Sky's first match of their new deal to screen Northern Ireland's home internationals saw them screening probably Northern Ireland's toughest home fixture against group favourites Czech Republic. Gerry Armstrong took a break from his La Liga duties to play summariser, and the little Northern Irish man from Sky Sports News whose name escapes me presented the show.
Didn't quite catch the name of the commentator, it wasn't Jackie Fullerton but it sounded bloody like him, although with less of the trademark Fullerton chuckles.
It was a decent match though, both sides coming close. Chris Brunt has probably the best chance of the match, drawing a save out of Cech when baring down on goal, but a draw was probably fair. Northern Ireland were arguably the better team, but lacked cutting edge up front, as is often the problem. There was hope though, that it would be possible to get some results against the weaker teams in the group at Windsor Park if they played like that again - now if they can only produce that away from home.
Meanwhile, Setanta will be delighted with their match, England at Croatia, Walcott's hat-trick helping to earn a 4-1 win. I haven't seen any of the goals yet, but internet reports suggest a comprehensive win in the manner England should be capable of more often. Perhaps the knives where out for Cappello to soon - no doubt tomorrow's papers will go to the other extreme and start to build England up as World Cup hopefuls again, until the next bad result comes along.
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Setanta show FTA England and Scotland Highlights tonight
Setanta Sports 1 will be showing highlights of Iceland vs Scotland and Croatia vs England Free to Air on all platforms from 10.45 pm tonight. This is in light of any of the terrestrial broadcasters meeting Setanta's valuation of the highlight rights.
TV Review - Goalissimo, Channel 4
Goalissimo has been part of my weekend routine for about 14 months now, after starting to watch last summer during the close-season. Broadcast sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, then again on Saturday morning on Channel 4, it’s a weekly round-up show of goals and highlights from around the world.
It’s a strange and somewhat charming little show in that it is very restricted in what it can actually show by it’s obviously miniscule budget (when it’s broadcast in the middle of the night on Channel 4, there are advert breaks with no adverts, just previews of other shows, so clearly not a ratings winner). It tries hard however – making up for not being able to show the Premier League highlights by showing photos of the previous weeks matches.
The format tends to be pretty regular – goals from a few matches in a couple of leagues, and then extended highlights from a couple of matches – currently these tend to be Swedish, Brazilian and American. They either have a globetrotting commentator travelling the world to provide commentary, or some poor lackey in a studio somewhere talking over the already edited highlights.
Each week, there’s a few interview pieces, often featuring global projects to improve an area using football, or an interview with a big star at some promotional event. For some reason, they tend to sit on these interviews for a while before broadcasting them, meaning the content can quickly become out-of-date.
Highlights wise, currently we have Portuguese, German, Swedish, Brazilian, American goals. Occasionally we take a trip to Africa for highlights of some international matches (often several weeks after they happen) or African Champions League coverage. It’s usually quite scattergun, almost as if they get a list of fixtures and put it on the wall, chucking darts in the general direction to pick which matches they show.
It’s early in the season, so new TV contracts mean some leagues will disappear, or might take a while to come back – currently Serie A and Ligue 1 haven’t reappeared on the show after being show last year. Unfortunately it seems for the show, their portfolio is decreasing in direct proportion to increasing amount of money in football, pricing them out of rights to show highlights.
It’s a strange and somewhat charming little show in that it is very restricted in what it can actually show by it’s obviously miniscule budget (when it’s broadcast in the middle of the night on Channel 4, there are advert breaks with no adverts, just previews of other shows, so clearly not a ratings winner). It tries hard however – making up for not being able to show the Premier League highlights by showing photos of the previous weeks matches.
The format tends to be pretty regular – goals from a few matches in a couple of leagues, and then extended highlights from a couple of matches – currently these tend to be Swedish, Brazilian and American. They either have a globetrotting commentator travelling the world to provide commentary, or some poor lackey in a studio somewhere talking over the already edited highlights.
