Good reasons to stay up late

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• 1. At 4:15pm on 28 Jan 2009, Jordan D wrote:

  First question - Why MOTD2 only on iPlayer and not MOTD?

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• 2. At 4:17pm on 28 Jan 2009, fourfootedchallenge wrote:

  This news has made my day (yes not much has happened)
  
  The BBC crew are so much better than those on ITV, and the commentary on Virgin Media internet highlights are just plain dull.
  
  :D

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• 3. At 4:17pm on 28 Jan 2009, gunner-zp - Rosický Returns (again)! Believe in Bendtner wrote:

  why is there no repeat of todays show tomorrow? and couldn't you have started it at 10 oclock? anyway nice to see you have retained the rights and its gonna be on iplayer

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• 4. At 4:18pm on 28 Jan 2009, DavidBeckhamsBeard wrote:

  Excellent news, i'm so happy that MOTD will still be with us, it was a sham when ITV did it and they look to be cocking up the FA cup this year.
  
  Its also good that MOTD2 will be on iplayer too, another excellent addition.
  
  With the league football, league cup and world club cup it will be shaping up to a good few years for football on the beeb.
  
  Well done!

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• 5. At 4:19pm on 28 Jan 2009, DaveIndieRed wrote:

  This is great news! Even with competition from the commercial and satellite channels, the BBC for me, still remains the benchmark for quality sports broadcasting, and offers the best coverage of events.
  
  Okay so it helps that you don't get ad breaks disrupting the analysis or the build-up to the game. There's nothing worse than the phrase, "...right after the break!"

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• 6. At 4:19pm on 28 Jan 2009, Red_Red_Devil wrote:

  Will the online content be available to users outside the UK?

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• 7. At 4:20pm on 28 Jan 2009, PaloisPNE (M.O.C) wrote:

  If there is a Premier League match on a Monday then no highlights are shown (even on the website).
  
  Is it not possible to have a 10 min slot after the 10 o'clock news to show some highlights?

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• 8. At 4:21pm on 28 Jan 2009, lordBeddGelert wrote:

  Get In !!! Result !!!

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• 9. At 4:21pm on 28 Jan 2009, DevilOfRed wrote:

  Well thats good news indeed isnt it?
  
  Now if only we can sort out the farce that is England away games on setanta . . . .

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• 10. At 4:21pm on 28 Jan 2009, hudjer wrote:

  Good news. ITV coverage is not in the same league, with the possible excepton of the big Champions League matches.

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• 11. At 4:22pm on 28 Jan 2009, footthumper wrote:

  Well done the beeb - I'd happily cough up my license fee until 2013 if it meant I'd have MOTD to look forward to.
  
  It's just a shame you lost the FA Cup, and you don't have the Champions League.
  
  But hey.. Mustn't grumble

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• 12. At 4:23pm on 28 Jan 2009, LUFC_CRIBS wrote:

  if the BBC gets the FA cup back then were laughing. ITV is shocking, the guy from the Everest windows adverts was presenting FA CUP highlights on saturday night. i coudnt belive it. i would love to talk to CSO at ITV and ask him if he thought it would be a good idea to annoy every football fan in the country with shocking coverage

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• 13. At 4:23pm on 28 Jan 2009, sonderby wrote:

  
  Are there any plans of making the viewing of MOTD available for viewers outside the UK as well? If not why not?
  
  
  

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• 14. At 4:23pm on 28 Jan 2009, The Dangle Formerly Known as Sir - (CCFC - Social Events Officer) wrote:

  Great News.
  
  Do you think we could possibly get the Sunday MOTD to start later in the morning, say around 11am because boy am I hungoooooooveeeeerrrr most Sundays to get up in time.
  
  Cheers.
  
  Jeffs.

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• 15. At 4:24pm on 28 Jan 2009, ShelfsideTottenham4 wrote:

  Fantastic news.. The BBC coverage is second to none, and ITV is not even a shadow if it!
  Long live MOTD ON BBC!

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• 16. At 4:24pm on 28 Jan 2009, Chivers09 wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 17. At 4:25pm on 28 Jan 2009, bettclan wrote:

  All very good, but something has to be done, soon, about the FA Cup too. The ITV/Setanta coverage has been absolutely DIRE. Come to an agreement with them, do a deal, but get the FA Cup back on too.

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• 18. At 4:26pm on 28 Jan 2009, jay842 wrote:

  Good work with live Championship games and MOTD2 on iPlayer, will be a refershing change.
  
  Sky format is good, but the same old faces/ points of view. Setanta is just, well, Setanta!

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• 19. At 4:27pm on 28 Jan 2009, ArgieWizard wrote:

  Thank heavens for that. ITV's coverage of the FA Cup so far has been dire, woeful, and a host of words that won't allow this post to be published, and that grating idiot Matt Smith is just the most annoying presenter around.
  Why....does he talk........and pause.........every......other.....couple of......syllables?
  
  Hurrah for Gary, Alan, Lawro et al, and MOTD!

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• 20. At 4:27pm on 28 Jan 2009, richyroyston wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 21. At 4:27pm on 28 Jan 2009, gabrammer wrote:

  Brilliant news, i hate ITV football

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• 22. At 4:30pm on 28 Jan 2009, gay fish wrote:

  Good. MOTD 2 is the best football highlights show I have ever seen on telly. With the Championship matches that are going to be shown are they going to be on a bbc sport channel or has that not been decided yet??

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• 23. At 4:31pm on 28 Jan 2009, RobVilla wrote:

  Roger - can I ask for a return to proper commentary for MOTD.
  I already watch ITVs visual outpourings with the sound down or 5live commentary if it is in sync.
  Therefore can we have an end to the terrible voice over re-recordings for key moments. They are an insult to more intelligent fans amongst ourselves.
  
  Football focus - can we go back to incisive debate and some hard nosed interviews where appropriate, rather than this matey, matey stuff. no-one says a bad word about anything - whether it be excessive money, bungs, bad purchases etc...
  I want to go back to watching this though can't as it is lightweight.
  
  Score - sorry mate I have Freeview so Skysports News wins hands down if I am not at a game. Merson is awful but entertainingly so, Garth Crooks is just awful on score - in my opinion

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• 24. At 4:33pm on 28 Jan 2009, Y2J wrote:

  Good news.
  
  I will also add that i think the beeb has the 2 best commentators in country right now... Steve Wilson and Guy Mowbray.

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• 25. At 4:33pm on 28 Jan 2009, ryebank wrote:

  #7 - not entirely right. They are shown on "Inside Sport", when it's on... But otherwise very good news, and putting MOTD2 on iPlayer makes sense to me rather than showing both. Putting MOTD on iPlayer too would just be double handling, showing a load of games twice - a sensible use of our licence fee. Now all we need is more live fitba!

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• 26. At 4:37pm on 28 Jan 2009, Parish1987 wrote:

  Fantastic. I watch Match of the Day even when i've seen the Liverpool match. And I watch MotD2 even when i've watched both sunday games live. Nothing beats it! :)

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• 27. At 4:38pm on 28 Jan 2009, bobbieflowers wrote:

  sure this will be the same sentiment as all the other posts which have yet to appear (tut, tut moderators)....
  
  thank god itv didn't get it

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• 28. At 4:43pm on 28 Jan 2009, whatbill wrote:

  Good news about MOTD2 on th I -Player, although MOTD would have been better. Ridiculous that the technology works but the highlights cannot be shown, I always end up trawling through Youtube...

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• 29. At 4:43pm on 28 Jan 2009, Cheesymunky wrote:

  Really glad to hear that MOTD is staying at the BBC for a good few years.
  
  As much as Lawro and Hansen sometimes do talk some piffle (and im a liverpool fan), they're a damn site better than the ITV team and Lineker is the only presenter in my eyes worthy to run the show (Chiles on a Sun is great also).
  
