Telly Addicks

I see the Huddersfield game got put back to the Monday for Sky. Obviously this gives me the opportunity to watch the game but I have to agree that a Saturday afternoon would have provided a cracking atmosphere with, so far, the best two sides playing in the early winter sun to a packed house.

Monday night football is not quite the same and Huddersfield could easily be coming to us on a 43-match unbeaten run and I’m manfully trying to forget the cameras.

When I was at home this past weekend I got the opportunity to watch BBC’s Football League Show with Manish Bhasin and Steve Claridge, football’s answer to marmite. BBC do the show a million times better than ITV ever used to and I’m a big fan of Mark Chapman and Mark Clemmit, whose recent interview with Chris Powell was excellent, if you missed it.

Where I’m going with this? Well the BBC have announced further budget cuts to their sports programming and I fear that the Football League Show will be a casualty. The BBC have already said that they will drop the 2nd commentator from their 5Live games, which although unique, give two different perspectives to deciphering a game without pictures. Plus I’m an old romantic and love the fact that they switch over at 22.5 minutes through the half.

As the BBC look to save £700 million by 2017, 15% will be lopped from it’s sports budget which will hurt minority sports and local sports news plus will hinder any efforts to compete with rivals TalkSport and Absolute Radio. 

The ogar which is Sky continue to tyrannize live broadcasting snatching the F1 rights from the BBC this summer and realistically them, ESPN and ITV are now the only alternatives. Sad.