Another summer disappears into the distance then as memories of those two weeks at the end of June and start of July when we had some sunshine rapidly fade away. The more traditional British seasonal weather coming into play a week and a half ago when our pre-season friendly at Nethermoor against Guiseley was postponed, that not helping Blues boss Greg Abbott as far as preparations for the start of the campaign is concerned. I'm sure that the players will have had enough of running the miles and bursting those blisters though and they will be chomping at the bit to get a taste of the real action this afternoon against League One newcomers Brentford. Their Union Jack shorts long since put back in the drawer after they reported back from their holidays to Brunton Park in early July for five weeks of pain and more pain in the middle of the countrywide heatwave. A hot topic, seamless change of subject matter there you will notice, I wrote about in the Colchester programme at the end of January this year was the ongoing discussion about the "crown jewels" on television. The easily forecastable collapse of Setanta and now the further emergence of ESPN into the British market certainly two things that will have raised the eyebrows over the summer of the nine-person panel deciding what should and should not be in the crown jewels list. The panel that will be looking at the list is being led by former Football Association chief David Davies, with other recognisable names being England women's football boss Hope Powell, athlete Colin Jackson and cricketer Angus Fraser, along with sports presenters Eamonn Holmes and Dougie Donnelly. The results of the review by the panel now expecting to be released in the Autumn. What's new then you ask? Well last week the BBC announced a few further additions to what they believe should be broadcast "free-to-air", although I do find the phrase "free-to-air" slightly objectionable personally. Nothing is free to watch on the BBC, that is unless you don't bother paying your TV licence, so that is around £12 per month that you are providing in order to watch your "free" sport on Auntie Beeb. The additions to what was an already pretty extensive list being, Football international qualifiers home and away (respective home nations). The Commonwealth Games, ICC cricket World Cup final, Twenty20 World Cup final - all covered in full. Then just as highlights - ICC cricket World Cup (extended to all games), Twenty20 World Cup, Six Nations rugby tournament (extended to all games), British and Irish Lions tour, Women's football World Cup/Euros/ICC Cricket World Cup finals involving Home Nations' teams. Of those ones you read you have to think that the BBC don't have a hope in hell of getting the majority of them on the free-to-air list. Particularly the cricket which not only will have SKY hanging on to it for grim death, but also takes up a good few hours of coverage. Auntie Beeb surely needing to show a bit more commitment by starting up a sport only digital channel before they can expect more items to be added to the list, unless you enjoy missing a wicket while the 2.45 from Haydock is on the box. As for something like the Commonwealth Games, well I don't think that even SKY will be biting the BBC's hand off by putting in a big money bid to show someone from the Isle of Man getting a bronze in lawn bowls. Having said that I do remember one of my first "big" sporting events that I went to being a day at the Commonwealth Games athletics at Edinburgh's Meadowbank Stadium in 1986 - the days of Roger Black, Daley Thompson and Kriss Akabusi (there are two s's in Kriss by the way). The Olympic Games are already on the crown jewel list at the moment, the wall to wall coverage of London 2012 even six months before it begins could get rather unbearable though. One thing that isn't however is Test match cricket which was removed from the A list the last time there was a review in 1998, while the European Football Championship finals, the Rugby League Challenge Cup final and the Rugby Union World Cup final were added. What will stay and what will go in this review remains to be seen although from a personal perspective I don't overly mind having to "pay to view" within reason, you can though make a good case for lots more sport being free-to-air if you are that way inclined. With the authorities in particular looking to crack down on internet streaming however it could be that we all end up paying a few pennies more, which could be counter-productive in the long term. |