  MOTD 2 was a gread addition and glad that it is staying, when you've missed saturdays highlights after a night out or so and you sleept in the next day, you can sooth your throbing head with light hearted banter and those all important highlights.
  
  F1 should be interesting too, i didn't mind it on ITV but im lookin foward to hearing Murray Walker fluffing his sentences and making it all the more exciting to watch.
  
  Nice one BBC.

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• 30. At 4:45pm on 28 Jan 2009, ml113558 wrote:

  What about us Brits abroad? Will we be able to watch online or on the iPlayer?

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• 31. At 4:46pm on 28 Jan 2009, Cheesymunky wrote:

  I agree about the Sky Sports commentary comment being better than Score, although it is a decent enough programme for those who don't have access to Sky/Cable.
  
  And i also agree that Garth Crooks is a terrible pundit, he doesn't half talk some rubbish sometimes and Carlton Palmer just hasn't got a clue, in management, as a player or as a pundit.
  
  Sorry, after the first post of being all cheery i kinda had to set the balance right with a winge...

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• 32. At 4:48pm on 28 Jan 2009, cyberroon wrote:

  Great news beeb. Here in Ireland we get the matches at 2100 on RTE's highlights show. However, I prefer the Beeb's coverage. With the Football league and cup besides South Africa 2010 the football coverage is stepping up a gear. Not too bothered about ITV Sport - just tend to ignore it except for the Champs League. Isn't it true the Beeb can't bid for Champs League because of all the sponsorship? What a shame. Five Live is a great port of call especially analysis and debate on Five Live Sport and 606. Setanta has been impressive with the Internationals, FA Cup and Premiership coverage. Great to see the Sky monoply broken.

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• 33. At 4:48pm on 28 Jan 2009, richyroyston wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 34. At 4:49pm on 28 Jan 2009, Cheesymunky wrote:

  And comment 12, that made me laugh.
  
  He's been doing it for awhile and other presenting work but i do think he is better at the Everest adverts than the FA cup highlights.

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• 35. At 4:49pm on 28 Jan 2009, Invincible 49ers wrote:

  Excellent News!
  
  I believe that football highlights/goals should remain accessable to 'freeview' users.
  
  With the inclusion of Sky Sports News on Freeview you can now see all goals from every competition too.
  
  I would like to see more live football on terestrial freeview channels, but understand this is expensive.
  
  Hopefully one day we will see a few live Premier League games on freeview as well.
  
  The new system of Sky/Setanta is appauling for the consumer, as you now have to subscribe to Sky AND Setanta to see your teams games.
  
  Glad Formula One is returning as well as I was growing tired of the add breaks.
  
  

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• 36. At 4:57pm on 28 Jan 2009, raul249 wrote:

  #23
  
  Agree 100% with you RobVilla. Football focus hasn't been good to watch in a while. Soccer Saturday is far better as there is a bit more opinion and you have the likes of Paul Merson, Chris Kamara and Alan McInally, who are all funny to watch and can be serious sometimes!
  
  As for score, I don't actually know why the BBC bothers. Soccer Saturday is easily the best and when its on a break I'd prefer to watch Setanta's coverage.
  

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• 37. At 4:57pm on 28 Jan 2009, james_madison wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 38. At 4:59pm on 28 Jan 2009, grumpyoldman100 wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 39. At 5:05pm on 28 Jan 2009, bobob306 wrote:

  MOTD might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I dont think anyone would think that having no football on free television is a good idea.
  Well in BBC!

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• 40. At 5:08pm on 28 Jan 2009, utd_ja5on wrote:

  Any plans to have MOTD in HD?

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• 41. At 5:11pm on 28 Jan 2009, Rafa's Magic Box Beard wrote:

  Good news, but what I want to know is: Will you ever allow Alan Green to cover live games for TV? Even if it's just for the World Cup

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• 42. At 5:14pm on 28 Jan 2009, mblmbl wrote:

  Great news that the beeb have kept the highlights, although I prefer soccer saturday on sky instead of score. You could probably save yourselves a few quid by just scrapping it and using the cash elsewhere.

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• 43. At 5:15pm on 28 Jan 2009, therealeverton wrote:

  When can you save us from the hell that is the FA cup on ITV??????????????????

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• 44. At 5:16pm on 28 Jan 2009, tooncastle wrote:

  MOTD is the God in the pile up of football highlights programmes, may it's reign be long and joyful.

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• 45. At 5:17pm on 28 Jan 2009, D_M_N_ wrote:

  Great news there! Thank goodnes ITV haven't got it. Happy also that it'll be on the iPlayer as well. ;)
  
  @Cheesymunky (Post #29) - Murray Walker isn't doing commentary - dunno where you got that from. He's doing web blogs and stuff. Legard and Brundle are providing the commentary.

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• 46. At 5:21pm on 28 Jan 2009, HardWorkingHobbes wrote:

  Thank god, the ITV football shows are painful to watch.
  
  How about trying different people as the analyst's?
  Ex-footballers always tend to be chummy and never say anything derogatory, why not try people like sports journalists who could add a different kind of scrutinizing to the show.
  

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• 47. At 5:24pm on 28 Jan 2009, katebt wrote:

  Great news. BBC coverage is of a much higher quality than ITV. Glad I'll now be able to watch MOTD2 on iplayer too, because that's one I often miss.

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• 48. At 5:24pm on 28 Jan 2009, Eddy the Aquilani wrote:

  .....I pay my license fee and all i get from it is Premier league highlights and Top Gear am i supposed to congratulate the BBC? yes it has the best presenters and commentators but there's not much to commentate on the rest of the listings is cooking programmes and house programmes neither of which are worth watching

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• 49. At 5:27pm on 28 Jan 2009, extratime wrote:

  Those living outside the UK - the BBC does not have the rights to broadcast EPL highlights abroad, and of course should never bother acquiring them because they are expensive and largely useless. If those outside the UK can send the BBC the annual license fee, by cheque, then that would be a start.

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• 50. At 5:29pm on 28 Jan 2009, gebeeze wrote:

  I very much doubt (and indeed hope) that the online content will be available outside the UK. The BBC isn't free- we have to pay our license fees over here, so it would be unfair if people who didn't pay the fees were able to watch the highlights online. You don't get anything for free in this world- I'd be fuming if people outside the UK got to see this stuff.

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• 51. At 5:31pm on 28 Jan 2009, Oh-my-Posh wrote:

  Doesn't matter which station gets the fa cup and highlights, it will all be 'big four' blah blah as usual.

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• 52. At 5:33pm on 28 Jan 2009, northlondon01 wrote:

  Great news. Less football on ITV please, they should stick to what they are good at, which is... Harry Hill?
  
  And people complaining about Setanta - you don't need Sky. So at least that means people can watch live Premiership matches through VirginMedia, Top up TV etc, which doesn't cost as much as a Sky subscription. I can understand your frustrations if you're a SkySports subscriber, but take it out on Sky - if you're getting less coverage from them then ask for a reduction in your subs!
  
  But above all it means you don't have to give any money to Murdoch (I would get Sky if it had nothing to do with him). And if Sky hadn't come in and monopolised live English football we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

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• 53. At 5:33pm on 28 Jan 2009, Malchester wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 54. At 5:40pm on 28 Jan 2009, Time For Heroes wrote:

  :D I love BBC Football!!!!

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• 55. At 5:40pm on 28 Jan 2009, pasta4tea wrote:

  This'd be better news if the BBC also cancelled Shearer's contract. He adds nothing to the programme but dreary, one-dimensional analysis that is a long way from 'insight' to even the most limited of footy watchers.

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• 56. At 5:41pm on 28 Jan 2009, Professor Techno wrote:

  Hello Roger,
  
  Great news about the deal but may i ask what is going to be done about external websites which offer BBC premiership highlights whenever you want them.
  
