On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 4:07 PM, Mark J. <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Nov 15, 10:02 am, Bob in Jersey <[email protected]> wrote: >> Punting is a common part of rugby, and if the host doesn't have any >> knowledge of that either, he's completely lost. >> >> Pats and Steelers were the NBC game, so you're talking 1.20 to 4.45am >> (at least) in Britain. > > And as for the studio segments on ITV, even in the middle of the night > the commercial terrestrial channels can't run as many ads per hour in > the UK as the terrestrial networks do here in the States--the studio > segments are obviously to cover some of the commercial breaks. >
This will have been Channel 4 in the UK who was broadcasting this. It's presented by Gary Imlach (the Brit) and Mike Carlson (the American). I rarely watch it as it is on right in the middle of the night UK time. Carlson knows his stuff and has been probably the best UK based broadcaster on NFL in the UK, working for a variety of networks - he'll almost certainly be on the BBC's coverage of the Superbowl. NFL coverage is on 5 different UK channels - probably the NFL's way of trying to grow the UK audience. Sky Sports shows two afternoon games at 6pm and 9pm UK time as well as any NFL Network games. C4 shows the Sunday Night game. ESPN America shows the Monday Night game. And the BBC gets highlights of the international game at Wembley, as well as highlights of the playoffs and live coverage of the Superbowl (shared with Sky Sports). Digital radio service BBC Five Live Sports Extra broadcasts a 9pm game on radio - with lots of interrupts from UK hosts since the BBC carries no advertising! Gary Imlach also really knows his NFL. He was one of the first people in the UK to cover NFL in the mid-eighties when we first started getting proper coverage. Imlach also fronts UK Tour De France coverage with Phil and Paul doing the commentary as they do for the entire English speaking world. He also wrote a superb book about his father who was a professional football (soccer) player in the 50s. I'm surprised that they were talking about relatively basic stuff since you have to be a bit of a die-hard to stay up late for those Sunday night or Monday night games. Of late, UK TV broadcasters have tended to take US network feeds of the Superbowl even though the NFL makes an international feed available which explains the rules a bit more. UK fans are pretty clued up in general. The reason UK stations employ these pundits at all, and don't just take the US feed is because we're not legally allowed to carry the amount of advertising that US stations can. So they have to fill some of the ad-breaks with something. The ESPN channels in the UK that carry US programming end up filling with deathly dull station promos without any ads to get around European laws. On the C4 coverage they tend to use the breaks to repeat plays and show clips of scores from other games. Adam -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
