Topic: BT / TNT Sport

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Hagreaves is absolutely clueless, Ferdinand looked like he wanted to throw a chair at him whilst debating Arsenal's problems.

[tonysleft]

Hagreaves is absolutely clueless, Ferdinand looked like he wanted to throw a chair at him whilst debating Arsenal's problems.

I'd throw a chair at him just for us rehabilitating him for 3 seasons only for him to fuck off on a free to our local rivals.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

I'd throw a chair at him just for us rehabilitating him for 3 seasons only for him to fuck off on a free to our local rivals.

Well it's not like he contributed much at City after fucking you off like that. But point taken.

[Xxavi]

Hagreaves is absolutely clueless, Ferdinand looked like he wanted to throw a chair at him whilst debating Arsenal's problems.

Others on the panel didn't agree with Hargreaves that Bayern were THE favorites either, they said they like Madrid better. That actually is something that I liked very much.

Here is the reason, Hargreaves has been VERY biased toward Bayern all these years. Sometimes, unnecessarily so. So dismissive of other teams, and then acts surprised when Bayern are fucked. Like this past fall when Atletico Madrid outclassed them... it seems like it didn't ever happen. And it is OK if it is an isolated incident, but he doesn't even try to hide his bias. He also has bias toward other German teams, too. I guess since he is the channel's Bundesliga "expert", you expect some bias from him. But he needs to control himself.

Bayern indeed have been a top 3 team in Europe for years now. But the viewers may not want to be reminded of it all the freaking time.

[Xxavi]

Hargreaves was having a mare. He was making it seem like Bayern are so fucking fantastic that Arsenal can actually draw positives from that game Ferdinand disagreed right away. Then Hargreaves spent the next 15 minutes backtracking.

Arsenal have played top European teams many times over the years, Barcelona, Bayern Munich themselves, Real Madrid, other English teams. They weren't beaten 10-2 by them back then. So this is a new low for Arsenal, not sure what he was trying to say, Hargreaves. Bayern are a top team, but the performance and scoreline are inexcusable.

[Rich]

Would take BT over Sky any day of the week. Hated the company and hated the prices.  Plus the BT Sports iPad app is lightyears ahead

[PhilV]

I think it's time to cancel SKY and find some alternative, I just can't justify paying like Ł65 for SKY and then having to pay another Ł25-Ł30 on top for BT Sports package... it's crazy money for TV these days and it's because they are paying Billions to the sport... the end consumer is always shafted, just gonna start streaming more at this rate, the quality sucks but it's not a ripoff at least

[swoopy]

I think it's time to cancel SKY and find some alternative, I just can't justify paying like Ł65 for SKY and then having to pay another Ł25-Ł30 on top for BT Sports package... it's crazy money for TV these days and it's because they are paying Billions to the sport... the end consumer is always shafted, just gonna start streaming more at this rate, the quality sucks but it's not a ripoff at least

It has to all become unsuistainable at some point

The more they bid for rights, the more they put the prices up, the more people that will leave and start streaming

Eventually you hit a point you don't have enough subscribers to justify the cost of the rights

[Old No7]

That European commission (I think) decision a few years ago that said the premier league weren't allowed to sell a monopoly to SKY sounded very well intentioned but in reality has simply screwed the consumer into paying for two subscriptions instead of one. I haven't watched a champions league game for a couple of seasons now. I have SKY on a 60% off deal but I won't bother renewing that. The only football I watch now is our games on sky, I stream our games on BT & I catch the other odd game on SKY that doesn't involve us if I have nothing else to do.

The streams are petty good these days, so I'll probably stick to that for all our games next season

[Statto Red]

I ditched SKY last year due to cost, last time i looked it was Ł47 alone a month for just SKY TV with added SKY Sports package, i was in an area where cable wasn't installed, although i've since moved to an area that can get cable but Virgin is just as pricey as SKY, i had TV with SKY Sports, Broadband & Phone which was Ł92 a month, & thats why people ditching overpriced Pay TV & streaming matches.

[sinnermichael]

Nice from BT tonight - whilst showing yet another replay of a penalty incident... Bayern were on the attack and then scored - BT missed half the build-up.

That's the type of thing you pay good money for... 

(before even starting on the quality of commentators, pundits and analysis).

It was bordeline disgraceful. Blaming the officials for a 10-2 aggregate defeat was laughable.

[Andy82lfc]

Would take BT over Sky any day of the week. Hated the company and hated the prices.  Plus the BT Sports iPad app is lightyears ahead

This all day, Skygo/silverlight is awful sometimes for streaming with loads of problems, plus the fact you don't have to listen to a version of MUTV with rat boy and Tyler which is getting way beyond the joke now.