  This seriously devalues the deal because under the currenrt agreement premership highlights cannot be shown via iplayer yet a quick search in google leads you to many sites which screen BBC highlights

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• 57. At 5:41pm on 28 Jan 2009, JasonCrawley wrote:

  A few questions that spring to mind, Roger:
  
  Do you think a factor in the BBC winning the new contract was the Premier League being happy with the MOTD coverage or was it solely down to you offering them the most money?
  
  Do you envisage any changes being made to the format of MOTD or MOTD2 under the new contract?
  
  Are you worried about the status of MOTD being "the first place to watch the day's football" being eroded as more and more people watch the Saturday games live on illegal internet streams?
  
  Does the above photo of Motty illustrate that he was watching a less-than-riveting game at Fratton Park that day?

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• 58. At 5:49pm on 28 Jan 2009, BobbyRobson1978 wrote:

  OK, that's a good bit of news. But why does MOTD have to be on so late at night? I know Sky have their (rubbish) goals programme that it can't go against but surely it can go earlier than 10.30 / 10.45 that is does some nights.
  
  I'm afraid I am one of those who will gripe about you not having the FA Cup, and the extent of your other sports coverage. There's just too many to go into here - but the overall impression is one that you don't really care so much for sport where it has been so much a part of your fibre in the past. I think this can best illustrated by the fact that Inside Sport is on past 11 o'clock on a Monday - totally absurd.
  
  To finish on a plus - great news about MOTD being on iPlayer.

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• 59. At 5:51pm on 28 Jan 2009, England1957 wrote:

  well i must be the only dissapointed football fan on here then...the article comes over as a success for the BBC..and maybe it is for them..for me it means watching all the live games we really want to see online in HD as i cant afford sky etc..
  
  Why cant the BBC concentrate on saving the national team and bringing back England to the BBC?
  
  the article also states that you will be showing the semis and final of the carling cup...well it may have escaped you but the semis have already passed you by!

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• 60. At 5:51pm on 28 Jan 2009, myerla wrote:

  great news, condsidering ITV poor fA cup coverage.
  
  There highlights show was poor, Swansea, how many mins of highlights? not enough.
  And there camera view in that match, stupid.
  
  
  agian great news

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• 61. At 5:55pm on 28 Jan 2009, Dennis the King wrote:

  Please, Please , get rid of the pundits. Hanson is depressing, Lawrenson smug, Shearer boring, etc. We need some new blood and it would be nice if we had someone from Man U. They have won the title on numerous occasions, so surely there must be someone who can give a non liverpool slant to the proceedings.

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• 62. At 6:00pm on 28 Jan 2009, GOOD1878 wrote:

  Roger
  I have watched MOTD and its variants all of its years on the box.
  
  Your blog brings good news in the main.
  
  My message is - of course you are better at it than ITV but that goes for all sports not just football. But please take MOTD out of its comfort zone. 'Lawro' comes across as a bad case of boredom and Hansen is very predictable. Half of their input would make for a more incisive piece.
  
  Please don't sleepwalk into the usual BBC mentality (the've been on 25 years so they must be a public treasure), they are not a public treasure and they have nothing new to say. Need to freshen this up. Motd2 is good.
  
  Like previous posters I feel Sky is better than score.
  
  Good luck for in the negotiations, and remember we are all on your side as licence payers in the battle against the pay channels (I know we pay a licence fee b4 someone states the obvious).

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• 63. At 6:01pm on 28 Jan 2009, EnemyofSteveMcClaren wrote:

  meh, its ok news but highlights would have been on terrestrial anyway its just the Beeb who have it. Whether it's on BBC or ITV or even Channel 4 ain't that important really.

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• 64. At 6:06pm on 28 Jan 2009, LegendaryRedorDead wrote:

  Why oh why is this good news???? why can't the BBC pay for some live games for crying out aloud.
  
  Yet again the media pats itself on the back for an average job. Can we not get rid of the TV licence and then let us deceide what sports we want to watch including football the most popular sport in the British Isles.
  
  PMSL at we are delighted in announcing we have won the rights to show highlights.
  
  Sounds like a Victorian peasant pleased to buy scraps for food.
  
  Why are BBC becoming so bad? writers included.

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• 65. At 6:21pm on 28 Jan 2009, ©hris. #14 Fallon The Future wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 66. At 6:35pm on 28 Jan 2009, redtimbo wrote:

  #35
  
  Thats not right about having to have Sky to get Setanta. People with just a freeview box can get Setanta without all the extra stuff that must come with Sky. Setanta works out much cheaper alone.
  
  
  For Football Focus I agree with others about it being too matey. The pundits are so boring as well. Manish is professional but a little boring in my opinion.
  
  Fair play on MoTD though. Not much wrong with it although using Martin Keown more often is a bad idea I think. How about some more recent players who can put a sentence together, Setanta are very good at this.

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• 67. At 6:35pm on 28 Jan 2009, samc1234 wrote:

  ITV coverage is awful. Cant stand the commentators. And there shows are blatent rip offs of MOTD. The pundits on ITV are poor, where as on MOTD i love the banter and the chemistry, its abit like the 3 presenters on topgear.
  
  BBC is where all football would belong if it was upto me.

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• 68. At 6:36pm on 28 Jan 2009, MrWhiskeyhall wrote:

  This is great news for all of us people who are too busy with our interests to sit all the way through a whole 90mins.
  MOTD is the perfect show; No "see you after the break" nonsense like the sponsered channels! (Isn't the FA cup ponderous this year because ITV are hosting it?) And anyway, I think that to sit and watch a whole live match on TV is boring. The only true way to watch 90mins worth is to go there in person. Please keep MOTD! But don't allow the BBC pundits to become complacent. Andy Gray is quite a knowledgeable and shrewd character, but so far, Lineakar, Hansen and co. provide interesting insight, but please don't let them think they can become 'untouchable' as far as analysis goes. Sometimes, the 'bite size' highlights programme is the odeal way to take in a game!
  Long may you deliver!

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• 69. At 6:42pm on 28 Jan 2009, EntertainAtAllCosts wrote:

  Now that the BBC can, if they wish, rest in the comfort of this news, I hope they don’t and take a critical look at the current offering on Saturday night.
  
  The programme might compare favourably with others but this is not to suggest it produces quality viewing. To use a footballing analogy: the BBC’s competitors might be languishing in the Blue Circle Premier, but MOTD is going nowhere in mid-table in Football League Two - they have a lot to do to qualify for Europe.
  
  Am I not the only one who thinks the inane and repetitive input from the so-called experts is allocated far too much time in the programme. Yes, an alternative channel has unwelcomed commercial breaks, but what MOTD offers instead is the same old comments littered with clichés. How many more times does Alan Hansen have to say, “We’ve said it time and time again,” before he gets the minimum of a yellow card from OFCOM. While moderately exaggerating, is Alan Shearer capable of completing a sentence without using the phrase “Week in, week out”?
  
  I fail to see the point of showing the goals (or significant incidents in the game) once more along with the expert dross – yes, the goals that were shown at full speed and then repeated in slow motion from at least three different angles during the highlights themselves.
  
  Please remove the analysis from the sofa and show more action.
  
  Is anyone else with me?
  

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• 70. At 6:44pm on 28 Jan 2009, Bristol Tree wrote:

  fantastic. now if you could just get rid of lawrenson that would be perfect

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• 71. At 7:05pm on 28 Jan 2009, Perryashburtongroves wrote:

  Where's the cricket, then?

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• 72. At 7:05pm on 28 Jan 2009, happy_red wrote:

  This is reasonably good news, although the BBC could learn something from ITV. That is to give your audience some respect by showing MOTD at the same set time every week instead of moving it about at the whim of some meaningless drivel.
  
  By moving it about, the BBC is showing how low a priority the program is. MOTD has some of the largest viewing figures so it should be given the priority for the 10:30 slot.
  
  This has been a bugbear for years and about the only thing that ITV got right.
  
  

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• 73. At 7:07pm on 28 Jan 2009, EntertainAtAllCosts wrote:

  As technology has moved on, and what with the interactive red button, is it not possible for the BBC to broadcast football without the commentator's drone but keep the crowd noise (and therefore atmosphere)?
  
