Search: ' Ofcom'

Csaba Abrahall analyses part of our regular football coverage that often goes unnoticed – the subtitles

Losing the Champions League final was obviously a disappointment for Sir Alex Ferguson. Even so, viewers of the teletext subtitles accompanying ITV’s broadcast may have been surprised to learn that it represented his “most painful urine defeat”. Mistakes such as this are not uncommon in the subtitling of live football, not because it is the work of illiterate fools with no football knowledge, but because real-time subtitling is fiendishly difficult.

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Setanta is no more, but what did the channel do for viewers outside of the Premier League? Our writers assess the channel’s influence on the Conference and Scottish Premier League

The Conference
In WSC 259 I confessed to having given in to the lure of pay-TV, opting for Setanta rather than Sky for the sake of my bank balance. Now I am not so proud about my choice.

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After the report was made public, Roger Titford reports on the main points and the amount of people who watch Sky Sports

Using the Freedom of Information Act, the Guardian managed to get Ofcom’s report (can be found here) on the Premier League’s television deal into the public domain. In the debate over the structure of the next deal there had been much alluding to this document as a support for change. In the event the findings by the regulator for the UK communications industries look rather inconclusive – “appear to point to potential demand for greater choice” is as strong as the language gets. But the report is certainly interesting.

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The 2007-08 Premiership season will not be live on just one channel. Neil Rose explores how much competition there'll be

“For the first time in the history of the Premier League, free-to-air television will have a realistic opportunity to show live Premier League matches.” So said the European Commission. Not during the current shenanigans over competition for television rights, but two years ago when it persuaded the Premier League and Sky to sub-license a measly eight matches (out of 138) to be shown by another broadcaster. Nobody took up the offer.

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