Thanks for all your support this year, we will see you in the Winter.

So International football returned to ITV last night, with the crown jewels of England home games joining its hat-trick of contracts which also includes the FA Cup and of course, the Champions League.

Unfortunately with all the talk of budget cuts at the network, it seemed the cost-cutting has already reached its footballing output.

It didn’t start well. After an over-long opening sequence featured horribly generic grey computer-generated British landmarks with brief flashes of red and white appearing between the architecture (which was already five minutes after the advertised time), it was never going to be a glorious new revolution. Unfortunately this was as good as it got.

Even drafting Steve Rider away from his usual Formula One duties couldn’t save the poor output. Next we were greeted by an instant on-screen England line-up. Brilliant you’d think, except this was displayed on the same dull-grey background that can’t help but be compared to those infamous shirts Manchester United wore a few years back.

It was worrying, only two minutes in and a distinct lack of modern design, or indeed anything remotely innovative anywhere. It is worth remembering at this point that The FA decided in their wisdom to give the England TV rights contract jointly to ITV and Setanta (another dismal story entirely) after many successful years with the dependable BBC and the always modernising Sky.

After brief chat to the usual sub-standard pundits – with a sole star in Sam Allardyce sandwiching the gormless Andy Townsend (whose team-sheet Andy Gray style run down was laughable) and the yawn-inducing BBC reject Graeme Le Saux – came the inevitable: The Borat reference (we were playing Kazakhstan after all). Except ITV seemed to have decided this was where it would blow its entire budget, feeling the need to play us a 30 second clip from the movie. Great.

Finally the game itself arrived, and the biggest shock, although by this point nothing really surprised us. As pictured above in all their glory, the in-game graphics and scorebox in particular left us with mouths wide open. Following the earlier grey-loving graphical intro and other bits and pieces, we should have seen it coming, but no-one was prepared for this.

Had they designed them on an Amiga 500? Had someone had a penchant for FIFA ‘95? Was grey the only colour they could afford? Did somebody just find the ‘emboss’ button in Photoshop?

Seriously, look at them.

In-game graphics have long been a debated subject, not least when Sky decided at the start of last season to trail moving the info block to the bottom-left corner of the screen. This one blemish aside, Sky do them brilliantly. Clear, concise and always in keeping with modern tastes. The BBC have always lacked a little bit in terms of style, but like most of its output it does it in Auntie’s own very formal way.

ITV however, have excellent graphics for the Champions League games. But this, this was something different altogether, verging on uncharted territory since the infamous hexagons when ‘The Championship’ first launched. Awful, really awful.

After a dreary first-half on the pitch we were treated to the now regular vomit-inducing Andy Townsend touchscreen tactics discussion – so out-dated it hurts to watch it – and more bland punditry all round. Of course the second-half brought so much excitement and goals that the pathetic ITV output had all but been forgotten.

But you seriously have to question The FA’s decision to hand Setanta and ITV the rights to England games. On the one hand you have a channel who’s output is worse than Channel Five’s and is only watched by a tiny percentage of the English public, while on the other you have what can only be described as a network in rapid decline.

Add to that the fact neither broadcast in HD (yes, we know ITV do technically, but only on Freesat, which is such a small amount of people its hardly worth noting), or use any interactive red-button features, and you suddenly really just how good Sky and the BBC really were. Unfortunately all it has brought is a step backwards at a time when digital technology is at its most exciting.

Although it has been around for a while now (Joshua Topolsky wrote about it here a few months ago), we’ve just noticed that the volume control on the BBC’s iPlayer goes up to 11. Brilliant.

This week it was announced Radio1 is doing another of its famous Maida Vale gigs, this time with Kings of Leon playing the small intimate venue to a handful of fans.

Naturally the gig is being promoted across all the station’s shows, but with a trailer that unfortunately epitomises everything that is wrong with Radio 1 at the moment.

In case you haven’t heard it, it features Zane (”I’ve hit a new career-”) Lowe pandering to the daytime audience in the most cringeworthy of ways. Roughly speaking it goes as follows:

Zane Lowe {in usual big furore style}:

“Radio 1 is pleased to announce Kings of Leon… yada yada yada… Maida Vale… yada yada yada…”

Zane Lowe {completely changing tact}:

“Y’know, Kings of Leon…. they’ve had hits like… (proceeds to play clips of virtually all their singles, naming them one by one in the hope you might know one)…”

and ends with Zane Lowe {now completely cringeworthy}:

“Well if you didn’t know them before you will after this performance…”

Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Okay, we understand Radio 1 want as many people to listen to the gig, but do they really have to stoop that low? We aren’t big KOL fans at all, far from it, but this is a band that headlined Reading Festival last year to much critical praise, and this June stood at the top of the bill at Glastonbury - indeed, both events that Radio 1 covers extensively. Their first three albums have gone top 3 in the album charts, for God’s sake, with their last reaching the top spot.

Despite featuring a fantastic evening line-up of shows covering many genres, and promoting new music to the rafters, it seems Radio 1 executives just can’t let go of its cheesy daytime image. Out of the four main DJ’s, only Edith Bowman has any musical credit, but she has missed a great deal of the year already due to her pregnancy. Both Scott Mills and Chris Moyles, by their own admission, care little about the music they play, and Jo Whiley, although occasionally shaking off her advancing years, simply usually plays to the Keane and Coldplay fans.

For a station that is doing so many good things after 7pm, it is such a shame to see its daytime schedule going down the drain. But whatever happens, please don’t drag the usually excellent Zane Lowe into it, or we are all doomed to listening to Snow Patrol forever.