  Now, that's what I would call an improvement.
  
  (Note to me - Ref#69 - don't copy text into this comment pane as there are some translation issues with some characters!)

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• 74. At 7:12pm on 28 Jan 2009, forza-juventus wrote:

  great news!!
  
  
  the BBC provides best coverage of sports. its a shame that the FA Cup and England games arn't on the BBC anymore.

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• 75. At 7:45pm on 28 Jan 2009, southpar wrote:

  #9, DevilinRed said: "Now if only we can sort out the farce that is England away games on setanta . . . ." while #59, England1957 asked: "Why cant the BBC concentrate on saving the national team and bringing back England to the BBC?"
  
  Why would the BRITISH Broadcasting Corporation have anything to do with "saving" the English football team? If you want that, I'll be wanting my license fee back and I suspect most Scots, Welshmen and viewers in Northen Ireland might feel the same.
  
  
  Totally agree on score - you can only get it on the reb button, which means you have digital TV. Since all digital TV platforms carry Sky Sports News and the far superior Soccer Saturday.
  
  Glad it's going to be retained, but don't think you should rest on your laurels either. Especially where pundits and commentators are concerned. Lawrencon always looked bored, Shearer always defends the English players even when they dive or make bad challenges, Dixon tries to be funny but isn't and Keown seems constantly nervous.
  
  But I had to laugh at the comment about Matt Smith being "just the most annoying presenter around.
  Why....does he talk........and pause.........every......other.....couple of......syllables?" (ArgieWizard, #19). Have you never watched MotD2 with Adrian Chiles and his amazing stop-start, erm his amazing, stop-start sentances?
  

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• 76. At 7:54pm on 28 Jan 2009, susman wrote:

  Very pleased to hear it as I loathe adverts.
  Perhaps adrian chiles could be promoted and freshen up the presentation team, which has become very tired.

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• 77. At 7:59pm on 28 Jan 2009, MFC_1886 wrote:

  On MOTD/MOTD2 can we please remove from the showing of substitutions taking place, it ruins watching the highlights.
  
  A simple on screen graphic eg. Off: Ryan Giggs, On: Carlos Tevez, would suffice.
  
  When we actually see footage of the substitution, it instantly tells me Carlos Tevez will a) score or b) get sent off.
  
  
  Also can we get some of the money being spent on all these sports, sent up to Scotland, so we can get SPL highlights of a decent length?
  
  The current format of 2-3 minutes per match (including replays) we see on BBC/Setanta currently doesn't really give us much.

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• 78. At 8:04pm on 28 Jan 2009, cgavin1 wrote:

  Perhaps he could also ensure that the codec used to compress the live stream on the BBC Football website is capable of handling motion instead of producing an unwatchable blurry mess. Oh and the audo being in sync with the video would also be a plus!

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• 79. At 8:14pm on 28 Jan 2009, chak-de-rohan wrote:

  I would love it if BBC took on the La Liga.

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• 80. At 8:17pm on 28 Jan 2009, alphaMark1010 wrote:

  Thanks for this blog Roger. This is great news.
  
  Contrary to other posts on here I like the punditry on MOTD and the relaxed format and is part of the fabric of Saturday evenings as you say. As a freeview user I also prefer Score to Soccer Saturday. I do agree though that the loss of the FA Cup has meant, in my opinion, diabolical coverage on ITV. The decision not to show the Merseyside derby at the first opportunity was a disgrace.
  
  I recently posted a comment on a previous blog about how I wished for the old-style MOTD, and was grateful for your response Roger. I know I'm falling into a familiar trap by wanting to believe something I've read on the website of a newspaper, but is it true that from 2010-11 MOTD has the right to show up to 30 minutes from each game? If so, it would be great to give the game of the day lengthier coverage.
  
  Anyway, good news.
  

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• 81. At 8:22pm on 28 Jan 2009, Northampton_Iron wrote:

  Fantastic news.
  
  After watching Portsmouth v Swansea from an over-zoomed camera on ITV, I am delighted the beeb get to keep the Premier League.

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• 82. At 8:29pm on 28 Jan 2009, brendyg93 wrote:

  All I can say is, what a relief! I was dreading MOTDless Saturday nights! I have watched the FA cup highlights on ITV so far this season and it just cannot be compared. The commentators are second rate, the pundits talk for much too long (30 minutes analysing Chelsea-Southend a day after the match!) and the commercial breaks just annoy everyone.
  Thank God we will all still hear that tune on a Saturday night!

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• 83. At 10:02pm on 28 Jan 2009, Roger Mosey - BBC Director, London 2012 wrote:

  Blimey - more than 80 comments already! So apologies for not picking up individual points as I normally do. But taking up some of the main themes:
  
  Why can't the digital content be accessed by people abroad? Like almost all rightsholders, the Premier League sells its content country-by-country. So we're required to geo-block our online services to the UK.
  
  Why MOTD2 on the iPlayer not MOTD? That's because of other live and online rights packages, but the virtue of having MOTD2 available is it includes all the weekend's goals from all the games.
  
  Are we going to freshen up/change the programmes? All shows develop over time, and MOTD2 was a deliberate attempt to bring a different Sunday night style into our football coverage. We'll keep looking at innovations, but obvious point: we shouldn't tamper too much with something that's demonstrably successful.
  
  Will the live Championship games be on a BBC sports channel? No, they'll be on BBC One/BBC Two.
  
  Finally for now - comments positive and negative have been read not just by me but by the MOTD team. And we're really grateful for all the support shown, and for the people who've taken the trouble to say they like what we do.
  
  

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• 84. At 10:10pm on 28 Jan 2009, Spoontang wrote:

  Thats a real shame. I'm fed up of the beebs obvious bias towards the larger teams particularly Liverpool. By any chance are the people at the top Liverpool supporters?

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• 85. At 10:23pm on 28 Jan 2009, Sasuke_nffc wrote:

  Roger,
  
  First of all, I think it's great that the BBC has retained the premiership highlights rights. After the unforgiveable act of surrendering the FA cup rights to ITV, it would have been terrible if the premiership had gone that way as well.
  
  Secondly, what are the chances of getting the guys to stop calling Mark Lawrenson "Lawro"? Just makes him sound ridiculous.
  
  Thirdly, I know that John Motson is a British institution, but I think we all can agree that he's had his day...give the main matches to Simon Brotherton and the like.
  
  Fourthly, why do we see 5-10 minute highlights of each match nowadays? There's no way to get a real feel for how the game was going. How about reverting to how it was 10 years ago, showing extended highlights of 3 games and just having the goals from the rest?
  
  Finally (forgive the length, but to be honest I wasn't aware that you existed until I read this blog), may I suggest you rename Football Focus "Premiership Focus"? That's all that seems to be talked about 95% of the time unless it's FA cup weekend. There are 72 football league clubs you know. Maybe a couple of features on them wouldn't go amiss?
  
  Oh, (look at that, I found something else to be grumpy about? :D) maybe the pundits could all do a referee's course and ref a few sunday league matches? Maybe then they'd realise just how hard a job it is (don't expect everyone else to agree with that one...)
  
  Cheers.

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• 86. At 10:27pm on 28 Jan 2009, Jack wrote:

  I do find it ironic that a picture of a Villa - Fulham game is used fr this piece when Fulham are usually last on MOTD!
  
  That aside, great news. Hopefully you can get the FA Cup back soon as well.

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• 87. At 10:33pm on 28 Jan 2009, Salford-theheight-Red wrote:

  I must lend my weight to the praise given to MOTD. Although I thoroughly enjoy MOTD and MOTD2 I didn't realise how good and polished it was until I saw ITV's FA Cup MOTD equivalent ... it was god damn awful.

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• 88. At 10:41pm on 28 Jan 2009, Tmthyhrl wrote:

  And will we see an interview with the manager of Manchester United on the BBC by the time this new contract runs out?

