麻豆社

Concerned as I am that this blog will become the latest focus point for fans of another sport to 'vent', I'll get a comment in now: when do you think it will be time for saturation coverage? Will it be more chicken and egg - the 麻豆社 try and drive up people's interest, so people become interested, so you put on more coverage, driving up people's interest, etc.?

Separately, when can we expect an announcement about the on screen 'talent' and the commentators for the Games and the Games events? Not asking for names, but will yourself and the rest of the 麻豆社 team be actively accepting feedback (and soliciting it from the public) on what works and what doesn't? The right people draws people in and makes them interested in the event, as Channel 4 have found to their cost with the World Athletics Championships this week.

I find it interesting that we are talking about saturation coverage of the olympics and what enthusiasts want to see when the 麻豆社 don't have any coverage of the World Athletics Championships right now! If the 麻豆社 wanted to drive up people's interested surely coverage of these championships would have been the way to do that? I do not believe that the Olympics could possibly be over saturated especially in terms of athletics coverage as it does not get enough attention in the first place.

I look forward to the build up to the olympics and this includes all areas of coverage from GB qualification and training to the personalities that will be presenting it.

While I am a sports fan I feel already I've heard too much about the olymoics. Even individual sport's world chamionships are reported as an olympic test event or qualifying event. For sports such as tennis and football the olympics are a distraction from the main events, although the players won't say as much on camera.

Just because its in london doesn't add anything to the event for me, I'd rather have guaranteed good weather and smooth running than potential rain delays and traffic/crime problems.

I'm sorry reallyneutral but i totally disagree with your comments. The fact that it is in London is the whole plus point of these olympics compared to previous olympics. Also regarding weather and traffic, surely these are issues that we deal with everyday living in London, especially considering British summers that depress us all! In contrast I believe the Olympics will give us a welcome distraction from these trivial daily problems.

I do agree that for sports such as Football, Tennis and Golf when it is reinstated in 2016, the olympics is undoubtedly of no interest for the leading stars. These sports however are given overwhelming coverage anyway, hence the importance of the Olympics. They are the premier event for a number of sports which you never see any other time of year, e.g athletics, swimming, boxing, rowing - the list goes on.

Ask kids if they're excited about Christmas in July and you might get a different answer than when you ask them on Christmas Eve. There's a lot can happen in a year and there could well be gold medal winners that aren't even on the radar at the moment.

Well, I'm excited about 2012, and am confident that Team GB will perform well.....and who knows, we may have F1 back in 2013!!

Jess Ennis may actually benefit from losing her title this year as in a greater motivation to prove herself at the Olympics, as will, hopefully, Mo Farah. We may be tepid in our trepidation for next year right now, but give it 6 months and we'll all be excited...........

Roger, is there any truth in the rumours that the 麻豆社 are selling half the Olympic coverage to Sky?

Having been heavily involved in public One Year to Go celebrations in Derby in July I am certain that the appetite for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is very strong.

The public response to the Big Screen footage of Olympic and Paralympic footage was very positive but the reaction to the 2012 Torch at the event was fantastic. Suddenly, things seemed to become more of a reality for people and their excitement visibly grew. With the Torch Relay due in the City on 29 June 2012 the public support can only increase - a process I would epxect to see repeated throughout the country as the Games approach.

Children in schools are certainly getting more and more excited about the Games, something we collectively have to make sure we capitalise on.

Some people will always be against things like the Games, but that shouldn't mean that those who are interested water-down their own excitement as some sort of apology. Next summer will be very exciting, there is no need whatsoever to apologise for enjoying it.

The staging of the IAAF WC hasn't helped the Olympic buildup (but neither has all the other World Championships coverage going on at this time)

I feel sorry for Channel 4 and Ortis Deley in particular.
Coverage starting at 2am, empty stadiums and our athletes not performing makes public interest difficult.
In time I'm sure Channel 4 will learn alot from their first big outing in sport.

What would help all athletics is clearer advertising of events, 'Catch the 200m final live at..." etc

8.At 09:55 1st Sep 2011, HCumber wrote:
Roger, is there any truth in the rumours that the 麻豆社 are selling half the Olympic coverage to Sky?
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Even if they did, anything that Sky show must be also shown live on 'terrestrial' channels. This is all down to the much heralded Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events (, which declares that the Olympics "must have live coverage made available to free-to-air channels, although PPV networks may share live coverage."

I would have to say this coverage is way too early for me. There are many other major sporting events before the Olympics (for example Rugby World Cup) which should be taking the lions share of the coverage at the moment. When the Olympics is the next major event, I will start thinking about it then. Hype it too much now to the point I can't avoid it and I am going to get frustrated.

