BBC must be brave and start a pay-per-view sports channel

Telegraph

6 days ago

What an amazing summer of sport we've had with Test matches, international football, motor racing and the rest. I found myself concentrating on Wimbledon and then The Open golf championship. You will no doubt have spotted that the BBC has recently been under the cosh for various reasons so they will have been mightily relieved that their coverage of the Wimbledon Championships passed without much criticism.
Amongst the large cast of performers that the Beeb managed to attract, once again John McEnroe was the star, as he always has been and I was imagining how the young McEnroe, long before the eyebrows turned grey, might have dealt with the errors made by the new electronic line judging – probably down on his knees pulling it to pieces, I would imagine.
Of course in these days of social media there is always a little bit of flak flying around, something the late commentator Dan Maskell would not have had to cope with. Nowadays his pronunciation of the word match (metch in Dan English) would probably attract some stick.
Then it was on to The Open golf championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Sky's coverage seems to be exceptionally good although I have to say that when it comes to golf I do miss the commentary of Peter Alliss. I knew Peter a little and as far as I could detect he had little self-doubt, but he was superb at communicating his sport. He was outstanding at spotting the unusual and making a mock of it but he could be a harsh critic as when the Frenchman Jean van de Velde infamously threw away The Open at Carnoustie some years ago.
The veteran Ewen Murray leads the accomplished Sky commentary team and they are joined from time to time by six-time grand slam winner Sir Nick Faldo, an able broadcaster these days.
They have the brand
The BBC does offer a highlights show but it only serves to show that they are also-rans. If they are to compete as serious contenders for big-time sport, they will have to form a separate sports channel and that means pay-per-view. They have the brand.
I used to say that working for the BBC was not a job, it was a cause. In many ways that is still true but as time has gone by and the sports department continues a constant battle to hang on to the contracts it has, the relationship with Wimbledon will be in jeopardy as the competition continues to show ambitions in that direction.
The only way to compete is to find the money to do so. Unless the BBC is content to cover only minor sports they will have to get out into the marketplace. To do this, the kind of money involved means the funding must come from a source other than the licence fee and that means pay-per-view.
Whenever a major sport leaves the BBC it is usually with regret. They know how valuable it is to be a BBC product. If there is someone at the corporation who agrees with me and has the courage to fight for that cause I mentioned, get ready to summon up the blood, disguise fair nature and prepare for the incoming rage.