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• 89. At 10:45pm on 28 Jan 2009, DominicLisi wrote:

  Just need to get Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football (NFL) Along with Mike Carlson to continue the sport into the night and live would be perfect!

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• 90. At 10:58pm on 28 Jan 2009, Pseudo-Viking wrote:

  Regarding numerous posts on the subject of online coverage for viewers abroad: I'm sure I'm not alone in being a Brit who is abroad much of the time but who also pays a full license fee in the UK. I cannot believe it is beyond the wit of man or the Beeb to enable license payers like me to have a secure login so that they can enjoy the programmes they help fund. Please, please have a serious look at this. As traditional broadcasting disappears, online/streamed content becomes the norm and markets are deregulated, the BBC would be well served in being one step ahead. Think how many people globally would be happy to pay the license fee to access the BBC's quality content if they had the chance...

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• 91. At 11:49pm on 28 Jan 2009, THENUNNYFOXES wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 92. At 00:33am on 29 Jan 2009, extratime wrote:

  Roger - just to confirm what I read elsewhere, that you have the rights for up to 30 minutes of highlights of each match, as opposed to just 10 now? And I assume you will only use the extra time for the big top four matches? Thus will MOTD be the same length as now?
  
  I also agree with above posters that La Liga is worth bidding for - a truly fabulous league.

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• 93. At 00:38am on 29 Jan 2009, ballackmegranma wrote:

  OTM about MOTD, especially the news that it'll be available on iplayer. How long will it be available for?
  I agree with EVERYONE that ITV is pants, but has anyone seen the Setanta version of Score? It's worse than any football programme I've ever seen, including the travesty that was the John Barnes C5 fiasco.
  Lastly, is the producer seriously called 'Fratton Park', or is your punctuation misleading me?

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• 94. At 02:36am on 29 Jan 2009, birrell7 wrote:

  Great news but but for Brits and i'm a Scot, can you please make it possible for us to watch MOTD & SPL when your abroad. I'm now living in the States and have to download it every weekend from certain websites which takes a age. Please make this possible and not just for UK users only. Cheers

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• 95. At 04:17am on 29 Jan 2009, tarquin wrote:

  I'm out of the country (oz) right now, makes you really appreciate having the bbc and the license fee, I can only get footie on satellite here, and not even bbc radio online broadcasts football because of the rights, saturdays are just dull without football - and I need my fix of MOTD
  
  But anyway, great news about keeping highlights til 2013 - the ITV coverage was an expensive shambles, and their FA cup coverage is awful - I don't quite understand what you got in the league instead of that, and I would rather it back than F1 but that's just my personal opinion - Everybody seems to agree on the FA cup front, but the only way we can get it off ITV is if they get low viewing figures, so we have to stop watching all together
  
  If you wonder why MOTD2 is getting higher viewing figures, it's probably because it's better! It's much funnier and has a better format, even if it is on a sunday and usually has worse games, you get all the goals and Adrian Chiles is much better with the banter than Lineker, and 2good2bad is great - MOTD is quite dull in comparison
  
  Likewise football focus is probably being steamrollered by Jeff Stelling and soccer saturday - now available to pretty much everyone on freeview and online, I tried to watch FF one week and it was so boring, soccer saturday is much more lively and exciting with lots of banter
  
  I do like the introduction of Martin Keown, he's pretty eloquent for a footballer, but you could do with livening up the pundits - does anybody actually like Lawro?

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• 96. At 04:19am on 29 Jan 2009, ThisIsMyTakeOnIt wrote:

  FANTASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!!
  
  Like everybody else, i can't stand any sport on ITV!!
  
  Please dont ever let MOTD go back to ITV!!
  
  However, could you do a small program of highlights for Division 1? There have been some cracking games this season!!
  
  Also, what about allowing the games on 5live & Sports Extra to be heard abroad.
  
  I live abroad, and for "Contractual Reasons" i cannot listen to live commentary.
  
  Keep up the Good Work!

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• 97. At 06:36am on 29 Jan 2009, ringsting-iom wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 98. At 08:12am on 29 Jan 2009, dcod1986 wrote:

  The crime was letting the FA Cup live games go. I just cannot forgive that. ITV are killing my interest in the great cup with agonisingly dreadful coverage (in particular the highlights). I know it's up to them to get their act together but all the same I worry that the BBC let it go without a proper fight. Please give us a chink of light that it'll be back on the BBC before long. Please.

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• 99. At 08:14am on 29 Jan 2009, ml113558 wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 100. At 08:27am on 29 Jan 2009, deafboyslim wrote:

  Great news! As well as the great football coverage continues on the bbc but the subtitles will continue being 2 seconds behind the commentator rather than 2 minutes behind like ITV and Sky. Setanta don't even have subtitles. Maybe its time for the BBC to take things a little further? Extra score is great on the interactive button, however how about if we have another interactive program building up to the MOTD program with Adrian standing on a screen giving out detailed team news and facts about previous team meetings etc
  
  
  Can I make a couple of suggestions?
  
  The Studio is looking a little dated.... maybe changing the studio into a pub scene as the usual pundits are looking too relaxed for the current scenery.
  
  Also, a weekly friday evening program interviewing players/managers/news headliners as well of Football Focus as some of us work on Saturday. I would like to see more of the Scottish Highlights and perhaps some Welsh football? This could bring/encourage the unknown teams into the spotlight.
  
  You've got the contract til 2013, show the world what you guys can do and put the other channels into shame. Show us what you can do for our licence fee!
  
  Well done and good luck on the hard job in making BBC Football better!

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• 101. At 09:13am on 29 Jan 2009, FulhamRudy wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 102. At 09:32am on 29 Jan 2009, hackerjack wrote:

  Are there any plans of making the viewing of MOTD available for viewers outside the UK as well? If not why not?
  
  
  -------------
  
  
  Easy, the BBC only have rights to show the premier league matchs IN THE UK!

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• 103. At 09:32am on 29 Jan 2009, jollyjello wrote:

  Roger, I'd be grateful for reassurance that the successful bid for Premiership highlights will in no way undermine your upcoming highlights coverage of the Football League. ITV's "The Championship" has been an unmitigated disaster: overblown analysis and interview with match action kept to a minimum. Can you promise that the Championship highlights will a) have a show of their own, rather than being tagged on at the end of MoTD; b) will focus on action rather than analysis; c) will regularly feature *all* Championship teams as the main games rather than the same half-a-dozen week in, week out?

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• 104. At 09:46am on 29 Jan 2009, john-parr wrote:

  so which show are you putting football league on like match of the day or motd 2

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• 105. At 09:56am on 29 Jan 2009, ZEUSFC wrote:

  as an ex-pat, in cyprus, i love the beebs coverage, but don't actually need MOTD, as the middle eastern satellite channels show ALL the games live, so you just pick the one you want. highlight programmes are repeated during the week, as is the pick of the weeks matches.
  
  but would i miss MOTD/2 if it wasn't there? of course!

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• 106. At 10:03am on 29 Jan 2009, The Dangle Formerly Known as Sir - (CCFC - Social Events Officer) wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 107. At 10:09am on 29 Jan 2009, LawBestCharlton wrote:

  Great news - chuffed that MOTD and the ever-excellent MOTD2 are going to remain on our screens for a few more years yet.
  
  Also - wasn't aware that the Carling Cup and Championship games were going to be shown on BBC, too. That's great news as, I think others will agree, the Beeb are the best when it comes to sports coverage. Hands down.
  
  Sycophancy aside - I'm all up for cricket to come back to the BBC, but concentrating on football - how about a little bit of European football?? I'm sure the Beeb will bid for Champions League rights next time - but in the meantime, no TV network in the UK has rights to Serie A. Why not take advantage of the Beckham mania and show a regular Sunday night package on BBC3, or something?????

