Thanks for all the feedback we've had on our Wimbledon coverage so far. Below I will answer some of the questions that you've sent in:
Some of your commentary team talk too much. Do you have guidelines as to how they should operate?
It鈥檚 certainly our policy to ask our commentators not to over-talk. There is a tendency, particularly from overseas broadcasters with a different style from ours, to fill every second with chat.
We have a fairly straight discipline of not talking over the umpires, about letting the pictures and the atmosphere breathe in a way that doesn鈥檛 happen with broadcasters around the world.
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My colleagues James and Matt have talked in a bit more detail so far this week about our Wimbledon coverage on TV sports news and the red button respectively. And what is great for us in the web team is being able to broadcast all that live and on-demand video and audio on our website.
Much of it - primarily the live video and the Today at Wimbledon show - is admittedly only available to UK users because of our rights agreements. But given we do have all that rich multimedia content - including - we have been experimenting with the way we're laying out during the tournament by placing it right at the top of those pages. I'm hoping that is encouraging more of you to watch and listen to it, so would be grateful for any feedback.
Indeed, enhancing our live coverage of sports and events is a big priority for us, so in terms of Wimbledon this year, as well as the video, we have focused on improving our online text and statistics updates...
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No Andy Murray, new technology, Greg Rusedski's Wimbledon tour, ticket touts and all topped off with a thrilling win for Tim Henman 鈥 the sports news menu from Wimbledon has been as varied as the catering outlets at the site, and that's just in the first two days.
Throughout each day, the sports news team will be trying to strike the balance between unearthing news stories and providing match reports for all of the 大象传媒s many sports news outlets.
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We're well into our second day of interactive TV coverage from and already I can see a theme developing in responses to Paul Davies' blog.
Duplication of content is a criticism regularly levelled at us during Wimbledon. I should point out from the off that the services on the satellite and cable platforms are very different to that on .
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It鈥檚 that time of year when tennis occupies the minds of most of my colleagues, as well as the nation as a whole. But with the now underway (after the obligatory rain delay), it鈥檚 also worth reflecting on all the sport we鈥檝e covered in the run-up to this staple of the sporting summer.
Another event which definitely deserves that title is . Last week we brought you five days of the finest flat racing from Berkshire. As always, the outfits worn by the crowd were almost as much a topic of conversation and analysis as the racing itself. Supermodel was on hand to give her expert opinion on the hats and frocks, and did so in a style which many of you enjoyed. As viewer Quinn Murray put it: 鈥淪he's from a posh background but she was so down to earth,鈥 before adding: 鈥淛ulia Bradbury (the main fashion presenter) has been a breath of fresh air. Brilliant!鈥
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So, here we go again - the grass court caravan rolls in to SW19, all-whites and best behaviour the order of the day, at stake the most prized trophy in tennis鈥 Champion of !
From its Wimbledon has grown to become one of the world鈥檚 greatest international sporting occasions, attended annually by some half a million fans, broadcast to over 175 territories with a potential reach of over 600 million viewers. The 大象传媒 acts as the host broadcaster for the 13 days of competition televising a total of nine courts and for the second year running both will be broadcast in High Definition (HD).
will be available on a dedicated 大象传媒 HD channel via the Sky Electronic Programme guide with a total of 12 hours per day with the best live and highlights play from the two main show courts between 1255 and 0100.
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So here it is, the big one, the British Motorcycle Grand Prix, and more than 100,000 fans are expected to descend on over the weekend.
It鈥檚 always a real privilege to cover your home Grand Prix, particularly as the championship this year has already produced some and Donington is another good track for the riders.
However, the weather is also threatening to play its part - with torrential rain forecast for the weekend, the campsite may well be giving Glastonbury a run for its money at this rate. It could also turn the on their head as we saw in earlier in the season.
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The 大象传媒 and ITV have agreed with Uefa that we'll have the rights to . Needless to say, we are extremely pleased with that outcome. As some of you mentioned in an earlier posting, not having Euro 2008 was the big gap in our portfolio of major events - because we already had the rights to the and , and to the World Cups in and .
But the successful outcome now means we can promise you an amazing summer of sport in 2008 as we journey through Austria and Switzerland for the football and then to China for the Olympic Games.
