Coverage of sport by the media today compared to the 1980's Flashcards
roles of media in sport
•Education: the media inform, advise and critically analyse issues through explanation, discussion and debate. Terrestrial and satellite TV have documentaries which give coaching advice, explain the risk of drug-taking, and give post-event
discussions on games
•Entertainment: a TV programme will give experience and pleasure to an armchair spectator almost equivalent to the live event. Attending live events for some is too expensive, hence the popularity of screens in pubs, clubs or parks near to the venues, (Henman’s Hill/Murray’s Mound at Wimbledon for example).
•Advertising: the selling or merchandising of products associated with sport is a major media aim. An example of this is a tennis player wearing a certain make of headband, sports shoe or shirt. Each club in both rugby and soccer displays sponsors’ names on its shirts. Electronic billboarding around an arena is aimed at the cameras. Advertising breaks on TV which usually coincident with a break in play attract large sums from the products being advertised.
terrestrial Tv 1980s
•Edited sporting highlights (no 24-hour TV), general sporting programmes such as Grandstand, Sports night, World of Sport shown on terrestrial TV
• Some major events shown live on terrestrial TV (FA cup, Grand national, Olympic events, Oxford-Cambridge boat race
• Sport on terrestrial TV in the 1980s very much male, mainstream, able bodied orientated, in terms of sports shown, presenters and emphasis
terrestrial TV now
•Wider range of sports shown
• More female, minority and disabled sports shown
• Some live sports coverage dependent on TV rights - some events ‘ring fenced’ - e.g. FA Cup final
newspapers
• Sporting press popular since 19th century
• Popular tabloids, such as the Daily Mail and the Sun focus on popular male dominated sports - football even more exposure.
• More high-brow broadsheets, cover a variety of sports and analyse sport in more depth.
• Magazines are a distinctive media form and include specific sporting magazines, such as athletics weekly
• The most significant change since 1980s has been the advent of online newspapers
subscription Tv
• Satellite and subscription TV did not exist in the 1980s, but technological advances in satellite broadcasting lead to the advent of Sky sports in 1991.
• Satellite television requires a subscription fee to be paid in order to access the content provided.
• As opposed to free to air TV satellite TV has dedicated sports channels such as Sky sports, ESPN etc. so sport crucial to their existence
• Because sport is all that is shown on these channels this means there has been a massive increase in amount and variety of sports covered - although still male and mainstream sport orientated, it has also meant a dramatic increase of live sports coverage from the 19805
• Recently, satellite TV has dominated sports coverage as they can pay sports a lot more than free to air TV for the coverage rights, due to money available from subscriptions, advertising etc.
radio
• Sport has been broadcast on radio since 1927 and sports commentaries and features formed part of radio programmes - there were no dedicated sports channels. Again, sports radio broadcasts tended to be male dominated sports e.g. football, rugby, horse racing, boxing
• Since the 1980s there has been a rapid growth in radio audiences, the advent of sports dedicated radio channels the major one being BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and then talk sport. Advent of digital radio helped this development
• To fill the hours on dedicated sports channels a greater variety of sport is shown with greater female and minority sport representation
• The development of the Internet means the best bits from the BBC’s sporting commentary are available as free podcasts.
internet
•Live streaming of live sport / view anywhere and at any time
• People to access up-to-date information about sporting events such as reading match reports and finding out results
Social media also has a growing influence in promoting sport, allowing:
• new forms of communication between fans, athletes, teams and sponsors, e.g. engaging in discussions with other fans or ‘buzz’ marketing which encourages existing fans to promote an event with offers that can be tracked through social media
• Follow the personal lives of athletes via their own websites and social media pages
pay per view
• Pay-per-view TV requires a one-off payment in order to watch a particular sporting event. This method further reduces the number of people who can watch sporting events but creates large revenues for organisers, media companies and athletes.
• It did not exist in the 1980s as sufficient technological advances were not widely available but today it is the usual way significant boxing bouts are covered by the media and is also important for World wrestling foundation and some football matches