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• 108. At 10:12am on 29 Jan 2009, FulhamRudy wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 109. At 10:19am on 29 Jan 2009, its_rudimentary wrote:

  Are they going to have a big match of the day including all the leagues such as the Championshio, League one etc - like the good old days? Anyone know?

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• 110. At 10:23am on 29 Jan 2009, ringsting-iom wrote:

  All this copyright nonsense has got to come to an end sometime soon. It's depressing to know that i'm still going to have to get MOTD and MOTD2 via "other" methods because of some paper pusher in the PL wants to annoy as many people as the possibly can.
  
  Let everyone see everything :-)
  
  The show is great by the way guys.

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• 111. At 10:42am on 29 Jan 2009, GodsSon83 wrote:

  Dear Roger
  
  Football is our national sport. I dont know how much it cost for formula 1 but, i wont more premier league football. All this paying your T.V licesne to get formula 1!!!.
  You talk about these crown jewels of sport. How on earth is Formula 1 crown jewels!?!
  Wheres the Ashes? Also i never know what channel The England internations are on. The F.A cup, hasnt that also been spread across more then one network. But hey we got Formula one whoooo hoooo. If i could opt out of paying for a t.v licesne i would. The bbc needs to start diggin deeper in those pockets, because we have to pay by law to watch the bbc, we have no choice. Which is madness in this day and age. Then we have to pay for other t.v subsciptions to watch football, cricket and rubgy. Where's the public service? Isnt it going up to a £151 a year. Thats nearly £13 a month. The people of this country are getting robbed daily, they say we got iplayer, and!!!
  i dont know how many pay this but im guessing 10s of millions, and we get hardly any football, no cricket
  I certainly dont have a say in all if the this, and i defenetly dont have a choice in paying licesne fee.
  
  From a working class member of society
  
  NOT happy Roger
  

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• 112. At 10:42am on 29 Jan 2009, johnnormy wrote:

  This is great news, made my week!!

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• 113. At 10:49am on 29 Jan 2009, Davie Dale's square slice wrote:

  Great to hear that that the BBC has won the rights to show the premiership.
  
  ITV were dreadful when they had it, and have continued in a similar vein with their FA cup coverage.
  
  This might be a controversial suggestion, but is there any chance that the BBC could show some Scottish football highlights in England?
  
  All we get is 10 seconds on the news on a saturday night.
  
  MOTD is shown in Scotland every week, but there is nothing for Scottish football fans who happen to live in England.
  
  There is hardly even anything on Football Focus about Scottish football. I know its not exactly the most exciting league in the world, but with the lack of money in the game up there, it could be good if the BBC made an effort to increase the coverage, and therefore potentially increase the interest in the game north of the border.
  
  Please remember, its the BBC - not the EBC!

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• 114. At 11:41am on 29 Jan 2009, Harold_Sc wrote:

  I would be interested to know how this all works, is it a purely financial decision from the FA?
  
  I only ask because they appear to have gone to the highest bidders for the FA Cup, but long term that move isn't looking too clever considering the appalling coverage that is currently being broadcast by the new rights holders.
  
  I would hope that the FA offer the BBC the highlights package because they do a fantastic job, not because they are the highest bidder, if the ITV FA Cup highlights has taught me anything, it's that we probably take for granted how good MOTD really is.

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• 115. At 12:12pm on 29 Jan 2009, JimmydiGriz wrote:

  Will we start seeing MOTD & MOTD2 on BBC HD?
  
  If Ross is in HD, why not MOTD?

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• 116. At 12:19pm on 29 Jan 2009, ricospur wrote:

  I am an avid fan of Match of the day but also an avid fan of going out on a saturday night.
  
  Although I prefer BBC's coverage of Premier League football, I did prefer ITVs timing of showing the highlights. It means you can see the goals before you go out on a saturday night.
  
  Also, why is the repeat programme on so early on a sunday?? Surely it would be better to repeat the show around midday when lots of football fans are recovering from saturday nights indulgence!!
  
  Any chance MOTD could be put later on a sunday??

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• 117. At 12:22pm on 29 Jan 2009, Dragoneyes106 wrote:

  It is really good that the BBC have premiership highlights for Match of the Day. But i do think it is a sad that the only live sports the BBC seem to get are Darts, Horse Racing, Snooker and now F1. Come on BBC try and show some Live football, other than the World Cup or African Nations.
  
  Formula 1 is going to be fantastic back on the BEEB, but a couple of Questions will the theme tune still be that classic by Fleetwood Mac ('The Chain' for those interested) and which Grand Prix will Murray Walker be Commentating at.

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• 118. At 1:00pm on 29 Jan 2009, cHICAGObLUESfAN wrote:

  This is great news! Now, can you get BBC America to show the Match of the Day (or at least a Match of the Week instead of the endless reruns of 20 year old sitcoms, the movie 'Aurthur' and similar fare?

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• 119. At 1:44pm on 29 Jan 2009, The-Shed-Bar wrote:

  Excellent news!
  
  MOTD is a National Institution and should be given the highlights in perpetuity!!!
  
  Far better than the dull presentations we get on ITV.

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• 120. At 2:18pm on 29 Jan 2009, RedBird66 wrote:

  Excellent news. I must say MOTD2 on BBC iPlayer is a stroke of real genius. I look forward to this service as I don't always get to see it on Sunday night.
  
  And please try harder for the internationals and the FA Cup, next time.

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• 121. At 2:59pm on 29 Jan 2009, Roger Mosey - BBC Director, London 2012 wrote:

  To clarify for jollyjello in #103 and others...
  
  Match Of The Day and our new Football League programme will be separate. The Football League contract gives us from August this year:
  
  *A weekly highlights show covering action from the Championship - where there'll be a featured match - and Leagues One and Two. Highlights from Play-offs etc.
  *Action from all those games online on this website.
  *10 live first-pick Championship matches, which should include live coverage on the first and last days of the season
  *Carling Cup highlights through the season and then two live matches from the semi-finals and the final shared with Sky.
  
  It does also mean the opportunity to use more Football League action in Football Focus and Final Score, as well as in the BBC's regional programmes.
  
  So the volume of football on BBC Television will increase markedly from this autumn...
  

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• 122. At 3:49pm on 29 Jan 2009, coherentmonkey wrote:

  Nice to know that English fans and Football clubs are being well taken of, courtesy of the British licence fee payers.
  Out of interest Roger, just how much BBC money will be pumped into clubs outside England?

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• 123. At 4:56pm on 29 Jan 2009, PremWolf wrote:

  "It does also mean the opportunity to use more Football League action in Football Focus and Final Score, as well as in the BBC's regional programmes"
  
  Yeh, that'll happen...

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• 124. At 5:28pm on 29 Jan 2009, redtimbo wrote:

  Comment #77 is a seriously good one.
  
  Showing a substitution taking place instantly tells me that the player is going to get sent off or score. Likewise with showing yellow cards. If you show a yellow in your highlights it means that the player is going to get sent off. I can seem like Mystic Meg in front of my family but that doesn't make it any better to watch for myself.
  
  
  On the topic of your pundits, the fact that I think Lee Dixon is now the most charismatic says it all really.
  
  And get rid of that sofa too. It looked better when they all sat at tables with a suit and tie. I'm not suggesting that they dress smartly but the shirts these guys wear is silly. Some on do up about 2 buttons.

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• 125. At 5:43pm on 29 Jan 2009, dansoton wrote:

  I echo #115. Be really great to get MOTD on BBC HD - especially as all the games are shot in HD as far as I'm aware; and if they're not, then now is the time to make sure they are.
  
  I realise there is extra cost in processing the feed for HD, but as BBC originally said it was going to shoot everything in HD by 2010, and it's already being shot in HD, then it would be great if the BBC decided to broadcast MOTD in HD sooner rather than later.
  