Better still, this will be another event for which we have a rich package of rights: live television shared with ITV; TV highlights including ; radio on Five Live; broadband; and mobile rights. That means we can deliver top 大象传媒 Sport where and when you want it, and the successful experiment of will be repeated next summer.
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There can be little doubt what the sports story of the year so far has been - it concerns a chap called Lewis, and sadly it ain't me.
So how do we set about reflecting the fact that a 22-year-old from Hertfordshire (that's definitely not me - I do live in Herts but 22 is long gone) ?
Firstly it means my colleagues at Radio Five Live will be getting even more interest in their live race commentaries. It's good news for , who I understand achieved an audience of 5.2m for their coverage of Indianapolis on Sunday, where Hamilton won his second GP. But clearly a British sensation is also a huge boost to Five Live, whose coverage does not stop at the race coverage on weekends but also boasts a Friday night F1 show.
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Welcome to the new-look 大象传媒 Sport editors鈥 blog. We hope you like the changes and that you find this part of the website even more useful and engaging than before.
New features include...
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Hello everyone,
As many of you will have noticed, we were struck by severe technical problems today, .
It happens to the best of them, unfortunately - websites do go down and whilst our technical experts worked feverishly to fix things, we weren't able to keep you updated in all the ways you would normally expect us to for the first hour or so of play today.
So let us first apologise for that, and rest assured that we are looking into what went wrong and also reviewing our procedures for what we do when this happens.
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I鈥檝e seen thousands of football matches in my time 鈥 but never one played at 11,333 feet above sea level on an Alpine glacier.
That was Switzerland鈥檚 way of launching the countdown to which it is jointly staging next summer with neighbours Austria.
Original definitely, if not a little dangerous for the 400-odd people invited to watch the event who had to risk their limbs sliding around on the snow at the top of the .
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So let鈥檚 all pack our bags and forget this year at Queen鈥檚 Club. Britain鈥檚 great tennis hope, Andy Murray, , and he and his entourage now turn their attentions to the medical table and an appointment with SW19.
Breaking news鈥.whilst the renamed will undoubtedly miss having Scotland鈥檚 world number ten, the tournament will boast five players ranked higher than Murray, including world number two Rafael Nadal.
Fresh from Roland Garros, our cameras and tennis team will relocate to the Queen鈥檚 Club in Barons Court to cover seven days of live action, with a total of 50 hours of coverage on 大象传媒 TV from 11-17 June.
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It's that time of year again when the lesser-spotted fan comes out of hibernation, does a quick scan to check that all the nasty supporters have migrated, ignores the rain then plumps up its feathers and bursts into song. Which in effect means my mailbox starts filling up with queries and grumbles of a tennis nature.
Our earlier interactive tennis offerings of the year have been limited to live plus a couple of sojourns, but with the French Open in progress the 大象传媒's summer portfolio is in full flow.
Our friends still stuck in the analogue world, bless them, may be forgiven for thinking that our Roland Garros coverage is limited to the final weekend, but we have of course been offering live matches to digital viewers via the red button since the opening day on 27 May.
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Our cameras will be at on Sunday for what is almost certain to be our last chance to watch rugby league's volcano exploding down the left wing.
, Bradford's Tongan-born winger will be making his 150th appearance for the Bulls. Two tries in the game would also make it 150 tries for the club he joined in 2002, edging him into a highly select group of wingers who have averaged the magic try per game.
But the quarter-final against Huddersfield will be big Lesley's last live appearance on 大象传媒 TV because even if the Bulls go through he joins Gloucester RUFC from 1 July. There has been speculation that the man nicknamed The Volcano will be allowed back to play for Bradford in the semis and final should they progress, but that seems fanciful.
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Our first six-week run has come to an end all too quickly. I'm pleased with .
There's been a lot of pick up, notably on our interviews with , Sven and in the press, and we've made sure our journalism has also been shared across the 大象传媒's output (the One and Six O'Clock News, , Five Live and ).
I've also been really interested in as the weeks have worn on and I've tried hard to answer your comments and queries. I do find it very helpful to hear from you all, so do keep it up.
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London 2012鈥檚 new logo has got the country talking - not in the manner the organisers would have hoped - but it has certainly made a splash, which may not be a bad thing in the long run.