[sinnermichael]

Arsenal game got half a million viewers last night. Wouldn't have been many more if the tie was still alive.

By contrast, Sutton Utd vs Arsenal in the FA Cup got a viewing audience of 7 million.

[Xxavi]

These channels are recycling the same old excuses. Now, Bale's interview is making some noise. Bale doesn't appear to be a particularly bright fellow in that interview, for one thing, he can be accused of being lazy (that he only tries for 45 minutes. Maybe he should try more, he has never won Spanish league, maybe he would have done better in that competition if he tried for 90 min). But OK, going beyond that, he kindly offered a nice excuse, a much welcome excuse for English clubs in Europe. That the league is so brutally hard and competitive that the teams end up doing poorly in Europe. And that the Winter break is having bad affect on the results etc.

I'd like a real analysis of that on BT Sport, but I think they are hesitant to admit the fact that the likes of Arsenal are not tired, they are crap. Really, I have no idea how can anyone be fooled by the winter break excuse anymore. Spurs were crap in CL before the winter break, were they just tired this past Fall because they already started thinking about Winter Break? How does it even compute? English clubs regularly compete against teams whose budgets are fraction of their budgets, whose squad size is often 12 adult footballers and 5 kids. Yet, year after year, the excuse is "Barca and Real Madrid enjoy winter break and they have collected all the best players in a 2-horse league".

It is as if English clubs are destroying everyone in Europe, and only 3 opponents, Bayern, Madrid and Barca are left to deal with. It is as if Sevilla, Ajax, Anderlecht, Monaco etc. are no longer a problem. It is only because Bayern has an advantage due to the winter break and because Bundesliga is a poor competition...

[oojason]

These channels are recycling the same old excuses. Now, Bale's interview is making some noise. Bale doesn't appear to be a particularly bright fellow in that interview, for one thing, he can be accused of being lazy (that he only tries for 45 minutes. Maybe he should try more, he has never won Spanish league, maybe he would have done better in that competition if he tried for 90 min). But OK, going beyond that, he kindly offered a nice excuse, a much welcome excuse for English clubs in Europe. That the league is so brutally hard and competitive that the teams end up doing poorly in Europe. And that the Winter break is having bad affect on the results etc.

I'd like a real analysis of that on BT Sport, but I think they are hesitant to admit the fact that the likes of Arsenal are not tired, they are crap. Really, I have no idea how can anyone be fooled by the winter break excuse anymore. Spurs were crap in CL before the winter break, were they just tired this past Fall because they already started thinking about Winter Break? How does it even compute? English clubs regularly compete against teams whose budgets are fraction of their budgets, whose squad size is often 12 adult footballers and 5 kids. Yet, year after year, the excuse is "Barca and Real Madrid enjoy winter break and they have collected all the best players in a 2-horse league".

It is as if English clubs are destroying everyone in Europe, and only 3 opponents, Bayern, Madrid and Barca are left to deal with. It is as if Sevilla, Ajax, Anderlecht, Monaco etc. are no longer a problem. It is only because Bayern has an advantage due to the winter break and because Bundesliga is a poor competition...

If BT kept with James Richardson, Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle and Julien Laurens for their European coverage it wouldn't be a problem - analysis-wise. Instead we get mono-syballic ex-PL pros who don't know much about the players on show, form, tactics, gameplan etc - we're lucky if they can pronounce opposition player names and not a spout platitudes and cliches.

When do you think Ian Wright, Ferdinand, Hargreaves, Owen, etc last watched Sevilla & Atletico, or Monaco & PSG, Gent & Genk, Roma or Napoli play in their own league? It's apparent that they don't - no insight, no info, no idea - just platitudes and the cliches...

(maybe, just maybe some bullet-point prep already done for them, a read through of the match programme, and some bookie odds)

[wellred82]

When it was Sky though they allowed it onto terrestrial tv, this just makes no sense whatsoever.

That's because both Sky and ITV won half the packs in the auction. This time, like last time BT won them all. Ultimately it comes down to money and the reason Sky or ITV don't have any coverage is because they didn't pull out enough wonga.

to be honest I don't think it's expensive to get BT sport and there is far more coverage that gets you closer to the action. All the content they put out on twitter and Facebook, the goals show, interactive red button during the game, the goals show and now more clips and bits on social media.

I don't think anyone can complain about their coverage to be honest ok you may have an opinion on their punditry team but who gives a fk about that. Im there to watch the footballers not the pundits.