Personally, I was in the 'very excited' category until tickets went on sale. I live in London and can't get one ticket, yet I see people who have managed to obtain dozens of tickets.
I'm now in the 'not excited at all' category. All down to the ticket strategy......

What's funny is that I got offered VIP tickets to to Daegu from the Korean Government. Sometimes you need to switch alliances to become appreciated.....

Willo77
Even if they did, anything that Sky show must be also shown live on 'terrestrial' channels. This is all down to the much heralded Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events (, which declares that the Olympics "must have live coverage made available to free-to-air channels, although PPV networks may share live coverage."

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I think you'll find that at you will see that Althletics comes under Category B and it states that "Category B events can be shown on PPV, provided sufficient secondary coverage (highlights, delayed broadcast, etc.) is made to free-to-air broadcasters." So they don't have to provide "live coverage made available to free-to-air channels, although PPV networks may share live coverage."

I'm afraid that the figures cited here for those who really aren't that excited about the Olympics being in London may in fact be still higher. My admittedly anecdotal experience is that many London people were not overly keen on the Olympics being here, with some in fact rather wishing that Paris had won the bid. (Apparantly the increase in council tax in connection with the Olympics rankles with many).

A point about the last paragraph in the blog - tuning in to see some action and support our athletes is not the same as support for the Olympics in general or, specifically, in London.

Will watch certain events, but overall, not excited at all, might have been if the whole country was involved ie sailing on the far more attractive west coast, cycling up north, for me it`s a way of promoting London whilst dangerously teetering the country towards massive debts.

The fact that it's in London this time around is neither here nor there (for me anyway...). Each Olympics is always billed 'greatest show on earth' - no doubt the Rio games will have the same tag in 4 years time when London 2012 is distant memory.

Personally, I will still avidly watch TV coverage of most of the sports - (except the soccer)

Did not apply for over-priced tickets, with over-priced accommodation and over-priced transport costs to get to an over-priced city.

I suspect London may have the "wow" appeal to say the Americans, Chinese, Japanese etc. I went to Sydney 2000, which was pricey, but was worth the expense due to the "wow" location.

Roger its intresting that you are refusing to clarify rumours regarding that the 麻豆社 will be sharing the 2016 Rio Games in Brazil, with Sky, ITV or Channel 4, you defend your stance by saying " The 麻豆社 do not comment on ongoing Rights negotiation" yet a "麻豆社 Insider" presumably one of your colleagues has told the Daily Mirror:

鈥淭he fee is huge and it won鈥檛 all be prime time due to the time difference,
Some of the execs here want to keep it to ourselves but can we really afford it? It could be the time to strike a deal with other broadcasters.

鈥淭here are more important sporting events to keep on the 麻豆社 鈥� like Wimbledon, the Grand National and the World Cup final.鈥�



So seeing as 麻豆社 Employees are prepared to discuss on going rights negotations, would it not be sensibile for such details being posted on official 麻豆社 Places like this blog, instead of in Comics like the Daily Mirror, and in Charles Sales Sport Agenda?

It seems 麻豆社 Execs have got lots of double standards.

I accept what you are saying Roger, but would you accept that on occasions people from the 麻豆社 do leak stuff to the Newspapers, whenever there is a major sporting contract avaliable ( Cricket Rights, Champions League Football rights to name but 2) it just seems pretty silly when we get the official line that the 麻豆社 never comment on Rights Negotiations, yet it seems they so freely leak Information to Newspapers during negotations.

Dont get me wrong, i accept what you are saying regarding the Olympics and the anonymous quotes, but i still think there must be some leaking going on during negotations for different Rights!!!

@22 Roger, seeing as you raise the subject of F1 and it is therefore on topic, how can we be sure that the Olympics will remain on the 麻豆社 in 2012 and not be sold between now and then, as the F1 was?

I know that the Olympics holds protected status, but so too did the F1 under the Concorde Agreement, and the 麻豆社 managed to find a loophole in that, and acted in a way that is very damaging to the sport and against the interest of the license payer.

We're now at the very ugly position where our MP's are going to have to force the 麻豆社 for answers, and quite right too, the 麻豆社 should be accountable for its actions:

It's a shame that the 麻豆社 refuse to answer the thousands of F1 complaints in any meaningful way, and I'd hate to see the same situation replicated for the Olympics.

Right now I'm excited about the Olympics but no more than any other one. I will be watching it (or at least 50% of it?) on the TV like any other games as I can't get tickets, the fact that it's in the UK doesn't make a huge amount of difference.