Each week, there’s a few interview pieces, often featuring global projects to improve an area using football, or an interview with a big star at some promotional event. For some reason, they tend to sit on these interviews for a while before broadcasting them, meaning the content can quickly become out-of-date.
Highlights wise, currently we have Portuguese, German, Swedish, Brazilian, American goals. Occasionally we take a trip to Africa for highlights of some international matches (often several weeks after they happen) or African Champions League coverage. It’s usually quite scattergun, almost as if they get a list of fixtures and put it on the wall, chucking darts in the general direction to pick which matches they show.
It’s early in the season, so new TV contracts mean some leagues will disappear, or might take a while to come back – currently Serie A and Ligue 1 haven’t reappeared on the show after being show last year. Unfortunately it seems for the show, their portfolio is decreasing in direct proportion to increasing amount of money in football, pricing them out of rights to show highlights.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Midweek internationals
Still struggling somewhat to get online regularly with the computer problems I’ve been having. I was down in London last weekend, which meant I missed most of the international “action” (quotation marks added in respect of England’s performance), and am off to a friend’s wedding this weekend means I’m missing the annual Merseyside grudgefest between Liverpool and Man Utd.
Still, will at least be able to take in the internationals tomorrow night. I’m hoping for another Windsor Park performance from Northern Ireland as we take on the Czech Republic. Russia will probably expect to comfortably beat a weak Wales team affected by injuries, Scotland must hope that George Burley picks up his first win as Scotland manager or qualification will look dead in the water before it’s properly begun. Croatia will be aiming to be the first nation to beat England in three successive competitive matches, and must fancy their chances against an England side who look, quite frankly, rotten.
Well worth a look (for those who don’t work during the day) is the Korean Clash on Eurosport at 1pm (UK time). Talk about a local derby with a bit of needle!
It still remains to be seen if highlights on the England match will turn up on any of the terrestrial channels, as, at the time of writing, nobody has matched Setanta’s asking price, leading to a lot of ill-feeling across various messageboards on the internet.
Still, will at least be able to take in the internationals tomorrow night. I’m hoping for another Windsor Park performance from Northern Ireland as we take on the Czech Republic. Russia will probably expect to comfortably beat a weak Wales team affected by injuries, Scotland must hope that George Burley picks up his first win as Scotland manager or qualification will look dead in the water before it’s properly begun. Croatia will be aiming to be the first nation to beat England in three successive competitive matches, and must fancy their chances against an England side who look, quite frankly, rotten.
Well worth a look (for those who don’t work during the day) is the Korean Clash on Eurosport at 1pm (UK time). Talk about a local derby with a bit of needle!
It still remains to be seen if highlights on the England match will turn up on any of the terrestrial channels, as, at the time of writing, nobody has matched Setanta’s asking price, leading to a lot of ill-feeling across various messageboards on the internet.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Transfer deadline day review - one day on
I fully intended to write about this yesterday, but whiled away my evening re-installing windows on my pc (twice as it happens). I've got a very flakey PC that doesn't really like being shut down, and ever since I've got windows going again, it seems it doesn't even want to go into standby. Joker. New PC ordered.
Anyway, it turns out my Monday scepticism may have been unfounded, as Berbatov did end up at Manchester United. Viewers of Sky Sports News probably enjoyed some of the most exciting reporting in the station's history, as Man City tried to hijack the deal, Berbatov was spotted being picked up by Sir Alex Ferguson, Tottenham took the hump and various people said United didn't have permission to talk to Berbatov, and so on and so on.
Meanwhile, admidst reports of them trying to grab Berbatov and having a bid accepted by Tottenham, Man City showed their new found financial clout by grabbing Robinho from Real Madrid, much to the amazement of pretty much every one in the football world, and much to the annoyance of Chelsea. At various times in the afternoon, it was reported that Man City were also pursuing Mario Gomes and David Villa.
