The first ever televised football match was shown by the BBC 12 Months After the service was born. Viewers watched 12 months before the match purely through excitement of which the two teams were to play. On the 16th of September 1937, Arsenal and Arsenal Reserved played each other in the first ever televised match. The first ever televised International match was between Scotland and England on 9th April 1938. Through the years television viewers have increased along with the popularity of sport. More sporting channels are available to watch on the television as a variety of providers such as Sky and Virgin are constantly upgrading and adding a wider variety of sports channels which includes many different sports. Per person in Britain the average viewing time on television a week is 25 hours. Sports channel viewers increase every day which means more of the 25 hours watched are spent watching sport. There are two bodies in Britain responsible for television and these are:
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which broadcasts television and radio programmes;
The Independent Television Commission (ITC), which licences and regulates commercial television service including cable, satellite and independent teletext services;
(1)
Showing times and slots for programmes are decided by these bodies and most of the times are decided by the shows popularity with the viewers.
Ofcom (Office of Communications) is a company which licences all television services across the UK. They have a broadcasting code which all broadcasters must stick to and follow. Viewers are entitled to watch certain sports events free of charge through the BBC such as the Olympics, The Ashes and World Cup matches in football. Snooker and Rugby events are also provided free of charge by the BBC. Sky and Virgin sports channels cost money as they are sold as a package deal but money is also generated through offering of extra sport channels such as ESPN and Extreme Sports. Pay per View channels provide special events in Boxing and other sports such as wrestling. These events cost money but the viewer has the option whether to watch or not.
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Radio
On January 15th 1927, The Rugby Union was the very first sport to be broadcasted on the radio. The match was between Wales and England and it took place at Twickenham. The radio is very important when relating to sport as it gives live commentary of a wide range of sports around the world. During sporting events many members of the public may not have access to a television as they may be at work or travelling. A radio is very accessible for example cars and mobile phones provide connections to radio signals. In many careers today workplaces allow radios to be listened to during work time. Football matches and also many other sports can be tuned into when a television can’t be accessed. BBC Radio 5 is a very popular station for
Sporting action, news and updates. Continental AM is the most popular sports news radio station in the UK. In the United States ESPN is the most popular as it covers America’s most popular sports such as baseball and American football. Both of these radio stations are majorly popular partly due to that they broadcast the world’s biggest sporting event which is The World Cup. Many people own mp3 players and i pods which also have access to radio stations. This is very useful when travelling by train or bus. Airplanes also provide headphones to allow passengers to listen to radio stations. Depending on the time of travel many sports events can be tuned into.
Newspapers/Press
Before television was invented a newspaper was the main source for accessing sports news and updates. The New York Times was the first ever newspaper to include a sports section. This idea grew at a very fast rate and more newspapers around the world began designating an area in their paper purely for sporting context. Below is a list of the UK’s most popular newspapers:
Top 10 UK Daily Newspapers
1
The Sun (2,955,957)
2
Daily Mail (2,096,074)
3
Daily Mirror (1,239,691)
4
Daily Star (823,025)
5
Daily Telegraph (683,220)
6
Daily Express (665,731)
7
The Times (506,997)
8
Financial Times (386,590)
9
Daily Record (328,183)
10
The Guardian (288,917) (2)
The Sun is the most popular newspaper as shown above and it also has a sports section at the back of the newspaper. The problem with this is that The Sun’s information is believed to be not entirely accurate. Each newspaper has many different journalists. Cadwick and Nancarrow are the main sports editors for The Sun and are considered as major press to sports performers and managers. When editors gather information it can be totally altered for production and viewers interest. The Daily Mail is another popular newspaper for sport and it provides news and results for the following sports: boxing, football, rugby, tennis, snooker, golf and horse racing. The content produced in these sports includes information on different levels for example school football results. Newspapers are printed daily which is beneficial for finding recent and up to date sports information.
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Internet
In the past decade the internet has became the main source of communication as well as promoting sporting information and news updates. The internet itself is found on many devices today such as laptops and mobile phones. This makes the internet very accessible no matter where you are located. Every day more sports facts and information is added to the internet which can be discussed through email or chat rooms. For example Facebook is the world’s largest social network website with a substantial figure of more than 500 million users. Sports updates and results are posted on this website which means a huge amount of the public have access to them. As well as social interaction to discuss sport there are also individual websites which give information in depth on upcoming and present sports events and competitions. It can be argued that the internet has now taken over television and radio regarding recent news and worldwide updates. Therefore the most viewed sports channels are now converted onto the internet which allows the public to access live sports action and results through their computer. For those interested in predicting the outcome of these events, several gambling websites regarding sport have been launched and are now available for internet users. This is extremely convenient and efficient as the public can play a part in the sporting action straight from their online device. Sports advertisement is escalating on the internet which promotes a variety of sports and gets online users interested.
Developing role models
Role models are a major part of promoting sport around the world. Performers at the peak of their individual sport become a role model to sports fans and inspire youths to try hard to better their personal ability. When most people think of a sports role model the majority of the public would say the name David Beckham. David is without a doubt a main role model figure in sport around the world as he promotes football through advertisements such as television adverts and internet advertisements. Scotland also has role models in a variety of sports such as tennis star Andrew Murray. This 23 year old athlete is currently ranked number 1 in Britain and number 5 in the world. Many young performers look up to Andrew and try to excel in sport as he has. Sponsorships play a huge role in promoting sport and role models are usually sponsored by main sports labels such as Adidas and Nike. Andrew Murray appears in Adidas adverts on television and the internet which promotes tennis and sporting activity. Being a major role model in sport also comes with a certain amount of pressure. Most of Scotland relies on performers such as Andrew Murray to succeed and represent their country. The performer stresses about winning as failure may ruin their role model reputation and decrease their national popularity.
National Identity
This is when the nation unites or comes together and supports a national team in a major sporting event such as The World Cup. Advertisements through television, radio and the internet promote national status and increase the nation’s interest and support. Scotland is a very patriotic country and when a major sport event arises everyone shows full support by gathering together to watch the event or uniting and chanting the national anthem. All over the nation the event will be discussed and a high number of supporters will where Scottish tartan or kilts to show their full support. The events stadium or venue will be guaranteed a full capacity to represent the whole nations support. Agencies such as the S.F.A promote Scotland in major competitions and the management team are put under a lot of pressure to live up to this positive promotion. Both managers and performers are pressured due to national identity as they don’t want to let the whole nation down and look to be a disappointment. National support plays a massive part on sport success because it increases the player’s confidence and belief in their countries ability to succeed.
Conclusion
This report showed the importance of different forms of media and how they influence sport. Technology is constantly improving hopefully new forms of media will be produced. Each form has its own individual benefits and they all play a part in promoting sport and advertising events. As described, role models and national support promote and increase sport interest and involvement around the world.
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