Dan Evans celebrates Great Britain's Davis Cup victory over France in a thrilling day of iPlayer tennis Credit: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images for LTA
The Davis Cup thriller took place on Sunday. At least the general consensus is that it is, because if you're a sports fan and enjoy watching BBC1 and BBC2 in the afternoon, you wouldn't be the wiser.
Despite acquiring the rights to the International Tennis Federation's team tournament, the BBC missed the opportunity to show what turned out to be something of a classic on television, instead moving it to the website and iPlayer. The BBC has so little live sport in its portfolio that fans become irritated when the corporation fails to properly deliver the few events it has left.
We have to begrudgingly admit that, for whatever the wrong reasons, some of our fellow citizens don't want to watch sports on TV and would rather see their licensing fees spent on cooking shows, decorating shows, decorating shows, or whatever The BBC couldn't imagine what people like these days. It's a shame we live in the same country as people with such poor taste, but if terrestrial TV viewers are deprived of the opportunity to see British tennis stars battle it out in a brutal battle against France to reach the last eight of the Davis Cup tournament, then at least let it be anew program.
What was on offer instead of tennis on BBC2 on Sunday? Repeats, repeats, repeats. There was Rick Stein's 1999 Seafood Odyssey, a distant and simpler time when Rick's fish-pie tanks had not yet fully annexed Cornwall; he had a chance to relive his trip to Goa, where he treated the local lobster horribly. Something so exciting happened in It's a Farm Life after lunch that it deserved a repeat of the previous show: «At North Uist, Highland cattle are driven to a tidal island…» Dangerous levels of excitement. Beta blockers everywhere, breathe deeply, focus on lowering your heart rate.
Rick Stein's repeat looks set to be a staple of the Sunday schedule — even if the BBC has the rare chance to show live sport. Photo: Christopher Jones for Telegraph
There were reruns of Seasonal Mysteries of the Earth (spoilers: there are four), reruns of Mary Berry cooking an Asian beef stir-fry (raising complicated feelings for all the Highland cattle lovers still watching), and even a rerun of Living Next Door to Poutine «, which is not a fish-out-of-water sitcom as the title suggests, but is actually a current affairs program — well, at least relevant when it was made — a program about Ukraine. Can anyone in their right mind choose this over tennis?
After all, 620,000 people tuned in to watch Sunday's Davis Cup on iPlayer, which certainly proves there is an audience for this patriotic, exciting and unique event. How many will watch It's a Farm Life again, even if it includes Highland cattle tuning in to catch a glimpse of their relatives and colleagues? Of course, there are not many people who will watch tennis. To be fair, the length of the day with a sold-out crowd of 13,000 fans in Manchester, and the fact that tennis matches have a much greater potential difference in length than TV favorites such as football, means that some shuffling of the schedule would have been required. . But Rick and his lobster could certainly be back on the ice for another day.
ITV has secured a football deal with England from Channel 4 to continue its push into sports broadcasting
With long-time BBC Sport chief Barbara Slater announcing her departure after 14 years as director, there is an opportunity for someone to turn things around in a department that has lost so much of its appeal over this period. This was an era when exclusive television rights to broadcast live major events were lost or, as some would say, given away, with the Olympics being the most egregious example.
Many sports fans — according to Telegraph readers — feel that those coverages that remain are too focused on a particular social agenda that is not shared by all sports fans, and accusations have been made time and time again that BBC Sport covers sport for people who don't like sport. What's really left? Some athletics and second-class cricket. Wimbledon's program is undoubtedly extensive, but there is an increasingly annoying trend towards children's programs.
If you like golf, you can forget about it. The races are over. ITV won the march at the Rugby World Cup. What's next? What's left?
BBC Sport loves the campaign to get people into sport, but why not start with the biggest and most obvious levers that are already right in your hands?
Put tennis, golf, cricket or any other sport in front of as many people as possible.
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