BBC 2 Coverage

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Rachel_M

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So what are peoples opinions on this years broadcast?


Was anyone else disappointed with such a short programme for the show jumping? I know it is not the most popular of the three phases but it would have been nice to see a few more riders or at least have BBCi showing extended footage as yesterday during XC?
 
They only ever show the final 10 SJing. I was disappointed that they did not do a proper XC catch up, then realised they had had a mainsream prog on BBC2 yesterday and not just BBCi
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Went yesterday to see the XC but asked mum to record it for me. Was watching some before and tbh, I think there was to much talking! I got bored so fast forwarded it to when it actually started.
SJ, I thought 1 hour was much to little. Especially when replaced with VERY BORING snooker
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I think the equestrian coverage has seriously improved, and I was quite impressed with the cross country coverage on BBCi and BBC2, the showjumping coverage was quite disappointing though
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They will be showing the European Championships at Pratoni Del Viaro in September though which is a bonus!
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Yep, we saw the same amount of SJing as normal I think (though I would like them to show more). I think it feels like less as the programme was shorter because they usually show about an hour of cross country highlights first but as you say the showed all that yesterday.
This is the best tv coverage of Badminton we've had for a few years. I just hope the mass withdrawals of British riders - especially the 'top names' doesn't affect future coverage.
 
I thought XC wasn't so bad, except of course for the missing a chunk of the action with all the introductions at the beginning and running the Lucinda course walks segments right when some of the favourite riders were going around???
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I do think we could have had more showjumping today and agree, who wants to watch snooker anyways
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I do think we could have had more showjumping today and agree, who wants to watch snooker anyways
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Not me!!
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I think it was the best coverage for donkeys years, and yes, it's a shame they didn't show more of the dressage, but you can't have everything (unless of course you like snooker!) I think it was a shame about the withdrawals, because that obviously affected the quality of the coverage, and the commentators had an awful lot of filling in to do.
 
I was quite excited to see we had 4 hours of XC on Saturday but with all the withdrawls after the dressage I only hope the beeb don't back out of doing the same next year.
 
Very much enjoyed the footage - Could not believe the length of time dedicated to it on Saturday. Also lots of great interviews with leading riders - though maybe partly to do with the fact they had time on their hands as not riding XC!!
 
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I only hope the beeb don't back out of doing the same next year

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I bet they will, TBH I don't think this year's event was as good as it should have been for reasons we all know.
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Hopefully it won't marr the sport or the event enough to make the BBC reduce its coverage when we're finally getting more of what we as a widely-participated sport deserve. I did think though that the length of coverage was fab this year of XC, shame I haven't really a clue what went on as I must have seen about 10 riders on the course and forgot to tape the BBC footage! Dammit!
 
I thought it was really good. There was a lot of talking on Saturday - but only because there were so many gaps because of withdrawals! I thought Clare Balding handled it really well TBH.

I am going to send an e mail to the BBC congratulating them on the programme - to hopefully encourage them to do more next year!

The showjumping yesterday was a lot shorter, granted. But most people saw the top 10 and as that was where it was most likely going to be won or lost is why the Beeb focused on it I guess...
 
I thought it was excellent too, as did my pretty unhorsey OH. I enjoyed the interviews, it gave more of a feel of the event, and I think helped the relatively uninformed viewer gain more of a sense of the importance of the event, and the time and effort that goes into it. Now to get a full field and all the talking too! I liked the way they brought in loadsof top riders into the commentary box, Ian Stark was fantastic, Tina Cook seemed to take a while to warm up, but was also very good, and the others were good too. I also thought the way they handled the accidents was good, they didn't patronise the audience, but they did their utmost (short of having a delay on transmission) to avoid horrific images. I don't find it that interesting to sit and watch countless horses jump a course of 125cm, so just watching the last few when the pressure is mounting is fine by me!
 
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I don't find it that interesting to sit and watch countless horses jump a course of 125cm, so just watching the last few when the pressure is mounting is fine by me!

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Agreed, it gets boring.
 
I don't think the show jumping was shorter really, we saw the same amount we always do. The programme was shorter as they didn't show an hour of cross country before it due to the coverage on saturday.
 
I agree the coverage was very good. The only thing that got me a little was the BBC2 coverage started well into the event. The earlier rounds were obviously shown on BBCi and could have been available for BBC2 to air in the event of a hold up....

During the 35 mins Jonty Evans was held up on course, we could have been watching more of the earlier rounds instead of Claire Balding interviewing yet more withdrawn riders about the state of the ground.

All in all, a great effort by the BBC and one I would like to see continue.
 
Thought the coverage was very good indeed - certainly the best in quite some years (and I've been watching Badminton on TV since the mid 80's now!!). Agree with earlier comments that it would have been good to see a few more rounds shown during the hold up, but we can't have everything!

Thought that the commentary with Ian Stark, Tina Cook and Pippa Funnell, and I think Andrew Hoy was in there as well, gave a far more interesting and fresher viewpoint than normal. Lucinda Green was great and much better for SJ with Mike Tucker. Hopefully they will do this again.

We will also get to see the European's and Burghley as well this year, so I think things are improving again. Though it doesn't seem that long ago that we used to see Bramham, Bleinheim (sp!) and Gatcombe on TV as well - although thinking about it, it was around 1992 so that's also a very long time ago! - God I'm getting old....

Thanks BBC - please keep up the good work.
 
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