BBC or ITV

[Bam]

Which do you prefer? I think ITV has the best studio pundits.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

TVP 1 or TVP 2 have been my options.

[Disco]

Who has Glen Hoddle?

[Boydy]

who has glen hoddle?
itv.

[Spikey M]

BBC. No adverts > adverts

[Disco]

itv.

Then they're automatically the worst.

[Giggles]

I haven't varied off RTÉ for what I've watched.

[Pleb]

Sky.

[John]

Sky.

Which world cup games have you been watching on Sky?

[Giggles]

I haven't checked but I'd love to think Stelling, Thompson, and Merson are sitting around watching it and randomly roaring daily over on Sky Sports News.

[Baz]

BBC cos they show it in UHD.

[Shindig]

BBC because I can do something else on the PC whilst watching.

[Lewis]

The ITV pundit line-up is pretty crap, and fielding four of them at once with Gary 'Gary Neville' Neville on the end of the row doesn't do them any favours (not least Roy Keane, who is rubbish when he isn't calling people shit). Plus their studio is a headache. Plus Clive Tyldesley is a twat. Meanwhile, Mark Lawrenson > * so there you are.

[John]

BBC have Martin Keown and his random word generator playing a fairly prominent role, which cuts their points in half right away.

[Reg]

I think both have been quite good so far. For an England game I'd generally rather have Lineker and BBC. But I can't stand Keown or Lawrenson so minus points there.

They're both missing big foreign stars like Gullit/Seedorf.

[Mike]

Bbc

[Giggles]

Do you have that horrid Maroon 5 Hyundai ad on every single ad break over there?

[Alan Shearer The 2nd]

Bbc

[Jimmy Floyd]

Do you have that horrid Maroon 5 Hyundai ad on every single ad break over there?

Nope. Just incessant gambling ads. It really needs banning.

[Giggles]

Nope. Just incessant gambling ads. It really needs banning.

Count yourself lucky. There's that and a Bank of Ireland one with some bint absolutely destroying a Phil Collins song on every single break during the matches here.

EDIT:
Shilling:

https://youtu.be/xUbdDk2rRZo


And tone deaf as fuck:

https://youtu.be/Ce0z9cTXao4

[The Merse]

BBC for the lack of ads and Shearer/Lineker. Some of the foreigners have been a crap, mind. Zabaleta and Drogba were likeable but shite today, though infinitely preferrable to Phil Neville.

[Raoul Duke]

How is this even a question? BBC by miles.

Dixon is pretty good from ITV but all their in-studio pundits are terrible.

The BBC have Alex Scott too :drool:

[Max Power]

Tempted to give it ITV purely off the Champion/Coisty dream team but Beeb just edges it despite absolute shit like Phil(lip) Neville and Martin Keown.

[niko_cee]

So, do ITV have the Belgium game and the last 16 game? If we lose both can they be banned form covering England in a tournament ever again?

Drogba is such a 'football administrator' in waiting. That's if he doesn't go full George Weah, that is.

[phonics]

I like Slaven and tbh the less punditry the better so ads don't bother me that much. Therefore, I'd be leaning ITV but four pannelists is a nightmare.

[Disco]

I normally put something else on during half time anyway, bit given how crap the ITV player is they'd need some pretty special pundits to make up for it.

[Giggles]

Do you not have a television?

[Disco]

No.

[Giggles]

No.

Can you escape the licence by not having one there?

Also, Keith Andrews is getting far too many games here. 25 words when 5 will do.

[Boydy]

No.

Why not?

[Boydy]

Can you escape the licence by not having one there?

Also, Keith Andrews is getting far too many games here. 25 words when 5 will do.

Not any more. You're meant to pay for it now if you watch iPlayer or other terrestrial channels' streaming service.

[Giggles]

Not any more. You're meant to pay for it now if you watch iPlayer or other terrestrial channels' streaming service.

Yeah same here. It's a 'broadcast licence' now.

Couldn't understand not having one then.

[niko_cee]

What's the deal with those ITV bookend advert things with the wanker middle-aged guy? Are they meant to be 'knowing'?

[Boydy]

What's the deal with those ITV bookend advert things with the wanker middle-aged guy? Are they meant to be 'knowing'?

The one with the guy getting the England tattoo and slagging off his daughter's formerly semi-pro teacher?

I can't stand them.

[niko_cee]

Yeah. That's what I was wondering. Am I missing the joke, or are they just dreadful?

Stephen Merchant does football bants. He even looks a bit like him. It's not him is it?

[Disco]

Why not?

I wouldn't use it, the last one I owned was broken for about a year before I noticed.


Can you escape the licence by not having one there?

Also, Keith Andrews is getting far too many games here. 25 words when 5 will do.

You need one if you use iPlayer, or at least they make you register an account these days, at which point I expect they'd start sending you letters if you don't have a licence. I don't care enough to find out, most tv is terrible bollocks.

