid 70-90 minutes of uninterrupted football

ITV are uber kunts

[PEARCEY]

I thought it was fine, but then I always liked the Championship - Reading being on telly at all is still a novelty.

We were second game on - despite only being championship teams - and the programme was only an hour long, so there was not enough time to set the scene for every game. At least we were spared the Motty analyis that the early goal would have enjoyed on BBC and Andy Gray claiming that the red card was harsh, which he does every week on sky.

The only shocking thing was that they missed the red card for Long, but ITV have been doing that for 20 years.

The red card for Long was very clearly shown.

[Sarah Star]

I was glad they timed Kebe's goal, on screen, from kick-off. That bit was very interesting given the differing timings elsewhere.

[RobRoyal]

It's not just Sport. When Chris Morris wrote The Day Today over 15 years ago, he wasn't writing satire, he was writing the blueprint for ITV News in the 20th Century.

All too true. But then I can hardly watch any TV news without thinking of TDT. Did no newspeople ever watch it? Do they feel no shame?

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Also if you watch football on ITV on a TV that's 40" or bigger then the picture is appalling. They should at least make HD accessible to all with the technology if they're going to ramp down their normal coverage so badly.

The picture for the football league highlights is nearly as bad on the BBC. It's like watching on youtube.

Highlights, overall, have gone a bit downhill since match of the day introduced the idea of every game having highlights. Rather than having 3 games done properly, with 15-20 minutes of highlights, they now squeeze in every game with just 5-10 minutes of action.

And what was wrong with their stopwatch they put on the first goal? after only 10 seconds it was running at least 2 seconds fast. You wanna get that looked at fellas!

...err.. maybe they speeded up the film slightly.

[Dirk Gently]

It's a disgrace the FA Cup and England games were awarded to ITV after their total incompetence in the ITV Digital fiasco.

The BBC, though not perfect, are so much better at providing coverage and getting somewhere near a balance between action and the endless hype and pundit yak you get with Sky. It's no coincidence the quality of FL coverage has improved 100 fold since ITV lost out on that.

At least 50% of the England world cup campaign will have decent coverage.

It's all about getting the delicate balance right between maximising revenue and maximising audience. A free-to-air broadcaster will generate much greater audience but have lower bids than a pay-tv broadcaster. The fact is that ITV bid more for the FA Cup than BBC - the latter has spent most of their sports budget in Formula1.

As to choice of matches, you're looking at this from the perspective of a football supporter, which is the wrong way to look at it. ITV (or BBC for that matter) are interested in maximising audiences to justify their investment in the rights. And the fact is that the "average people" who are the great majority who occasionally watch football on TV (i.e. those they're aiming to attract) will only show any interest in teams they've heard of or know something about - the Big4 and the likes of Spurs, Leeds & Villa.

The smaller teams just don't figure on their radar....

[royal.badger]

It's not just Sport. When Chris Morris wrote The Day Today over 15 years ago, he wasn't writing satire, he was writing the blueprint for ITV News in the 20th Century.

All too true. But then I can hardly watch any TV news without thinking of TDT. Did no newspeople ever watch it? Do they feel no shame?

Bomb dogs.

[ankeny]

Watch "The Late Kick Off" withe jonathan Pierce , Graeme Murty and roses dad.All knowledgable about the lower divisions and plenty on Reading with Murts on there who makes you think we still are his team.