Sky Sports is Number 1 (TV Coverage - Satellite or terrestrial?)

Member Name: Dr_Evil

Product:	TV Coverage - Satellite or terrestrial?
Date:	18/10/00 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sky's superb coverage

Disadvantages: England matches on PPV

While in my opinion Sky Sports football coverage is undoubtedly the best there is still a major place for terrestrial TV in football broadcasting. In the past 8 years or so since Sky first won the rights to screen the Premier League their coverage has improved beyond all recognition. It is now a superb production with the best presenters, the best commentators and the best presentation. One of the main reasons that Sky wins out though is the time they can devote to a match. Whereas on terrestrial coverage will start 5 mins before kick-off and end 5 mins after full time, Sky can devote an hour or more either side to show all of the build up and post match interviews.

The problem with football coverage at the moment is that there is no single platform where every match can be seen. OnDigital screen all the Tuesday night Champions League matches which aren't available on Sky or Cable, while Sky Digital screens many of the UEFA Cup matches which aren't available on OnDigital or Cable. Therefore any football fan who wants to watch live Champions League and UEFA Cup action will have to subscribe to both Sky Digital and OnDigital.

The advent of the first England match on pay-per-view last week, when U-Direct showed Englands World Cup qualifier in Finland, heralds the start of a new era when we may have to pay individually for each match we want to watch. From all accounts U-Direct's coverage was pretty bad, with a 70's style studio, cheap presenters and third rate radio commentators!, and they had the cheek to charge £10 to receive the match. Hopefully this expirement will have been such a failure that it will never happen again.

In my opinion steps should be taken to protect ALL England matches from being shown on PPV, and it is good to see the FA have decided that from next season all home competitive internationals will be shown on terrestrial TV.

Sky have undoubtedly brought football coverage in the UK to the forefro
nt with their pioneering interactive features but unfortunately, for the time being anyway, it is a shame that these are available to so few.

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