Feel a bit sorry for fans who will have to probably take half a day off to get to the stadium for 6pm kick offs, but that's not BTs fault it's UEFA wanting to maximise TV potential broadcast slots so they can sell the overall package for more. They already followed that model for Europa league last year.

Kodi is ok but it's unreliable and I only really use it for 3pm kick offs.


[You may have an iPhone but you are still using the free version of Tapatalk and spamming us with that knowledge]

[ElCapo]

These channels are recycling the same old excuses. Now, Bale's interview is making some noise. Bale doesn't appear to be a particularly bright fellow in that interview, for one thing, he can be accused of being lazy (that he only tries for 45 minutes. Maybe he should try more, he has never won Spanish league, maybe he would have done better in that competition if he tried for 90 min). But OK, going beyond that, he kindly offered a nice excuse, a much welcome excuse for English clubs in Europe. That the league is so brutally hard and competitive that the teams end up doing poorly in Europe. And that the Winter break is having bad affect on the results etc.

I'd like a real analysis of that on BT Sport, but I think they are hesitant to admit the fact that the likes of Arsenal are not tired, they are crap. Really, I have no idea how can anyone be fooled by the winter break excuse anymore. Spurs were crap in CL before the winter break, were they just tired this past Fall because they already started thinking about Winter Break? How does it even compute? English clubs regularly compete against teams whose budgets are fraction of their budgets, whose squad size is often 12 adult footballers and 5 kids. Yet, year after year, the excuse is "Barca and Real Madrid enjoy winter break and they have collected all the best players in a 2-horse league".

It is as if English clubs are destroying everyone in Europe, and only 3 opponents, Bayern, Madrid and Barca are left to deal with. It is as if Sevilla, Ajax, Anderlecht, Monaco etc. are no longer a problem. It is only because Bayern has an advantage due to the winter break and because Bundesliga is a poor competition...

We all know that Bayern/Barca/RM could never score 5 against a English team

[Wabaloolah]

I have no love for Sky either, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be on ordinary television, they're are youngsters now not even getting the chance to watch European football on tv and that's shameful.

Fucking hell, people are spoilt by the amount of football on TV nowadays aren't they! 

Back when we were ruling the roost in the Football League and in Europe all you had was Match of the Day, the Big Match and Sportsnight.  Probably around one hour a week of actual football coverage given all the adverts and talk in between games.  MOTD had highlights of just 2 matches and the Big Match the same.  Sportsnight you had highlights of European games.  The only live games were the FA Cup Final and the European Cup Final.  Was that shameful, no it's what we had and we got on with it!  Did it stop kids from wanting to be footballers or to play football.  No, of course it didn't.  It actually gave us time to go out and play the game!

European Highlights are going to be FTA either on BT or on You Tube and the finals will be live on Youtube or Social Media so people will still be able to watch them

[Wabaloolah]

Without football, SKY would be finished. Netflix, and other streaming services would take over.

Football is what keeps a large chunk of Sky's market in tact.

indeed, the more they lose the more I like it

[puroresu_kid]

These channels are recycling the same old excuses. Now, Bale's interview is making some noise. Bale doesn't appear to be a particularly bright fellow in that interview, for one thing, he can be accused of being lazy (that he only tries for 45 minutes. Maybe he should try more, he has never won Spanish league, maybe he would have done better in that competition if he tried for 90 min). But OK, going beyond that, he kindly offered a nice excuse, a much welcome excuse for English clubs in Europe. That the league is so brutally hard and competitive that the teams end up doing poorly in Europe. And that the Winter break is having bad affect on the results etc.

I'd like a real analysis of that on BT Sport, but I think they are hesitant to admit the fact that the likes of Arsenal are not tired, they are crap. Really, I have no idea how can anyone be fooled by the winter break excuse anymore. Spurs were crap in CL before the winter break, were they just tired this past Fall because they already started thinking about Winter Break? How does it even compute? English clubs regularly compete against teams whose budgets are fraction of their budgets, whose squad size is often 12 adult footballers and 5 kids. Yet, year after year, the excuse is "Barca and Real Madrid enjoy winter break and they have collected all the best players in a 2-horse league".

It is as if English clubs are destroying everyone in Europe, and only 3 opponents, Bayern, Madrid and Barca are left to deal with. It is as if Sevilla, Ajax, Anderlecht, Monaco etc. are no longer a problem. It is only because Bayern has an advantage due to the winter break and because Bundesliga is a poor competition...

lol

When 3/4 English clubs making the last 4 nobody was talking about the disadvantage of no winter break.

[CallumLFC]

Fair to say BT will be getting a load of new subscribers over the next week.

