SBS absolutely nailed getting sports coverage online right when it broadcast the 2014 World Cup. Good news if you’re a cycling fanatic, because it’s gearing up to do the same for this year’s Tour De France.
For all the attention sports gets in Australia (I openly admit, I don’t get it myself, but plenty do, so that’s fine), it’s an oddity that sports coverage online is often patchy at the best of times, and non-existent the rest of the time.
SBS tends to buck that trend, and from the looks of its plans for the Tour De France, it will do so again with every stage broadcast live from SBS’ dedicated site at sbs.com.au/tdf, supplemented with additional website-only video as well. Alongside that, SBS will offer a tour tracking app with five additional live feeds from the course cameras for the truly dedicated tour fanatic.
If SBS can get it so spectacularly right on a budget that would make a pauper weep, why is it that the rest of the mob struggle with even basic coverage?
Comments
5 responses to “SBS Tour De France Reminds Us How To Broadcast Live Sports Online Properly”
the gov’t needs to pour in more funding into SBS. They’re clearly better managed than the commercial broadcasters.
Nah, competing on better service is something against the very DNA of Australian Businesses. The government should cut back on funding for ABC and SBS so other channels have a chance with their shitty service…
SBS’s coverage of the world cup was simply brilliant. Singularly the best online sports coverage ever. And all ‘free’. The pay TV providers can’t even keep up with this.
Couldn’t agree more. Absolutely world class coverage and in FHD. So glad Foxtel didn’t get the rights to it and stuff it up.
The British Eurosport commentators who covered the Giro d’italia were just plain annoying.
I much prefer SBS’s commentators who seem far more professional in their approach.
Phil Liggett with his dulcet toned voice and Paul Sherwin are a pleasure to listen to.
I will again watch Le Tour next month, sadly on SBS because there are no other options. Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin will provide the usual boring travelogue but the rest of their commentary is a constant stream of mispronounced names, wrong names, wrong facts and wrong teams. These guys don’t even know what a gear ratio is.
As for the British Eurosport commentators who covered the Giro d’italia, Rob Hatch is the standalone best commentator in world cycling today. Knowledgeable in all areas of the sport, AND he can also correctly pronounce the name of every rider in the peloton. I can see how that might annoy some people, but I am surprised that they would even be watching the Giro.
Do they actually get it right when the telecast only starts airing 1/2 way through a stage??? Just because you call the time slot Tour de France doesn’t mean that it is if you’re doing Gabriel Gate cooking segments. Disappointing compared to other international coverage of the event. I think SBS is resting on its laurels and needs to pull their finger out.