At the same time, "sources" were saying that Kevin Keegan had been sacked by Newcastle, causing the North East reporter to be dispatched to St James' Park to stand in front of Geordies pulling faces. Lucky man. Anyway, as of now, Newcastle are still denying he's been sacked, but strong rumours remain about his tenure at the club.
Probably the most exicting deadline day since it's introduction, and most likely very impressive viewing figures for the channel. It will be interesting to see what City manage to do now with Robinho on board - several players will need to be raising their game to maintain their places at the club, and you must wonder how Corluka feels after jumping ship earlier in the day for Tottenham. The January transfer window could prove to be interesting, and Arsenal and Liverpool will be watching their backs, as a potential threat to the "Big Four" could finally be emerging.
Anyway, it turns out my Monday scepticism may have been unfounded, as Berbatov did end up at Manchester United. Viewers of Sky Sports News probably enjoyed some of the most exciting reporting in the station's history, as Man City tried to hijack the deal, Berbatov was spotted being picked up by Sir Alex Ferguson, Tottenham took the hump and various people said United didn't have permission to talk to Berbatov, and so on and so on.
Meanwhile, admidst reports of them trying to grab Berbatov and having a bid accepted by Tottenham, Man City showed their new found financial clout by grabbing Robinho from Real Madrid, much to the amazement of pretty much every one in the football world, and much to the annoyance of Chelsea. At various times in the afternoon, it was reported that Man City were also pursuing Mario Gomes and David Villa.
At the same time, "sources" were saying that Kevin Keegan had been sacked by Newcastle, causing the North East reporter to be dispatched to St James' Park to stand in front of Geordies pulling faces. Lucky man. Anyway, as of now, Newcastle are still denying he's been sacked, but strong rumours remain about his tenure at the club.
Probably the most exicting deadline day since it's introduction, and most likely very impressive viewing figures for the channel. It will be interesting to see what City manage to do now with Robinho on board - several players will need to be raising their game to maintain their places at the club, and you must wonder how Corluka feels after jumping ship earlier in the day for Tottenham. The January transfer window could prove to be interesting, and Arsenal and Liverpool will be watching their backs, as a potential threat to the "Big Four" could finally be emerging.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Upcoming World Cup Qualifiers on Digitalb
Saturday 6th September
18.45 Albania - Sweden
19.45 Hungary - Denmark
20.00 Andorra - England
20.00 Malta - Portugal
20.30 Austria - France
Wednesday 10th September
20.30 Macedonia - Netherlands
20.45 Albania - Malta
20.45 Portugal - Denmark
21.00 Croatia - England
21.00 France - Serbia
Interesting that there's no Italy match, as they usually just borrow the RAI feed!
18.45 Albania - Sweden
19.45 Hungary - Denmark
20.00 Andorra - England
20.00 Malta - Portugal
20.30 Austria - France
Wednesday 10th September
20.30 Macedonia - Netherlands
20.45 Albania - Malta
20.45 Portugal - Denmark
21.00 Croatia - England
21.00 France - Serbia
Interesting that there's no Italy match, as they usually just borrow the RAI feed!
Transfer deadline day
The BBC's transfer deadline day tracker here should be interesting, if as usual, they publish whatever guff some half-wits text in. Expect sighting of Robinho and Berbatov all over the country, and marvel at the end of the day about what a waste of time it probably all has been.
With Berbatov to Man Utd looking quite likely, but by no means certain, it's amusing that all the column inches over the likes of Ronaldo to Real, Lampard to Inter, Barry to Liverpool, Robinho to Chelsea and Berbabtov to Man United could have been in vain.
With Berbatov to Man Utd looking quite likely, but by no means certain, it's amusing that all the column inches over the likes of Ronaldo to Real, Lampard to Inter, Barry to Liverpool, Robinho to Chelsea and Berbabtov to Man United could have been in vain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