@23 HCumber

Agreed, when will the 麻豆社 come clean about how the deal was negotiated, why they didn't pull out completely and let another free-to-air broadcaster take over. These are topical questions that need answering NOW!!!! Go Don Foster!!!!!!!!!

p.s. this is on topic as Mr Mosey brought this up in post 22 so don't dare censor.

I wonder how much of this sport cost cutting is real and how much is just senior executives throwing their toys out of the pram because they have had to give up some of their perks?

It does seem strange that the very popular sports are being hit with these cuts and we find the 麻豆社 paying 22 million for the idea to sing behind a curtain from the US.

I would like to point out that not everything from the US is good.

As for the Olympics hand it all over to ITV and Channel 4 then, see if we care.

I find it incredulous that you cut the very programmes that tick all your 麻豆社 Charter boxes in value for everything.

Methinks you doth protest to much about your cuts.

Coverage of the Olympics though shouldn't mean highly expensive saturation coverage of the tiniest little aspect with the incumbent costs that have led the 麻豆社 to disappoint (and then ignore!) millions of fans of other sports such as F1 and world athletics etc.

The 麻豆社's claim to be a public service broadcaster is looking more and more unreal every day, as is its belief that the licence fee has a future.

If you do not, or will not understand how important it is to listen and respond to the wants and concerns of those who pay for the 麻豆社 then you must not be disappointed when they refuse to support your continued existence by way of taxing them. It really is that simple................

@1 Jordan D

Yep us F1 fans have been "high jacking" 麻豆社 blogs to get our point across and asking for awnsers we had to do this as the 麻豆社 shut down all the F1 blogs.

I know jake from the 麻豆社's F1 team is going to be a host for the Olypmics(now that his main job is only part time Im sure he will be putting a lot the time and effort as he does for F1)

Oh and by the way


Looks like its not only F1 rights to be sold off.
You see this is not just about F1 its about sport as a whole on the 麻豆社.
There can't be that much left on the 麻豆社 to sell off,no wonder they axed Grandstand no sport to show on it any more:)

@28 - here's a reminder about how savings should and could be made in other areas of the 麻豆社 (拢100million in this instance, and probably a conservative estimate as it's a 麻豆社 article), rather than cutting on in-demand content, such as F1 and the Olympics:



At this rate, when the license fee freeze ends, you will have no worthy content to warrant it.

Also would like to say thankyou to roger to take time out to reply to the public.
Maybe you could have a word with some of your co workers in the F1 deptment:)

And sorry for high jacking your blog but I feel this point needs to get across for all 麻豆社 sport viewers.

I personally think that the London 2012 Olympics are just a big ego boost for London, nothing for the rest of the country to rejoice about. Why would anybody who lives 300 miles away from London think that they will benefit from this? Think of how many billions could have and should have been put to better use. So yes lets all rejoice in the saturation coverage.................NOT!!!!

Very informative blog post, therefore, it is with regret that I am "hijacking" this blog.

Please can you give your colleagues a "nudge" and tell them to lead by your example, and reply to the feedback?

It's astonishing that daily newspaper and certain car magazines are shedding more light on the matter than the parties involved. This would certainly quash the rumours, if a statement from the source was evident. But as it is, we're left to feed on the produce of the rumour mill, and our frustration grows.

And furthermore....

If you are not obliged to discuss rights deals, then please explain:

"麻豆社 Sport was outbid for the World Athletics Championships, but we retain our commitment to the UK Athletics properties and to the Diamond League - as well as excellent Worlds coverage on 5 Live."

@32

How very true, it's nice to see that Roger's head is out of the sand!!!

I well remember the uproar when the 麻豆社 announced its plans for extensive coverage of the World Cup in 1966. And that was when most people only had two channels. The 麻豆社 were proved dramatically right. A lesson ITV have never forgotten. For those people who still don't like the Olympics there are plenty of other things to watch these days. However for the 麻豆社 to have these rights and not exploit them in the way they propose would be ridiculous.

I will watch the Olympics, for sure hours of it. But in the case I didn't: I have at least 100 other channels on my set-top-box, so do not ask the 麻豆社 to cater for all our needs on these two summer weeks.

Roger thanks for replying, its really appreciated!!! I used to follow your posts on the Sport Editors Blog, and you always posted intresting pieces, and you always used to take time to answer questions, since you have left the Sport Editors Blog has been a shadow of its previous self, and the Lady who took over your job, has not posted once in the last 2 years, which is shocking when compared to your standards!!

Maybe she doesnt care about Blogs, or isnt comfortable with answering Questions, but as you have shown, answering Questions and treating people with respect,leads to people showing you the same behaviour, is it not possible you could take over Sport Editors Blog again?