Calls to the press office this morning met with replies that appeared to confirm that this was not a publicity stunt 鈥 as some feared/(hoped?) - but a genuine attempt to break new ground.
More than 200 people commented on my post yesterday; our 606 debate garnered more than 3,000 comments and our online vote showed a consistent level of about 80% against the logo (until it malfunctioned and reset itself to zero - nothing sinister I assure you. But apologies for the annoyance).
On my blog post, Michael Sutton-Long (commenter number 117) was an almost lone voice of support for the -designed icon.
I thought, as a first-hand witness to the launch, I would pass on what it was Seb Coe & co were trying to convey.
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A year ago today, England had just and were about to head to Germany on a tidal wave of hype and expectation. A year from now, we hope it's come full circle and they're boarding a plane to Austria/Switzerland full of optimism. Ideally, accompanied by one or more of the other home nations.
Given the weekend's results in , a win in Estonia looks more or less essential if England's hopes are to remain intact. We have extended highlights in Match of the Day - our last of the season - at 10.40pm on Wednesday. We will also be able to feature a five-minute edit of Faroe Islands v Scotland, while 大象传媒 Scotland will have their own longer edit of that game.
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We have been overwhelmed by the response to the .
A page we set up asking for opinions on our 606 site smashed the 1,000-comment barrier, a record, and was heading towards 1,500 comments last time I looked.
Sadly for the organisers of the new brand launch, most of the reaction seems pretty negative, and .
鈥淚 have vomited better logos,鈥 was one of the harsher assessments on 606, while others seemed willing to at least give it a go and attempt to find creative meaning in the jagged shapes beyond the "obvious"..
These ranged from:-
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We've been inundated with emails from you about why on the we still have placed in the Championship and are not yet up in League Two.
Don't worry - all will be resolved soon. We're very much aware that the website is still set-up for the 2006/07 season.
Obviously we couldn't do anything until the Football League play-off finals were completed.
So what exactly do we have to do for the big summer switchover?
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London 2012 are to launch their new brand and logo on Monday and are attempting to use a bit of blogosphere buzz to generate a bit of heat around it.
Those who are being given one clue per day (it is day two today) which leads them to a blog or social networking site where there is a video trailer which gives a hint to the 鈥渟tory of the brand鈥.
In the words of the PR guy who emailed me to tell me about the campaign, 鈥渢he 2012 brand will embrace a lot of the principles of participation and democratisation familiar to those us in the blogosphere and in keeping with that, the 2012 people have agreed to launch the brand into the blogosphere before it is unveiled to an auditorium full of VIPs and the world's media.鈥
For yesterday鈥檚 clue I had to find: 鈥渢he London-based blog (which) is passionate about its unique, biting brand of music, movie, TV, videogame and celebrity news, gossip and reviews鈥.
I was introduced to as a result 鈥 but couldn鈥檛 find the video though I didn鈥檛 have time to try very hard I admit.
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The MotoGP season is starting to get very busy indeed, with this weekend, the next and then a week's break before the big one - the British Grand Prix at on 24 June. Then we move on to in Holland, and in the US to come, before a well-earned summer break.
This weekend we鈥檙e at the Mugello circuit, deep in the heart of Tuscany. It's a picturesque place, at least until 130,000 . They camp in the hills around the circuit and have to be seen, and more importantly heard, to be believed. It鈥檚 an all-night party which seems to involve an endless revving of bikes. And it鈥檚 not just bikes. This lot even bring engines without the bikes, just to add to the noise.
It also means it鈥檚 impossible to get out of the circuit on Sunday night. The first year the TV team stayed in Florence, which is about 60 miles away, and it took a ridiculous nine hours to get back to our hotel! Now, we stay closer to the track and leave the cars in a nearby village, then walk for about an hour to get in. And people think this life is glamorous!
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Thanks for all your comments about our TV coverage of last weekend's London leg of the .
I think the event was a success, and despite the lousy weather there was a crowd of more than 20,000 for the finals day on Sunday. Wales fared best of the home nations reaching their first ever semi-final at a World Sevens event.
means that they still have a chance of beating the South Sea islanders to the overall world title with the last leg of the series taking place in Edinburgh this weekend.
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