BBC/Euro 2008

Taken from Football365.com - Mediawatch 08/05/08

The BBC & ITV: Caught Between A Rock And A Ratings Pummelling
You have to feel sorry for the BBC.

Back in the early summer of 2007, the corporation was cock-a-hoop at landing the rights to show all 32 matches at Euro 2008 in partnership with ITV. “It will be great for our audiences to have Euro 2008 available,” enthused Roger Mosey, the BBC’s Director of Sport.

But that was before last year’s grim autumn, when England lost in the rain to Croatia and crashed out of the tournament even before it had begun. Suddenly, with none of the Home Nations at Austria/Switzerland, the broadcasters’ joy at securing the rights wasn’t looking so clever.

With ratings expected to take a pummelling, the obvious solution was for coverage to be downscaled and low-ranking matches to be sidelined on to their digital channels (BBC Four, ITV3 etc). But now it has emerged that the deal they signed contained the stipulation that all matches must not only be broadcast in full but also have to be shown on their flagship channels - BBC 1 and ITV 1. The BBC can’t even shunt games on to BBC2. The only exception are the final group matches when, because two games will be played simultaneously, they can move one to a digital channel.

Whether or not ITV and the BBC would have broadcast matches on their digital channels even if they were allowed is a moot point. After all, the principal justification in the BBC and ITV retaining the rights to show listed sports events - the World Cup, The Olympics, the Grand National and so on - is that they can offer universal coverage on free-to-air channels. Were, say, the BBC to sideline Austria v Poland on to BBC Four then their case would be fatally weakened.

The broadcasters are thus caught between a rock and a hard place. According to a report on the MediaGuardian website, both ITV and the Beeb are ‘bracing themselves for complaints next month when live matches will dominate prime time despite the absence of any domestic interest’.

While it is true that they offered comprehensive coverage of the 1994 World Cup, the difference then was that most matches kicked off outside of peak viewing periods. This summer, with all Euro 2008 matches starting at either 17.00 or 19.45BST, the tournament will trample all over the usual primetime slots.

While football fans can look forward to being given top spot, ITV is already counting its losses. Having lost around £10m in advertising revenue due to England’s failure to qualify, they have already made swingeing cutbacks to their plans. Not only will their match hosts be based in Blighty rather than either Austria or Switzerland, they have also taken the unprecedented - and telling - step of cancelling coverage of the final. “The decision has been made because there is no home nation representation at this year’s tournament and we don’t believe that it is in the public interest for both broadcasters to show the final live,” confirmed an ITV spokesman.

Moreover, with match-by-match ratings set to be substantially diminished by the absence of the Home Nations, the fear is that ITV (and the BBC) will suffer further losses by cancelling their normal primetime operations. Even the most die-hard football fan may not be particularly attracted to the prospect of Greece v Russia dominating the ITV1 schedule on a Saturday evening. But that’s exactly what will happen on June 14.

The BBC, by contrast, will be sending a ‘full team’ to the tournament - including Steve McClaren, the man generally considered to be responsible for England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008 and the inevitable failure of the corporation to attain the viewing figures they expected when they bought the rights last June.

Meanwhile, the debate about scheduling is likely to become a hot topic over the next six weeks. The sting in the tale for football fans is that UEFA are reported to be looking into whether they can challenge the ruling that all future European Championships have to be shown on free-to-air channels. By the end of June, even ITV and BBC might welcome the amendment.

My Comments:

Why do I find myself having no sympathy whatsoever for them - the BBC especially. ITV have shareholders and people to answer to, they seem to have tried to make the best out of a bad situation by cutting costs where they can. The BBC on the other hand seem to think they have no-one to answer to, not only do they decide to send a whole team to the finals (WHY??), but they also employ the man responsible for this whole mess. This is the BBC using the old boys network to sort your friends out. This happens on all channels and is the reason we have to listen to the likes of Rednapp, Shearer, Hanson & Lawrenson!

The BBC are going to get slaughtered for this and then they will ask for more tax payers money to pay for it.

Hopefully heads will roll!