[Disco]

What's the deal with those ITV bookend advert things with the wanker middle-aged guy? Are they meant to be 'knowing'?

We were talking about this earlier, I don't understand what they're going for. The guy embodies everything that is terrible about football fans (and dickheads in general) but I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with that.

[Boydy]

I wouldn't use it, the last one I owned was broken for about a year before I noticed.



You need one if you use iPlayer, or at least they make you register an account these days, at which point I expect they'd start sending you letters if you don't have a licence. I don't care enough to find out, most tv is terrible bollocks.

So you never watch any tv shows or films?

[Disco]

Very few.

[Shindig]

Same here, to be honest. The World Cup's the most TV watching I've done for a couple of years. I blame the BBC bottling the MotoGP rights. And ITV bottling the Champions League rights. And BBC bottling the F1 rights.

[Baz]

Yeah I cancelled my TV package the other day and don’t think I’ll miss much.

although having to watch Love Island in standard definition is making me rethink the whole thing.

[Boydy]

I can understand not paying for Sky or Virgin or whoever TV packages. And I understand not watching much live broadcast TV. But not actually having a TV set seems a bit mad.

[Giggles]

Seems like absolute madness to me too. I'd nearly buy one just for the world cup if I was that mad into it. Fuck watching shit at a desk or on a tiny screen.

[Pepe]

I do own a TV, but I've only watched one match on it. Everything else I've watched on my laptop. I never use the TV. My wife watches Netflix stuff on it.

[Giggles]

Hope Solo was surprisingly good.

[Giggles]

Keith Andrews hair :D

1018164328556400640

1018168848468459521

[Yevrah]

I cancelled Sky the other day as there really is no point for the money it costs now.

After being put through to the 'retention' team a nice Geordie asked me, if I'll miss it, followed by what my highlights were in the 7 years I had it. Confused, as it's just a tv package and not a cherished relative who's just died, I answered with "No, I doubt it" and "I've genuinely no idea".

[Bam]

Ok, cheers for that. :confused:

[Yevrah]

You're welcome.

[Spikey M]

I don’t understand why anyone had it anymore. No European football and they only have the shit Premiership games. £30pm (No idea what it actually costs these days) to watch Watford vs Wolves? I’m alright, cheers.

[Boydy]

They only have the shit Premier League games? I thought they had the majority of them?

[Yevrah]

They have most of the good Premier League games, but increasingly BT were nabbing more and more from them, but the bigger problem was no European football/having to also subscribe to BT to get it. That was enough of a ballache, but as soon as Amazon entered the game I just thought sod that.

Competition between businesses and dissolving a monopoly sounds like a good idea in practice, but only actually works in reality when there's a near infinite supply of the product - when you only have x number of games a season and they get spread around, the customer just gets screwed.

[Boydy]

Yeah, you'd need them all having access to all of the games and then competing on price.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I need Sky for cricket, golf and F1, so European football just has to take the hit.

The problem is that true competition would drive the price of both/any services down, but in reality it's a cartel because rights are always awarded exclusively.

[Spikey M]

They have most of the good Premier League games, but increasingly BT were nabbing more and more from them, but the bigger problem was no European football/having to also subscribe to BT to get it. That was enough of a ballache, but as soon as Amazon entered the game I just thought sod that.

Competition between businesses and dissolving a monopoly sounds like a good idea in practice, but only actually works in reality when there's a near infinite supply of the product - when you only have x number of games a season and they get spread around, the customer just gets screwed.

The problem is that it is still a Monopoly. The FA’s Monopoly.

[Jimmy Floyd]

You mean the Premier League? The FA have fuck all to do with it (expect England and FA Cup games).

[John Arne]

Some Premier League are being streamed on Facebook for us this season :drool:

I'm assuming for free...….

[Spikey M]

You mean the Premier League? The FA have fuck all to do with it (expect England and FA Cup games).

Really? Didn’t know that.

[Giggles]

I like the live games on a Sunday afternoon so it's Sky for me. I can't get BT anyway but from the times games are on, I wouldn't get it regardless.
Sky have the 3pm Saturday kickoff slot too.

[Giggles]

Do you not hear about players and managers up before the FA, etc? How can they do that then?

[Disco]

Big mark down for the Beeb not being able to find anyone less awful than Martin Keown.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Big mark down for the Beeb not being able to find anyone less awful than Martin Keown.

He is actually the less offensive of the pair for me. Guy Mowbray just spends the whole game creating shit narratives and talking about Premier League transfer rumours. Bring back John Motson.

[Giggles]

This is my first day back watching BBC, it's still as banal as ever.

[Giggles]

Going through this made my head spin. It really is getting to be some spread now and I'd say that equally goes for the UK too.

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/world-of-sport/full-broadcasting-guide-to-the-irish-sports-season-169703