Good points and bad points of the new Sportscene
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The first episode of the relaunched Sportscene aired on Sunday evening at 7.30pm, and while many appreciated the changes, there were still a few grumbles among SPFL fans.
Positives
The most welcome improvement is certainly the increased coverage, both in terms of camera angles and length of highlights. There was a point mid-way through last season when the coverage over on BBC Alba was the only place to find any decent, extended action and Sportscene’s new hour-long slot means no more squeezing three matches into a one-minute-twenty-seconds montage. This along with four or five camera angles, as opposed to the two they had at most matches previously, allows the guest pundits more resources to pick apart Paul Hartley’s defence or save the compliance officer from having to trawl through as much footage on a Monday morning. No more guessing tight offside calls from images recorded from the halfway line, no more analysing goal-of-the-season contenders from two basic angles.
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Hide AdWhich brings us to the pundits. For the opening weekend it was Marmite-character Michael Stewart and the articulate, though less controversial, Steven Thompson in the studio. These are two of the BBC pundits that have been singled out for praise in the past – even if, for Stewart especially, it is often tempered with the caveat of “...even though I don’t agree with everything he says”. The worry, however, is that Sportscene have played their best hand too early and it won’t be too long until supporters are again lamenting the cliché-ridden offerings by others.
The new time-slot is also welcomed. It may not be a 10pm on Saturday night, which is what most, it seems, prefer. But early Sunday evening is definitely an improvement on last thing at night when some are fighting sleep after a busy weekend and know they have to be up bright and early the next day to start another week.
Negatives
The first, though minor, gripe is Jonathan Sutherland’s declaration at the top of the programme that Sportscene was back, new and improved. Basically an admission that they noticed the multitude of disparaging tweets from last season, have taken the sentiments on board and made the necessary, placating changes. While it’s great they’ve taken criticism on board and are prepared to listen to the audience, it would have been more professional to just roll out the changes rather than announcing them at the top of the show. Let’s just hope that the barrage of abuse for their ghoulish Halloween episode also showed up on the radar of the show’s producers.
A lack of any Championship action is what’s most likely to cause agitation among viewers. The previous two seasons saw the show use its latter stages to update us on the mini-league of three at the top of Scotland’s second tier, rarely delving much deeper. This just so happens to coincide with Rangers being in the division. Pulling coverage as soon as they exit will lead many to jump to the conclusion that Sportscene were only interested because of Rangers’ presence.
The truth is slightly more complex, however. With the main rights holders, Sky and BT, no longer choosing to screen live matches from the Championship, the BBC is prevented from showing highlights of them. And even though it is certainly possible for Sportscene to look into the possibility of showing live Championship matches themselves, thus giving them the rights to also show highlights, it would appear that budget constraints make this a non-starter.
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