The Sport Thread

[Michael]

I don't know if it's been mentioned, I noticed it last week, but all the on-field adverts/logos etc in the South Africa v Wales series are superimposed using the natural green of the field for keying. Works seamlessly and has the added bonus that none of the players end up with paint on their kits/bodies. Can't be too long before it's introduced here to replace physical gfx surely? TV audience must be more valuable to advertise to than crowds in the stadium, 3/4 of which can't see the adverts properly anyway?

[thegeek]

It's probably been going on for longer than you think. This year's Ashes had UK-specific ads superimposed on the field for the world feed. Virtual billboard replacement happens quite a bit in football too. Usually it's only done on the main camera, so if you keep your eyes peeled you can see the 'original' ad on replays and other angles.

[Rdd]

I had seen that too - the giveaway being that certain camera angles/shots didn’t have them. I do remember back when RBS had the Six Nations sponsorship, the Ulster Bank logos in the in-goals basically couldn’t be read properly in the stadium (they were sometimes painted in such a way to make them look like they were “standing up” on the tv broadcast) so the point about them being primarily for TV was well made.

Sky, never one to miss a marketing gimmick, branded all their match coverage yesterday as “The Decider” (all four series having been tied at 1-1 going into the last day).

[RhysJR]

Sad news this morning that sports commentator John Gwynne has passed away.

https://twitter.com/BBCLancsSport/status...9867703296

I met him in 2013 at a darts event in Andover. He was a very friendly and knowledgable man.

Sky Sports' tribute from this weekend's action

https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/1...Wqm9BvDDPg

[DJGM1974]

A selection of screenshots of NBC's coverage of the final round at the 150th Open Golf championship.
They're all pretty much self explanatory . . .

[Brekkie]

Same graphics as Sky then, which IMO are pretty damn ugly.

[Rdd]

No, Sky had their own graphics, albeit skinned in blue instead of the usual green which they normally use for golf.

Those are the world feed graphics, and are dreadfully ugly. Serif fonts should just be banned, generally! They rarely work for lower thirds in my view. While not used by Sky they did appear on the BBC highlights show.

[Brekkie]

Long shift for Jeanette Kwakye on the World Athletics today - hosting live at 1.50pm this afternoon having come off air around 4.30am, and then a four hour shift on BBC3 at 7pm before another overnight session finishing at 4.30am on BBC1.

Titles here which feel so generic - how I miss the classic "International Athletics" theme.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0...y-3-part-1

[valley]

No, Sky had their own graphics, albeit skinned in blue instead of the usual green which they normally use for golf.

Those are the world feed graphics, and are dreadfully ugly. Serif fonts should just be banned, generally! They rarely work for lower thirds in my view. While not used by Sky they did appear on the BBC highlights show.

Yep, the Sky graphics were vastly superior to the WF efforts this year.

[Benriggers]

Looks like Channel 4 have messed up tonight's highlights of Formula E by repeating the 1st race again even though EPG/online TV guides mentions the 2nd race.

[Medianext.MX]

It looks like it will be confirmed as soon as it is formally done and dusted by autumn, but subscriber-funded news outlet Puck is reporting Apple TV+ is the frontrunner to replace DirecTV as the US partner for NFL Sunday Ticket, offering about $3 million USD by year starting 2023. It could also come with a partnership for a standalone OTT offering which would displace the existing mobile streaming offerings of free local games and a deal with Verizon, as well as a non-controlling stake in NFL Media and NFL Films.

https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/apple-...hts-bubble

[Rdd]

DirecTV have said they won’t be renewing the rights now, claiming it doesn’t pay for them. It is extremely expensive (for both the end consumer and DirecTV). Be interesting to see what happens there though I presume it won’t affect international viewers who have the similar but separate NFL GamePass International as an OTT offering (watch what happens with RedZone as I suspect 2022 will be the last season for one of the two currently separate RedZone channels) .

Within the US my understanding was that the new deals with CBS and Fox allow them to stream FTA games to those who would be able to receive them FTA.

Other news on what has been a huge off-season for broadcasting, SEC on CBS sideline reporter Jamie Erdual moves to NFL Network, replaced by Jenny Dell. Al Michaels confirmed to do at least one NBC playoff game in addition to his TNF duties. As expected, Kevin Burkhart and Greg Olsen (at least until Tom Brady finally does retire) replace the departed Buck/Aikman at Fox. It’s been quite a merry go round.

[Steve Williams]

Enjoyed the Sally Gunnell piece on the athletics last night, it was on the BBC3 coverage around 7.30. Loads of archivery from throughout her career, including clips from the 1986 Commonwealth Games with original graphics intact. I see BBC Scotland repeated their doc about those Games the other night so it's on iPlayer again, and it's well worth a watch - a pretty sad story in the end as everything that could go wrong did go wrong, with a huge boycott, a failure to find any sponsors and appalling weather throughout, ending up with them being hijacked by Robert Maxwell who shoved his face all over them while contributing absolutely nothing.

There were also clips from the rest of her career, including Hazel presenting the 1996 Olympics. Looks like there are going to be a few other pieces like this during the event.

[News Engineer]

Be interesting to see what happens there though I presume it won’t affect international viewers who have the similar but separate NFL GamePass International as an OTT offering (watch what happens with RedZone as I suspect 2022 will be the last season for one of the two currently separate RedZone channels).

Hopefully it'll be the Scott Hanson presented version that's offered by NFL Network in the US, on Sky in the UK (non exclusively) and GamePass internationally. Such a fun watch, especially when there are a number of close games coming to a close in the early window.

[Rdd]

It’s a brillant watch, and Hanson is an excellent host. I’ve never understood the rationale for the separate DirecTV version, which is essentially the same show with a different host(Andrew Sicilliano) though I understand it has its fans, presumably it only exists so that it can carry more prominent DirecTV branding. What I would suggest is that Apple (or whoever) will be happy to save the production costs (though I suspect they aren’t much) on the Sicilliano version and take the NFL Network version instead.