  That would be the icing on the cake :)

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• 126. At 5:59pm on 29 Jan 2009, Roger Mosey - BBC Director, London 2012 wrote:

  Coherentmonkey in #122: the proportion of our rights spend on "English" events will actually go down. As I explained, the FA Cup and England internationals have been replaced by F1 (of interest to the whole UK) and Football League, which will include some enhanced coverage of Welsh clubs.
  
  Meanwhile, BBC Scotland have weekly SPL highlights and live football such as last night's Celtic v Dundee United cup match. We have SPL goals online UK-wide, too.
  
  HankWangford in #123: well, it will happen! As I've mentioned in another blog, we have the rights to show Football League goals within Final Score - and overall this is our biggest ever commitment to football outside the Premier League.

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• 127. At 7:17pm on 29 Jan 2009, robtheref wrote:

  all sounds good
  
  just one thing when aRE YOU gunna update the blue square premier table as oxford have been deducted 5 points, i thought we were near the playoffs until i looked at the oxford mail tonight.

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• 128. At 8:30pm on 29 Jan 2009, David Shield II wrote:

  Whoever does the pciture captions - that's Simon Brotherton sitting next to Motty and Gavin Peacock, not the producer!
  
  Great news!

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• 129. At 8:45pm on 29 Jan 2009, D_M_N_ wrote:

  Roger, with regards to the Football League highlights, any idea on scheduling for that? I think if it was on at like 12:00am straight after MOTD that'd be excessively late, but some may not want to wait until the morning to see it.
  
  Also, if it was on Saturday night, would it be repeated Sunday morning like Match of the Day? If that did happen, and it was all on BBC One, surely the schedule would look something like this:
  
  06:00 - Breakfast
  08:00 - Match of the Day
  10:00 - The Football League Highlights
  12:00 - Grand Prix [if on]
  
  I imagine non-sports fans would have a problem with that. =D
  
  Anyway, back to the original point - any ideas on plans regarding The Football Leagule cotract/highlights?

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• 130. At 9:45pm on 29 Jan 2009, bobbejaan22 wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 131. At 10:14pm on 29 Jan 2009, Arab1909 wrote:

  I pay my TV liscense as well, why do we not get the same investment in Scotland?
  
  Also no international football at all?

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• 132. At 10:24pm on 29 Jan 2009, THENUNNYFOXES wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 133. At 08:43am on 30 Jan 2009, ezyrider wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 134. At 09:04am on 30 Jan 2009, Mister. N wrote:

  All very well, but will the day ever come when we will every see games from the top flight of English football on Terrestrial again? Maybe sometime in my lifetime, but not in the next Ten years, I suspect!

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• 135. At 09:32am on 30 Jan 2009, Westdrop wrote:

  Hmmmmmmmmm........I'm pleased, but with a couple of caveats. Firstly - the BBC's decision to get Football League and Carling cup highlights smacks of desperation because they've lost England and the FA Cup. Let's please not try and present that as some sort of coup.
  
  Secondly - am I the only one who is disappointed in what seems like a strategical decision to make sacrifices in football to win back F1? Don't get me wrong, I like F1, but the problem (from the BBC's perspective) is that F1 takes up 2 hours of qualifying on a Saturday, then 3 hours for a race on a Sunday, over 17 weekends. That, plus the excessive advertising, surely presents a problem for the Beeb considering a) its charter and b) its limited schedule for sport on its two main channels. After all, the reason why the Beeb wasn't too fussed when it lost test match cricket was because it meant devoting a whole day in its schedule to it.
  
  For me the BBC should stick to the core sports that will a) engage the viewer, b) be inclusive of all areas and interests, c) not cost the end of the earth, d) not carry excessive advertising that can be damaging to its reputation and e) be packaged in a time slot that doesn't interfere with other programming that non-sports fans pay their licence fee for.
  
  Don't want to sound too negative though - ultimately the Beeb is the best place to watch Premiership highlights, so I'm happy.

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• 136. At 10:50am on 30 Jan 2009, drgs100 wrote:

  Cricket? OK I promise not of ask again. Just don't turn TMS into Radio 5.

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• 137. At 12:48pm on 30 Jan 2009, Brekkie wrote:

  Although I think it's importance has been somewhat overstated in the past, this time around I don't think the BBC could afford to lose Match of the Day. That said though it's questionable you're still paying the same price for it when there was no real competition for the rights.
  
  I just hope the Championship highlights don't become virtually the only thing from BBC Sport on most Sundays - since the demise of Sunday Grandstand more and more often the Sunday afternoon slot has been lost in the last couple of years.
  
  This wekeend for example you've just got Ski Sunday at 5pm. I know the Aussie Open final is in the morning, but surely something could have been put together in the afternoon. In the old Grandstand days I'm sure you'd have put together a highlights package of the Aussie open final, perhaps extended Ski Sunday and then thrown in a preview of the Six Nations too.

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• 138. At 1:38pm on 30 Jan 2009, tvphil wrote:

  In response to marko1909 #131 (and #122)
  
  "I pay my TV liscense as well, why do we not get the same investment in Scotland?"
  
  You do not get the SAME investment in Scotland you in fact get much HIGHER investment and much more extensive coverage.
  
  In addition to the English Premier League and anythingelse the BBC show to the entire UK on BBC Scotland you also get...
  
  SPL highlights
  Live Scottish Cup
  Live Scottish League Cup
  Live Challenge Cup (in Gaelic)
  Scotland home international highlights
  
  I have asked the BBC several times why they don't show at least some of this to the whole UK - especially now they have lost the FA Cup and England Internationals, but I have never got a straight answer. They don't even bother showing the SPL goals on football focus anymore.
  
  Go on BBC - show the forthcoming Rangers v Celtic Scottish League Cup final to the whole UK, and see whether it proves popular with viewers down south?

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• 139. At 2:06pm on 30 Jan 2009, Roger Mosey - BBC Director, London 2012 wrote:

  I'll reply to more posts over the weekend, but on Brekkie in #137: our sport hours are going up, and next Sunday is a good example. As you say, we have Australian Open tennis live on BBC Two in the morning. We have Ski Sunday at 5pm; and High Altitude at 10pm, which has got off to an excellent start. We then have MOTD2 on BBC One at 10.20pm; and Live Super Bowl from 11pm. So yes - there's nothing in the Sunday Grandstand slot; but that's because the resources have gone to programmes and live events elsewhere, and often to better slots.
  
  Then, as Westdrop notes in #135: we have live F1 coming in on 17 weekends - plus we have 10 weekend days where we'll have live Football League, in addition to all our regular commitments.
  
  By the way, I don't think I've ever said Football League was a coup - but I do think it's a good thing to have, because lots of people have asked us for more coverage outside the Premier League. So combining that with our flagship Match Of The Day should work well.
  
  And on the F1 point: we acquired F1 after we'd lost the FA, so it wasn't a deliberate decision to switch into F1. But F1 is extremely popular, and we're delighted to have it back on the BBC.
  
  To D_M_N in #129: the detailed scheduling hasn't been done yet but we're confident it will all fit together - and we're currently considering a range production plans for Football League. Worth emphasising, though, that it'll be on iPlayer and online so people will be able to access content on demand as well as the original TV broadcast.
  
  

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• 140. At 6:58pm on 30 Jan 2009, JIMMYBANTAM365 wrote:

  Hi Roger,
  
  Great news about MOTD. This, alongside the Football League highlights sounds pretty good to me.
  
  Will the Football League programme be the same style as MOTD or more like Football Extra which ITV used to show on Monday nights? Being a Bradford fan, Football Extra was a must watch at UNI in our glory years of '96 and '99.
  
  Whether people think this is good news or not, be thankful ITV didn't get it. Last Saturday's highlights show for the FA Cup was absolutely terrible. Poor camerawork, VT ending late and as for Craig Doyle!!! Let's just say I doubt BBC Sport are missing him.
  
  I know it is a long way off, but please do everything you can to get the FA Cup rights back next time. I don't think I could stand another 3 years of ITV's pathetic efforts.
  
