Ssb - snooker's global audience

[MySockPuppet]

More people are watching snooker on television now than at any time in history.

There’s a self-indulgent British attitude that the only thing that matters is what happens in blighty but this ignores the fact that snooker is a global sport.

The Grand Prix will be broadcast on the BBC, Eurosport and various other channels around the world, either live or in the form of highlights.

TV channels in China are particularly ravenous for coverage and the total audience for the tournament will run into the many millions, dwarfing the numbers recorded in the UK in the 1980s.

These are deals the WPBSA deserve credit for signing, because they have brought the sport into living rooms in some unlikely locations and turned legions of people into lifelong fans of the green baize game.

Some of the BBC’s terrestrial transmission times from Glasgow have raised eyebrows – the Conservative Party Conference doesn’t help – but every ball of the event is live on the red button or on the BBC website, which most UK viewers now have access to.

The Eurosport player also has coverage of one of the tables and the TV channel will be broadcasting many hours live, although times may vary depending which country you are in.

Here in the UK, we like to think back to a golden age. Well I remember the ‘golden age’ and I remember having to wait for recorded highlights of major finals rather than watching them live.

Viewers will – as is their right – complain about commentators, camera angles, interviews, features and the rest but, the truth is, there has never been a better time to watch snooker on the TV.

And with the internet as well, it is even easier to keep up to date with the action.

Gone are the days when waiting until half past midnight for David Vine to appear was pretty much the only way of finding out what had happened.

Now, snooker much more regularly happens live before our eyes and the game's global footprint is growing every year.

One final thought: there are, apparently, some three thousand folk in Britain who still have black and white TV sets.

I assume they aren't snooker fans.


More...

[Migtsf]

I checked the Eurosport International coverage of the Grand Prix, and it’s ok if we take into considering what their viewers are used to. None of the matches will be covered in full though and judging by their schedule, there will be interruptions in the beginning, in the middle, in the end, or in all parts of the matches. I know they have a Eurosport Player to sell, but I think they are getting a bit carried away with this.

This also sends another clear message. TV wants snooker matches to be shorter. No wonder all innovations like shot clocks, 6 reds and 10 reds are meant to make snooker move in that direction.

[April madness]

I checked the Eurosport International coverage of the Grand Prix, and it’s ok if we take into considering what their viewers are used to. None of the matches will be covered in full though and judging by their schedule, there will be interruptions in the beginning, in the middle, in the end, or in all parts of the matches. I know they have a Eurosport Player to sell, but I think they are getting a bit carried away with this.

This also sends another clear message. TV wants snooker matches to be shorter. No wonder all innovations like shot clocks, 6 reds and 10 reds are meant to make snooker move in that direction.

I agree to what you say, but all in all snooker coverage on Eurosport has always been interrupted/shortened by showing other sport, even icluding recorded repeats of other competitions. So it's not only the length, but also programming priority that shows Eurosport consider other sports more important than snooker. I hope one day that will change, and hopefully I can live that long

[Monique]

I agree to what you say, but all in all snooker coverage on Eurosport has always been interrupted/shortened by showing other sport, even icluding recorded repeats of other competitions. So it's not only the length, but also programming priority that shows Eurosport consider other sports more important than snooker. I hope one day that will change, and hopefully I can live that long

Moreover I'm not so sure the lenght of the matches is the biggest problem. I'd say the fact that the lenght is unknown and can vary significantly is worse. That was the primary reason for the introduction of shot-clock in PL: being able to control the time slot reasonably for broadcasting.

[Migtsf]

Fair points, everybody. I just don’t remember the GP broadcasts being so fragmented as they are going to be this year.

[Terry Davidson]

ALL OF YOU!!!!! quit yer complainin' as you could be in Canada and have absolutely ZERO snooker coverage on TV. Us poor snooker slobs here are forced to watch on the internet which is, of course, live and 5hours ahead of Ontario and 8hours ahead of British Columbia.

I would love to have Eurosport coverage even though it's not quite up to all your standards

Terry

[Migtsf]

We complain because we care.

Sorry you guys over there have no snooker TV coverage.

[montoya10]

I feel sorry about Canada.

But Eurosport really make terrible programming selections at time

If they choose a live event over snooker, that's fine, but they tend to show highlights of past events

[wildJONESEYE]

We complain because we care.

Sorry you guys over there have no snooker TV coverage.

i bet you anything you get more covarage in portugal or across europe now than we in Brittan had in the 80s.

like the main post said people look at 80s snooker through rose coloured specs and forget what it was really like..

in 1983 i was 13 and a Alex Higgins fan school next day but i had to wait up until gone midnight to get a glimpse of him beating Steve Davis in a highlight package in the 1983 UK Final it really was crap to say the least.

[Migtsf]

That is little consolation to me. The times are different now. Every time they pull the plug they aggravate me, and if I’m watching a match I expect to be entertained, not upset.

It was like last Shanghai Masters. For some reason, I decided it was worth while getting up early on a Saturday morning to watch the semi-final. At 4-4, they pulled the plug. I was so very happy with that the next day I didn’t bother again. If they don’t want me to watch the game, I won’t. There is plenty stuff out there to do instead.

If this was other sport this schedule would be totally unacceptable.