Live event viewing options on TV/ websites

[T & P]

Unless my memory is faulty, I am sure I remember being able to pick and choose via the BBC red button which live event to watch from those taking place. So far I have not seen such choice, and I really want to watch the upcoming Nadal & Alcaraz doubles match. If it’s not the chosen event shown on the BBC, is there anywhere where I can find it and watch it?

 

[Elpenor]

Get access to discovery plus / Eurosport by legal or other means

BBC can only show two things live at a time

Multi live options via iplayer haven’t been allowed since the Tokyo games

 

[Lord Camomile]

Unless my memory is faulty, I am sure I remember being able to pick and choose via the BBC red button which live event to watch from those taking place. So far I have not seen such choice, and I really want to watch the upcoming Nadal & Alcaraz doubles match. If it’s not the chosen event shown on the BBC, is there anywhere where I can find it and watch it?

Whole big thing, but essentially:

In 2015, Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) bought the European TV rights for the Olympic Games for a reported 1.3bn euros.

Fast forward to Paris 2024, and they can show as much of the action as they want across as many channels as they want.

That, in the UK, was previously something the BBC did - you'll remember we offered online and Red Button feeds of every sport during London 2012.

However, thanks in part to UK law that aims to ensure major events, like the Olympic Games, are widely available, the BBC was able to strike a deal with WBD.

The BBC's Olympic TV deal and what it means for you

Since 2018, the way the BBC covers the Olympics has changed a bit.

www.bbc.co.uk

I caved and signed up to DiscoveryPlus. Hate that I did it, but I'm gonna leave as soon as the Olympics are over.

 

[T & P]

I have just found it on the red button so all’s well.

 

[Richard46]

Whole big thing, but essentially:

The BBC's Olympic TV deal and what it means for you

Since 2018, the way the BBC covers the Olympics has changed a bit.

www.bbc.co.uk

I caved and signed up to DiscoveryPlus. Hate that I did it, but I'm gonna leave as soon as the Olympics are over.

Yea me too but listening to commentators etc on the BBC talk about events they are not showing just got too frustrating. Still at £4 for the month,,,,

 

[Ted Striker]

However, thanks in part to UK law that aims to ensure major events, like the Olympic Games, are widely available, the BBC was able to strike a deal with WBD.

This is slightly disingenuous, they could make Olympics a 'crown jewels' event and mandate by law that a terrestrial/Free-to-air has to have it (like they do with Euros, World Cup, Wimbledon, but, much to my genuine anger, not The Ashes, which is bullshit )

It's not the same watching Olympics on Eurosport/discovery (which I subscribe to because of the cycling)...It just feels like a BBC event, and I want to hear commentary on a random sport by the guy who did the commentary on his labradors Mabel and Olive during lockdown )

 

[T & P]

We ended up signing to Discovery+ for £7 today to watch the tennis. I honestly don’t remember so much content being unavailable outside of subscription channels in past Games. £7 is not going to bankrupt me, but it’s still annoying on principle.

 

[Epona]

The BBC Sports search function to find out what is on when is absolutely abysmal, I could have done better than that.

 

[Nine Bob Note]

Even switching channels on iPlayer is bullshit. I wanted to turn Murray off (the BBC1 feed) and switch to the much talked about secondary Olympics channel, but that was labelled (at the time) as 'Live Tennis'

 

[Ted Striker]

Even switching channels on iPlayer is bullshit. I wanted to turn Murray off (the BBC1 feed) and switch to the much talked about secondary Olympics channel, but that was labelled (at the time) as 'Live Tennis'

Yes, I often find this with sports - it feels like they program in the schedule (just like they do normal TV), but don't update it for the frequent scenario that things overrun or something else is more interesting. This is never a problem in the olden days of just watching a channel live, but when everything is a 'box' on the TV's app to select up/down/left/right, it's a nightmare, and you think you're going mad when the blue riband events aren't coming up in the search.

But you need to ignore the actual titles or the stated sport/event, and look at the channel (in the knowledge they are just going with the boxes that represent the original schedule whenever it was provided/updated (assumedly once a day or something). (That said, you mention BBC, they are absolute buggers for switching over stuff - I think that was also one of the reasons why I was non-plussed with them getting only 2 channels...you never knew if they'd just fuck off the track madison event half way through for horse dancing or something. At least when they say they'll show everything...I feel like they will take that promise very seriously.)

Eurosport used to have a bunch of filler shows for this purpose, so if I couldn't find my event, but I knew it had been on Eurospot, I'd look for "Top Goals This Week" or something else that was on for 35 minutes or something knowing it's their filler shows in case an event overruns.