Also my last few questions regarding the 麻豆社s approach to rights negotation,this is just for clarity, and i appreciate your answers before!!

Are Newspapers making things up, in other words lying, when they claim they have Quotes from 麻豆社 "Insiders" "Sources" call it what you will? Or is it a case of a bad Apple spoiling it for the rest and leaking stuff to Newspapers? I am of course talking in the contex of when Major Sporting TV Rights are avalaible.

I am genuinely intrested in to know, because in these cases in my experience, Joe Public gets extremly angry with the 麻豆社, because they open a Newspaper, and read that:

麻豆社 bids 拢400m for Champions League games


麻豆社 expected to bid for test cricket rights


麻豆社 to bid for live Premiership package


Back in 2005 you confirmed to the Guardian, that the 麻豆社 will be bidding for Live Premiership footabll,surely this contradicts your assertion that the "麻豆社 never comments on rights negotiations"

Of course as you have pointed out the alleged CL Football bid by the 麻豆社 was a fairy tale, but why do the 麻豆社 let Newspapers publish these stories without taking any action, alot of the anger from License fee payers is because they read stories like the above, and they believe it, or is it because of the status of the 麻豆社, Newspapers can print what they want, and cause anger and lack of faith in the 麻豆社, because what are in effect blatant untruths?

I suspect Fedster that some newspaper journalists are insufficiently rigorous about the sources they rely on.
Roger and indeed his predecessor Peter Salmon both made comments about sports they would like to see back on the 麻豆社. IIRC no such bids were made when the time came. I remember Jonathan Martin some years ago refusing to be interviewed at all on a 麻豆社 programme which was discussing future bidding strategies because he didn't want to show his hand. Anyway I think you're being very optimistic if you anyone the 麻豆社 included can stop newspapers printing rubbish.

"Taking the nation's temperature on 2012"

While the 2012 Olympics leaves me cold, I am absolutely blazing about certain planned changes to FTA coverage of another sport.....

Care to guess which one? ;-)

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

@41

Dont worry FlugelD the 麻豆社 is looking(selling) their rights to show the Olympics.
It beggers the question will the 麻豆社 even need a sports deptment soon as the dont seem to have a lot of sport on air anymore.

Dont worry FlugelD the 麻豆社 is looking to share(selling) their rights to show the Olympics.
It beggers the question will the 麻豆社 even need a sports deptment soon as the dont seem to have a lot of sport on air anymore.

Sorry for the doubble post so angry about the 麻豆社 selling off all their sport Im posting with out checking (need an edit button).

Roger,

Can you comment on this story in today's IoS? I realise that you are not the IOC but given the huge cost of your coverage, will the 麻豆社 be as unbiased as they claim and cover such stories in the news in the months and weeks leading up to the jamboree? Or will it be business as usual - ignoring any criticism?

No ferrari35. The 麻豆社 are not looking to share their rights to the Olympics. The only games left on the current EBU contract are next years. Only the 麻豆社 of the EBU's UK members is involved in those. The speculation is about games from 2014 onwards for which no contract has yet been awarded for the UK to the 麻豆社 or any other broadcaster. I know you like many others are upset about F1, but get your facts right.

@46 jcb336 Im just going by what the mirror printed about the coverage of the 2016 Olympics I was in no way talking about 2012 none of it is any fact of mine.

I know this does not make it true any news outlet can spin a story to suit their needs (like the 麻豆社 saying how the deal with SKY was the only way to keep F1 on fta TV all the while omiting the fact C4 put in a bid to match SKY)

Who knows what will happen in five years time but Ill bet you this the only full coverage the 麻豆社 will have on the 2016 games will be five live.

The only comment I've seen from a Channel 4 executive on F1 is that they couldn't match the money-I have been unable to find any substantiation for anything else. On the internet unsubstantiated rumours quickly gain the status of holy writ.

If Sky are so minded they can outbid everybody for everything. Its only if rights holders want the potential coverage, or if the event is on the protected list that the FTA broadcasters will win out. Even than the rightsholders will look for substantial fees. That's why much of the current criticism is just so naive.

I wonder how many people don't realise that the 麻豆社 doesn't have the rights to the Paralympics in 2012?

Would they show the Paralympics even if they had the rights? I doubt that they would care enough to do so. They have the rights to show GP2/3 but we don't even get it mentioned in passing let alone see any of it.

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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Post #53 did not break the house rules. 麻豆社 censorship in action.

Hi Roger

I see reports of over 10 hours a day of the 2012 being available in 3D. Also suggestions that the 麻豆社 will provide "some" 3D coverage.

Can you reveal any plans for what 3D coverage the 麻豆社 will provide next year?