Am I not the only one who thinks that most of the current TV coverage of the FA Cup is a pile of sh*t? What on earth were the English FA doing when they awarded joint coverage of the world’s premier cup competiton to both ITV and Setanta?
This past weekend, people should have been talking about the magic of the FA Cup. The achievements of the likes of Hartlepool, Kettering Town and Torquay United in the third round of the competition were ruined by the poor presentation from both companies.
ITV’s coverage in my opinion, was sh*t- full stop. Short of decent presenters and commentators, their live games (Preston v Liverpool, Gillingham v Aston Villa) lacked any genuine authorative voices. If many thought that was bad, their goal highlights shows were terrible- every ten minutes there has to be some commercials. There also aren’t any decent interactive TV options, at least for Virgin Media viewers. I know ITV has to make money even in this credit crisis, but this is ridiculous.
Setanta‘s coverage was only slightly better, but still have a long way to go before they match rival Sky Sports‘ proven record of experience and excellence. But will they be there for the long haul? Many have tried to take on Sky before and failed…..
Despite their poor showing, ITV and Setanta need to show viewers that they can do better sports coverage than the BBC and Sky. Otherwise, many football fans will either switch sides… or use the OFF button on their TV sets.
FFS mate. What more can ITV and Setanta do? At the end of the day they can only pick the games, they cant make the games more exciting, coverage is coverage. If they had a crystal ball and knew what games were going to be good I’m sure they would find something better to do with their time rather than sports broadcasting.
ITV should not be allowed anywhere near sport.