Which sporting events should be protected?
The Open Champonship begins today: Tiger Woods will be targeting his 15th major title and Padraig Harrington will be going for three consecutive Open titles. There'll be full live coverage on BBC Two - and of course you can listen to all the action on 5 live.
Also starting today is the second Test of the Ashes. It'll be tense, following a draw in the first Test - can England recapture the success of 2005? Again, you can hear every ball with Test Match Special - on 5 live sports extra; but to watch the match you need to pay for a subscription to Sky.
The government is carrying out a review of the sporting 'crown jewels' - events that are protected for terrestrial television. 12 million people watched Andy Murray in the semi-finals at Wimbledon - are moments like that important in uniting the nation?
Nicky's at Turnberry for The Open, and from 9am he'll be asking: which sporting events should be protected for free-to-air tv? Call 0500 909 693, text 85058 or you can post your thoughts below here.
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No they shouldnt be free, poor people who cant afford to pay for it should be out looking for a job anyway, not sat watching cricket.!!
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Is this mornings programme going to be constantly interrupted by people talking in silly hushed voices about golf? It's childish.
There should be one BBC dedicated sports channel but I can't see it happening.
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How can BBC justify spending millions to take Formula One away from another free to air channel (ITV), spending millions of the license payers money, when those payers could have watched it for free anyway? Surely the money would have been better spent for the licence payer if it bought something off Sky instead.
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Every single sporting event where a British team or individual competes or is hosted in England should be free to view on the BBC - Simples, This should include all sports - And yes this could be financed by the BBC, but I guess if they feel Jonathan Ross or Chris Moyles salaries or paying execs expenses are more important that our National teams & competitors we should review if we want to pay our licence fees - I am getting to the point of going BBC free!
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I feel that the three major national teams should be free to air on both TV and radio. But not only should they be free to air, they should be freely available. Putting Test Match Special on DAB or longwave, which are rarely in most cars, means that cricket lovers who have to be on the move are deprived of previously available constant coverage.
The same point could be made about the last Rugby World Cup. Some matches were broadcast on DAB so that some fairly meaningless Premier League match could be broadcast on FM. The RWC is every four years. Sometimes during the season it feels like the Premierships is every four hours.
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Unless their parents subscribe to Sky Sports, young children of today do not get to see top class live sporting events, apart from the very few events that the BBC or ITV do show.
Therefore, we are losing potential stars of the future, children from working class backgrounds don't have any sporting heroes to copy or emulate.
Along with non-competetive sports in primary schools (whose idea was that?) this has contributed to our poor performances in most recent sporting events.
When was the last time we won the Football World Cup? When was the last time we won three Ashes series in a row? When was the last time we won Olympic golds in a men's track event? Too long ago for my liking!!!
I do not subscribe to Sky on principle, and if millions more people out there did the same, then maybe, we may get more live sport on BBC and ITV.
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Every sport events in U.K. should be telecast free to air. There are millions of people who prefer to view sport event on free to air channel
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Is this rubbish on all morning then? I am off to something worth listening to.
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I live outside the UK and it is virtually impossible to watch any top UK sporting events, such as The Ashes. In my opinion these events should be made available to all for a small download fee, but at the end of the day it all comes down to money and sponsorship deals.
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Quite right Zeldalicious, I've been saying this for ages. The Beeb and ITV should get together and fund a BBCTV Sport channel, broadcast free-to-air 24/7. Both organisations can find the finances to support it and with "gentle" sponsorship to boost funds the BBC can't object on the grounds of "no advertising". I'm still furious about the ECB's decision to sell its soul to Murdoch, why can't we have ball by ball coverage back on Channel 4 where it belongs. I don't want Sky installed and presumably they won't lend me a dish so I can watch a decent game of cricket every now and then!
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I have just found Test Match Special on 720 AM. I have never heard this advertised on the BBC. Is it supposed to be a secret?
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I have just rung the BBC to ask why this service is not advertised and the person on the phone basically denied that it existed, despite the fact that i am listening to it right now. Incredible!!
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with the olympics coming? I guess the coverage of those sports should be pay per view as well. WHICH PLANET are we living in? Sport should always have been FREE in whatever form it comes in. It is good for viewing as well as encorages people to take exercise and encorages young people to do better.
Of course on gentleman has commented that it should be fair to charge people and I disagree totally. There are so many people out there in UK who are pensioners and for them it is a good way to pass the time. I think they should be exempt for a start.... but i guess at the end of the day its all about profits.....
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The BBC are trying to pretend that the cricket is ONLY available on digital radio. To force people to waste money on the ruinous DAb experiment.
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None of them should be protected unless free to air channels can guarantee the time and quality of coverage that dedicated sports channels offer.
There are enough non subscription digital channels available now for the BBC or ITV to put a dedicated sports channel on air.
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8.41am - Oh Lord they are still yakking on about flippin golf - is there no news this morning? I switched on earlier and NC was having a golf lesson and meeting golf celebs children, switched off. Tried again just now and it's still golf! Where's the proper NEWS?
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It is a disgrace that the ECB concluded the original deal with SKY and then rushed through a renewal last year to beat the government review of 'crown jewels'. Giles Clarke seems to consider that generating funds for cricket is the vital driver - hence his ridiculous deal with Stanford. The deprivation of opportunities for young people to view test cricket will do long-term damage. I believe that David Collier, ECB Chief Executive, has been economical with the truth over viewing figures for test cricket on SKY and should be forced by the government to divulge that data if the proposed review by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is to have any legitimacy.
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