WEG - BBC Coverage

V

voltaire

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Just watched an amazing opening ceremony for the WEG. Superb....would have been better if the resolution had not been so poor, but then I can't really blame the WEG web-site for that.

On the BBC at the same time as the opening ceremony they were showing "bargain hunt" or "cash in the attic" or some other drivel. I'm pretty disgusted with the BBC and see no excuse for not giving the WEG some serious airtime.

So I've filed an official complaint through their web-site. Only took two minutes. If people file "official complaints" then the BBC has to report upon the number of complaints they get. They prefer to receive "comments" or "feedback" which do not have to be reported.

If you are fed up with the BBCs approach to equestrian coverage I would encourage you to file a complaint. You can do so from this link complaint

Please select "Complaint" as your option. If you don't complain, they won't change their pandering to Dart, Snooker and Football coverage in-favour of equestrianism.

Hope you are all well.

V
 
Eurosport are showing really good live coverage of the WEG!
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Grandstand are only showing the SJ and eventing, not sure what they are offering on interactive. Either way, 2 out of the 7 disciplines is pretty poor considering the amount of coverage cricket, tennis, football etc get!!

Its also not just the WEG, equestrian coverage is always poor in comparison and even when they do show events such at Badminton its a few hours of XC (usually inbetween golf!!), and some SJ. Now I may not be the best at maths but I'm fairly sure there are 3 phases to events such as Badminton....SJ + XC = 2. They could at least dedicate 20 minutes to the dressage!!
 
The sad thing is though DD, not everyone can afford to have sky/digital TV and therefore we miss out on about 90% of TV coverage of equestrian disciplins.
 
I have Sky! What channel is showing it? One point here for H&H editorial: - where has your "horses on the box" slot gone from the news pages? I used to rely on that!!
 
Sorry, though I should add that I am a massive football fan and got Sky so I could watch the footie!

Equestrian sports do not bring in the same money as footie, is the bottom line. Arsenal's old stadium seated 38,000, think it's more like 50,000 now and with tickets at over thirty quid a throw, well you do the maths... PLUS the money the broadcasters get from people like me who shell out for sports channels, PLUS the extra pay-per-view matches. Well, even at its biggest viewing figures horses are not in the same league, and people like Murdoch are always going to go with the money!

Yes we used to get horses on the BBC, for example, but those were the good old days. Broadcasters now have to compete in a multichannel environment and it's a harsh fact that even with public service broadcasters like the BBC, channel controllers have one eye on the ratings and the other on the commercial channels!

It's a chicken and egg situation - without more investment, equine sports will never have real mainstream glamour, and without that glamour they are never going to appeal to the mainstream! I think the best we can hope for is a dedicated equine channel, I know there are some in Europe and there were noises about one coming to the UK. Again, that will probaably be cab/sat so woudl miss all the terrestrial homes unless it went on Freeview - and the carriage platforms are all about money too!

Sadly the haydays of HOYS and showjumping in pretty much primetime slots getting 7m viewers are long gone... sigh...
 
Sounds about right for Eurosport - they drive me up the wall with their scheduling never matching what's actually on. Last Wednesday the TV paper said Showjumping 6.15 - 7.15pm, it finally came on at 6.30pm but their on-line schedule said 7.05 - 8.00pm!!!
According to their on-line schedule : http://www.eurosport.co.uk/tvschedule_clng2_day1.shtml
WEG is on tomorrow at the amazingly useful times (for those of us who work) of 10.30am - 2.30pm and 4.30pm-5.30pm. No f*****g good to me and I can't set the video for cable channels!!
 
I said:
"Where is the BBC coverage of the World Equestrian Games? I know, I know, your'll mutter something about a minority sport, but this isn't some local gymkhana we are talking about here this is BIG! Come on BBC start getting your priorities right!!!"
I have also asked for a response - wonder what I'll get!
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[ QUOTE ]
The only thing on today is endurance, which I don't think many people would watch to be honest. There's dressage on tomorrow though!
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[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, I would - there are quite a few of us endurance weirdos out there, you know!

More seriously, I've complained several times to the BBC over the years about lack of equestrian coverage on terrestrial TV. Hasn't done any good so far.
 
I know it's very frustrating that there is so little coverage on TV (I have Freeview but don't have Sky or Eurosport) but remember there is live coverage throughout on the WEG website. Click on the link for the video stream on the right had side of the page.
 
Forgot to say before that I had to e-m the BBC on Friday to get them to correct the Interactive listing in the Sport section of their website. They had the Eventing cross-country on Saturday under the heading of Athletics!
 
Watching WEG now on the video streaming. Cant see much! Tiny little figures riding round a very far away dressage arena! Riding to some music about standing up for the champions!!!

Oh no wait, now we DO have close ups of some dude riding about leading a grey pony? What on earth is going on.

The stands are almost empty... where is everyone?
 
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