[Redman0151]

lol

When 3/4 English clubs making the last 4 nobody was talking about the disadvantage of no winter break.

Exactly.

And it's not as if the English clubs are blowing teams away before the winter break. Spurs were eliminated before any nation had a break

[A Complete Flop]

Fair to say BT will be getting a load of new subscribers over the next week.

Not from this household they won't. Have never and will never buy a football subs.

[ggcc14]

My mate told me about Bale's comments about only having to try for 45 minutes and i flat out didn't believe him. How you can say such a thing when you haven't won a title in Spain for three seasons, at Spain's biggest club absolutely beggars belief.

[Bunter]

You must be a complete mug to be paying for BT/Sky nowadays with Kodi/Firestick/Sportsmania etc. available and especially that they've raised their prices again. Hopefully the dwindling viewing figures hasten the bursting of the bubble.

[cornelius]

Have they really canned European Football Show? I mean what the actual fuck? 

[pyroparty]

So the rumours say, really shit that, it's boss but I guess they have something else planned with shouting morons who struggle to string a sentence together like Robbie Savage or something.

[oojason]

Have they really canned European Football Show? I mean what the actual fuck? 

Seems BT want to go for wall-to-wall shitness for their coverage of football - as opposed to keeping on one of the few quality footy shows on UK tv.

[cornelius]

Fuck them then, I'm cancelling Monday. Shit c*nts.

[Elzar]

I hope so, I find it disgusting that everything has gone to BT when they do such a crappy job on it. The Champion's League should be on ordinary television not everyone can afford Sky/BT.

There is a rule saying one game a week has to be on free TV, and the final does also.

If you watch, Btshowcase on freeview has a champions league game on every week, and the final this year is free on youtube.

They still do a shit job of it though.

[Samie]

James Richardson should return to his ancestral home aka Channel 4.

[Lycan]

I can't believe they're cancelling the European football show. It's the best football show around.

[Lush is the best medicine...]

I can't believe they're cancelling the European football show. It's the best football show around.

yup, cost for Rafa/Julians/brassell will be less than for gobshites like hoddle, jenas and savage

By far the best show and educational as well, hope they don't fuck the goals show up as well by replacing those guys with 'arry and pals

[Haemoglobin]

We can't have these intellectual, "expert" continental types telling us what's what on our own football television programmes. With their little tiny gay fancy-dan coffees and workshy layabout afternoon naps and fruity cheek-kissing breakfasts.

We need proper stodgy meat & potatoes punditry across the board; the appreciation of delicate, subtle flavour is for pretentious wimps, who would hang for cultural treason if there were any justice. No wonder Empire crumbled, with these namby-pambies everywhere.

[BER]

BT became everything you hoped it wouldn't as an alternative to Sky, basically, a dumbed-down Sky Sports.

You can't blame them either really, they are just taking their cue from social media and what they perceive as modern fan culture.

Good thing we have podcasts.

[Pistolero]

Where do you draw the line on that? I don't see why the Champions League should be on ordinary TV more than Premier League football for example

the modern footy fan in a nutshell...

[Kekule]

I can't believe they're cancelling the European football show. It's the best football show around.

One can only assume the likes of Savage, Owen, Ferdinand, Hargreaves, Hoddle and others in the shouty ex-pro gobshite union don't like being shown up and have said that either BT let those boffins go or they'll fuck off to Sky with their "for me, Clive"s and their "he'll be disappointed with that, Peter"s where they'll be welcomed. "They've never kicked a ball in their life, Gary. What do they know about the game?"

[Alan_X]

Agreed.  These things are put to tender and there is nothing stopping terrestrial tv buying the rights. If they cant afford to do so then that's on them.

Terrestrial TV can't shaft their viewers with ridiculous packages. Rupert Murdoch bought up English football to create a monopoly and to fund their right-wing news channels.

But hey, it's ok as long as people with the cash can afford to watch it on their big screen TVs.

[CallumLFC]

One can only assume the likes of Savage, Owen, Ferdinand, Hargreaves, Hoddle and others in the shouty ex-pro gobshite union don't like being shown up and have said that either BT let those boffins go or they'll fuck off to Sky with their "for me, Clive"s and their "he'll be disappointed with that, Peter"s where they'll be welcomed. "They've never kicked a ball in their life, Gary. What do they know about the game?"

It's clearly for cost cutting reasons. Bit like when Sky scrapped Revista De La Liga.

[RJ320]

It's clearly for cost cutting reasons. Bit like when Sky scrapped Revista De La Liga.

That's news to me, when did that happen? And what has replaced it?