Paralympics and C4

[Burt]

Turned on the telly this morning to watch the marathon only to find it is primarily studio chit-chat and ads, and only occasional coverage of the action.

C4's coverage generally has been nothing short of scandalous.
:035:

[General]

That's a bit unfair - I think they've done a great job in educating people about how each event and the levels that are set for each level of diability effect the sports etc.

[General]

Plus if you press the red button then you can watch most other sports uninterrupted.

[alexbishop]

I think channel 4s coverage has been very poor too. Poor camera work, poor audio and yes too much adverts/chitchat, not enough sport.

[Burt]

Strange... No red button functionality.

Oh well - caught the end of the mens race.

David Weir -  :Haynes The Maestro:

[Peabody]

Totally agree Burt. It is scandolous thart such an important sporting event has been handed to a company whose only interest is to improve their profit margin. The actual coverage was not too bad but on the whole very disappointed. Also have to criticise the BBC for not bidding for the Paralympics. In response to General, if you enjoy your sports coverage being dominated by adverts then you have got what you want.

[Airfix]

To be fair to C4, the coverage of the marathon was not their fault. It was a lack of footage provided by the Paralympic Broadcast Service. C4 have been bemoaning the issue all morning.

[MJG]

The BBC did bid for the covergae but C4 offered 3 times as much as well as more hours.
Also the graphics and camera work is done by the OBS(olympic broadcasting sevice) and not by bbc or C4.

I think C4 learnt early on that there was not enough on the schedules and pretty much cleared the channel for coverage. Still too much talk and not enough live sport was shown on the main channel but on Virgin they had 3 sports channels devoted to their coverage.

[Burt]

Adverts during the closing ceremony? C'mon........

[The Doctor]

I've not been able to see as much of the paralympics as I'd have liked, but couldn't believe the "coverage" of the marathon earlier today.  As has been said, talking heads babbling on in the studio with occasional text updates on the race.  Actual coverage of the last few hundred yards...and then one of the anchors says "We caught the important bit".

THE WHOLE BLOODY THING'S IMPORTANT YOU NUMPTY.  To show minimal coverage of the event is an insult to the viewers and, more importantly, the athletes.

Then, to cap it all off the anchor managed to redeem herself with a great question to one of the studio guests.  "For any young people at home who want to get into sport, what advice would you give them?" As the guest goes to answer she cuts him off with "We're now going live to the finish line for an interview with David Weir".  Not the hardest thing to record the interview and run it a couple of minutes later you'd have thought.  Or even return to the question after the interview, which they didn't.  Shocking directorial/editorial decision making.  The Games' tagline is "Inspire a Generation"...what chance has the next generation got when the planks at Channel 4 are trusted with bringing the Games to them.

As far as I'm concerned Channel 4 should never be allowed to even bid for any other sporting events

[Airfix]

Once again, not Channel 4's fault!!!!

[Enter the Frei]

On the BBC thing I could imagine them not really wanting the Paralympics as well as the Olympics. would end up being 30 odd days with no normal programming which would gather complaints from people who have paid their TV licence and not necessarily too interested in the olympics and Paralympics.

Not my opinion or I'm sure that of many on here but not everyone wants non stop Sport on every BBC channel for a month

[Burt]

I've loved the whole experience... Going there, seeing the road races and time trials live on Hampton Court Road, seeing all sorts on TV... Truly inspirational few weeks, particularly the paralympians. It will be sad to see it all end, but a privilege to have been in the hosting city whilst it lasted.

I work in Bank, so am hoping to drift out of the office to see the parade tomorrow.

[Deanothefulhamfan]

I feel it has actually been ok.... The lexi Guide they had has been a great idea in the understanding of each classification.

I did hear the marathon was shocking this morning, but i have generally been happy with the coverage, it's not the bbc, but I was expecting worse from c4 in all honesty. I watched it every day and will be gutted to see it all end... These paralympic athletes have been nothing short of INCREDIBLE.

[Peabody]

I agree that not all that Channel 4 did was bad but adverts every 6 to 10 mins was that really necessary?

[Airfix]

I agree that not all that Channel 4 did was bad but adverts every 6 to 10 mins was that really necessary?

I discussed this with Mrs AF last night.  We have to accept that commercial television has advertising, that is how they make their money, in the main.  They have a target amount of airtime to sell and, they have the choice to have fewer, longer breaks or more, shorter breaks.  I think that the plan was, taking the latter route means that there would be less chance of missing critical action.  It also gave us the time to bung the kettle on as required.

On a side-note about Channel 4, did anyone see Adam Hill's Last Leg at the end of each evening?  What a cracking show that was, I was truly hooked.  Especially on their #isitok section.

[MJG]

Not so much the adverts it was the fact that the same person 'Lee Pearson' seemed to be the Olympian they showed the most at the end and start of them.. I hated him in the end...sorry

[Peabody]

I fully understand that commercial TV has to make its money however, two things, when are they going to work out that very few people watch the ads nowadays, my wife records most commercial tv, so she can skip through the ads and Channel 4 indulged in overkill during the Paralympics.

[Bracken White]

I must confess to being disappointed at the C4 coverage. Whoever's fault it was, the 'non coverage' of the wheelchair marathons yesterday, was nothing short of appalling. BBC R5 Live kept you in touch much better. Guess I must be used to the BBC who's Olympic coverage was outstanding - but do agree with the above - far too much boring chit-chat & commercials - not the presenters' faults either! The Games were absolutely superb though - truly breathtaking, courageous & spine-tingling performances.