  

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• 141. At 8:14pm on 30 Jan 2009, coherentmonkey wrote:

  I cant help but notice that you carefully avoided answering my question Roger.
  I fully understand that the BBC do not wish to reveal how much they are paying for TV rights.(In the recent deal to show the Championship matches on BBC, I scoured the web to try and find out how much was paid, but not a single news scource could put a figure on it).
  Perhaps you could answer my question by explaining how much of the money, as a percentage, of the total spent on Football rights, is spent outside England.

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• 142. At 10:27am on 31 Jan 2009, psyberwyche wrote:

  While it's fanatstic news about MOTD, I don't think I'll ever be happy until the Beeb gets to show live matches - I for one object to having to pay through the nose to see the national game. Now it's not just through Sky, but Setanta too!
  
  Surely terrestrial channels should at least be able to show every England and FA cup match?

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• 143. At 10:40am on 31 Jan 2009, D_M_N_ wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 144. At 12:18pm on 31 Jan 2009, Brekkie wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 145. At 10:40pm on 31 Jan 2009, redtimbo wrote:

  Ah, one thing I should mention is the team news at the beginning of matches.
  
  There is no reason I can see for the commentator to give a brief comment on the line ups in the time it would take to put the teams on the screen.
  
  Its not really helpful to say that "Benjani is back in the side, and Carson is out" if you aren't going to show who else is playing.
  
  You could put both teams on a graphic at the same time in a list form quite easily.

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• 146. At 3:56pm on 01 Feb 2009, Roger Mosey - BBC Director, London 2012 wrote:

  JimmyBantam365 in #140: there'll be a national show, but we're also looking at what we can do in the regions. I'm a Bradford fan so I know what you mean...
  
  Coherentmonkey in #141: I don't think this is the right way of looking at it. The point, surely, is that Match Of The Day is enjoyed across the UK? Just look at all the Premier League fans in Northern Ireland... So I would absolutely accept that covering the England national team, which we no longer do, is an investment in England; but I don't agree that Premier League should be counted in the same way.
  
  On (occasionally) not answering questions: I try to deal with everything, but we can't normally talk about future rights issues or areas that are commercially confidential. Apologies when that's the case, but the whole idea of this blog is to be accountable -and we do try to live up to that.
  
  More soon.
  

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• 147. At 5:56pm on 01 Feb 2009, Arab1909 wrote:

  Its always good to see more football on terestrial and personally ive never really watched any Championship football so will be interested too seeing this.
  
  However, I cant help feeling that we're being left behind a bit north of the border. I can understand that Setanta are able to outbid for the live matches that we used to get. But other coverage has decreased dramatically. Up to around 2005 (roughly) I remember that we had Friday Sportscene previewing the upcomming weekend's games. Saturday lunchtime we had our own show instead of Football focus and then an extensive highlights show on a Saturday night, which later changed to Sundays.
  
  But now all we have is a brief 40 minute highlights show on a Monday night.
  
  As BBC is able to show Scottish highlights, surely more can be provided.
  
  Also, since the last broadcast rights competition, BBC has completely cut Scottish international matches, but still shows half of England's. I found this quite disappointing

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• 148. At 02:25am on 02 Feb 2009, Gary M wrote:

  Roger, surely further evidence that a BBC Sports channel is a viable entity? I read a comment from yourself, and excuse me if I miss-quote you, which in essence said you believed a dedicated BBC Sports channel would dilute the mainstream channels too much. But surely separating away the sports the BBC has spent a lot of money securing the rights to would allow them to be fully developed and realised. Take both F1 and MotoGP which are currently competing for airtime that means you have to trim coverage to appease the other demands on time. A dedicated channel would allow you to broadcast all of the coverage you have paid for, yes? Yes, I realise a lot of content is broadcast via the red button but unless you have freeview and a PVR you cannot record that content.
  
  Are your views firmly set against a dedicated BBC Sports channel?
  

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• 149. At 11:23am on 02 Feb 2009, tvphil wrote:

  in reposonse to
  #147. marko1909
  
  "Also, since the last broadcast rights competition, BBC has completely cut Scottish international matches, but still shows half of England's. I found this quite disappointing"
  
  This is completely untrue.
  
  The BBC do NOT show any England internationals. These are split between Setanta and ITV.
  
  The BBC do however show highlights of home Scotland internationals (in Scotland only).
  
  As for coverage of other Scottish football on the BBC - see my previous post #138.
  
  I really do not understand how there can be people in Scotland moaning about the fantastic coverage they get. The only issue is that it doesn't get shown in other parts of the UK.
  
  SPL highlights
  Live Scottish Cup
  Live Scottish League Cup
  Live Challenge Cup (in Gaelic)
  Scotland home international highlights
  
  Roger, are you able to comment about the possibility of more of your Scottish football coverage being shown south of the border?
  
  PS, It is great news the Premier League MOTD rights have been renewed, and I look forward to the new Championship coverage :-)

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• 150. At 4:14pm on 02 Feb 2009, Arab1909 wrote:

  Okay, sorry if its ITV who show the England internationals. But you cannot say that we're getting an equal deal, and its certainly not "fantastic".
  
  If the Premiership was only covered with a 40min highlights show 2 days after the games were played, the odd live cup game and only highlights of half of the internationals, Im sure there would be a few complaints.
  
  And yeah, I'd also noticed that Football Focus has stopped even mentioning Scottish football this season.
  
  Instead there is clearly a plan to increase. English football coverage. Im sure any fair person could see why Scots might feel a bit overlooked.

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• 151. At 12:16pm on 03 Feb 2009, Brekkie wrote:

  Off topic but the best place to put it - very annoyed that half an hour of the build up to Scotland v Wales on Sunday is lost to the Super League Show in the North and North West.
  
  Much of North East Wales gets BBC North West by default, and I'm sure some in the Scottish Borders get BBC North too, so sort it out please before we have to play the "you wouldn't do that to England - or indeed football" card!
  
  
  I know now you have to put The Super League Show on BBC1 due to it being regional, but hey, if you made it national it would slot very neatly into the schedules on BBC2 at some point during the day - and I'm not talking about 4am in the morning.

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• 152. At 5:28pm on 03 Feb 2009, alwaysindoubt wrote:

  Can I just add my voice to the questions already asked by #40, #115 and #125? What news on MOTD in HD?
  
  With the Australian Open final and the Superbowl both absent from BBC HD, the corporation's willingness to invest in HD sport looks questionable.
  
  The BBC's approach to new technology seems to be a bit haphazard. iplayer is excellent, and you have one of the best websites in the world IMO, so why not the same enthusiasm about HD?

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• 153. At 8:16pm on 03 Feb 2009, David Shield II wrote:

  I agree with Brekkie.
  
  I do like the Superleague Show but not at the expense of the Six Nations coverage, I know we won't miss kick-off but I like all the build-up.
  
  I have found one-way around it. If you have the BBC HD Channel without having HD and it still works you can watch the full programme on that. I can do that on Virgin Media. Hope that helps anyone.

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• 154. At 11:42pm on 04 Feb 2009, JasonCrawley wrote:

  I imagine you must currently be sporting a grin like a Cheshire cat, Roger, following the high profile hash ITV made in missing the Everton goal and the criticism it's attracted?

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• 155. At 00:03am on 05 Feb 2009, JIMMYBANTAM365 wrote:

  #153: Or, if you have Sky, just tune into one of the regional BBC1's in and around channel 990 or presumably, the red button.
  
  
  

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• 156. At 7:08pm on 05 Feb 2009, JIMMYBANTAM365 wrote:

  So we can now add missing goals to the list of ITV mistakes. Further proof that the FA made a big mistake and one which I daresay they are now regretting.

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• 157. At 7:25pm on 05 Feb 2009, Sheltster wrote:

  @ Jason Crawley #154
  
  The reason why ITV should not be allowed anywhere near live sporting events. I hope the FA learn their lesson and never award them the contract again.
  
  They should be stripped of the contract as it is

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