Today marks the start of a new era for the England national football team. Yes, we all know it’s the first big game in charge for new boss Fabio Capello, but far more importantly to the English public, tonight’s match against Andorra will be the first competitive game that hasn’t been possible to watch either live or as highlights for free.

So while the Capello reign begins, hopefully with a winning start for John Terry and his team, hardly any of the country will actually be able to see it, due to the match solely being available on subscription service Setanta Sports.

Although exact figures aren’t available, at this time last year Setanta only had an estimated 0.1% market share of the audience, and given that it can be expected that that number hasn’t grown significantly, the result is that millions of football fans across the country are left without seeing their national side play tonight. Indeed, it will be the same situation for the crucial match in Zagreb against Croatia on Wednesday.

When Sky have had the rights to England away games in recent years, they have always sold a highlights package of the games to a terrestrial channel (normally the BBC) – a policy which is commonplace throughout sport in order to recuperate some of the huge costs of obtaining the right in the first place. As The Times reports, it seems Setanta are unwilling to play ball with the BBC and ITV though, with any deal between the companies falling at the first hurdle.

As the Irish newcomer looks to establish themselves in the marketplace it is a bold move, for while it makes its package – which also includes over 40 Premier League matches, IPL cricket and PGA golf – far more attractive, it also risks upsetting the majority of its potential customers who are left without a chance to watch their country play football.

While it is easy to blame Setanta for this pathetic situation, you also have to question the root of the problem, namely The FA, who turned down the option of terrestrial highlights in favour of more cash. Yet again money has been allowed to rule commonsense, and it is the fans who are left truly out of pocket.

We’ve been busy this week redeveloping the site to enhance the user experience. This will be released in the form of a GOTB v3 update, hopefully at the turn of the year.

We are mainly working on the two most common issues with the site, loading-time and navigation, as well as a new skin to add a cleaner look. Any other suggestions - let us know in the usual way, either by commenting below or on our contact page.

READING & LEEDS FESTIVAL
Back on top form. V who?

THE KILLERS
The tash has gone - glam is back

BBC FESTIVAL COVERAGE
Superb output again both on TV and online from the Beeb at R&L

BABYSHAMBLES
Tearing up the Radio1 tent

V FESTIVAL
Pales in comparison

CARLING
Did anyone really miss them?

XCLUSIVE TICKETS
Hopefully the beginning of the end of dodgy ticket retailers

THE MUD
Anything Glastonbury can do… ]]> http://www.getoffthebandwagon.com/blog/2008/08/30/this-week-aug-30-2008/feed/ http://www.getoffthebandwagon.com/blog/2008/08/29/russell-howard-on-the-papers/ http://www.getoffthebandwagon.com/blog/2008/08/29/russell-howard-on-the-papers/#comments Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:58:41 +0000 admin http://www.getoffthebandwagon.com/blog/?p=342 A Friday afternoon funny…

The excellent Russell Howard with his take on the famous British Press - YouTube link here.

Mash-ups are the new 70’s vocal dance remixes, everywhere you go and virtually all rubbish. But now and again a gem comes through, like the awesome Jay-Z vs Oasis mixtape from Cookin Soul. Download it from their myspace now.

We here at Get Off The Bandwagon took a well-earned Bank Holiday trip to the zoo this weekend and noticed something rather interesting.

No, it wasn’t Sir David Attenborough hiding in the bushes speaking hushly about an exciting new type of Tiger cub, although it was in fact the discovery of a new breed of animal of a certain kind - the map-illiterate generation.

While taking in the delight of a rather oversized exotic bird trying desperately to fly (never fails to crack smile) we witnessed the following conversation on a mobile phone:

Man (aged around 25-30 with two kids): “Hiya mate, how far are you?”

- His mate on the other end of the phone replies -

Man: “Well you should’ve stayed on the motorway, it’s signposted straight from there.”

- His mate on the other end of the phone replies again, getting more frantic -

Man: “Postcode? Sh*t well I don’t know… Josh, JOSH, JOOOOOSHHH!! Give me that brochure. QUIICK!! Hang on there mate….”

And so ensues a mad scramble with a guide book from the zoo to find its address and therefore that all-important postcode that will – you’ve guessed it – magically transport his mate to the zoo via the miracle of Satellite Navigation.

To add even more hilarity to the situation, as the man had correctly pointed out, this zoo was indeed only a couple of miles from a major motorway and very clearly signposted all the way there – if, and here’s the thing – you knew roughly which junction to take of the highway.

Of course, here lies the point. To have known that the person in question would have had to have gone to all the trouble of opening a map and finding out what rough location he was expecting to travel to. Unfortunately though, with the rise of the Sat-Nav, it seems we have created a generation that are not only adverse to doing so, but may even not know how to use a map in the first place.

As stupid as it sounds, ponder for a second if you will the amount of visitors somewhere like Alton Towers has in a day, and then ask yourself how many of those visitors would know what county the themepark is in, or even the nearest big city to it. With the rise of the Sat-Nav it would seem more than most now simply tap in the postcode and go wherever the nice lady (or comedy character voice if they are particularly ‘wacky’) tells them to.

To be fair we fully champion the merits of the Sat-Nav, especially in big cities where the roads are complicated. But it is a worrying situation that the kids of today might grow up thinking that to get anywhere in the world instead of using a tiny bit of your own wonderful God-given brain, you instead simply get the computer woman to take you hand-in-hand all the way there.