We don’t all want to watch Olympics

10:19am Tuesday 31st July 2012 in Letters By Readers' letters

BBC1 is dishing out a daily 12 hour dose of Olympic Games, plus the occasional encroachment on BBC2 and more on BBC3 and BBC4.

Surely there will be some regular viewers who will miss the usual repeated programs during morning and afternoon, but do they really have to do without the regular evening programs before and after the 9pm watershed?

There also seems to be a problem fitting in the regular news programmes, which could be an attempt to focus the general population on the task ahead, namely the Olympics.

It is probably good idea to dedicate a channel to the Olympics, but BBC 1 should have been left untouched and another channel such as BBC3 dedicated exclusively to Olympics.

Meanwhile non-Olympic folk will probably desert to the commercial channels, the ones which are free of the Olympics (where is that remote?).

J Beisly, Osprey Close, York.

• On behalf of the majority of TV viewers who pay a full licence fee but have no interest in sporting activities, can I put in a serious request that consideration is given to providing a sport-free channel so that we are not all force fed whichever sport is currently ruling – or, as now, a permanent diet of the Olympics. This is not my or indeed many others’ idea of a relaxing evening – even the sacrosanct news is not exempt.

Liz Edge, Parkside Close, York.

• MANY of my German friends have emailed or phoned to say how much they enjoyed watching the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

They marvelled at the way it was all put together, particularly liking the Industrial Revolution slot with its growing tall chimneys and the typically English sense of humour as The Queen ‘parachuted’ into the arena with James Bond. They said if Germany gets between 30 and 50 medals they will be very happy and satisfied, and expect Britain to come about fifth in the medals table.

David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate , York.

Comments(28)

Ichabod76 says...
10:29am Tue 31 Jul 12

Boo Hoo its better than all the rubbish that's on week in week out

all these people who's lives are controlled by the T.V
why not go out ?

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roadwars says...
10:51am Tue 31 Jul 12

Would be nice if some consideration was give to those of us that can't stand watching the recycled rubbish about buying things at expensive sales and selling them for less at auction, or that one about how you used to be able to buy houses cheap and do them up and make some money out of them, or even that daily 1 hour advert for a firm of coffin chasers who can't wait to hand you some money from the relative you didn't care about when they were alive........
Thank god we've got the Olympics to watch, it's just a shame it's only for 2 weeks.

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ColdAsChristmas says...
11:26am Tue 31 Jul 12

At least with the Olympics there is a variety of events going on. Why wait until now to complain when only a month ago we were dished out wall to wall tennis and if that weren't bad enough, after that they dished up hours and hours of Golf? The BBC is important because it is only for them we pay the licence fee and rather than less Olympics I'd like to see and hear less propaganda.

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Captain Beige says...
11:31am Tue 31 Jul 12

I guess in 2 weeks time the two letter writers at the top can go back to moaning about the weather...


FFS it's a once in a lifetime event and you can still watch BBC2,4,Itv, Channel 4, channel5....need I go on?

At the very least you now have freeview with about 50 TV channels to choose from. Just because 2 are taken up by sport for two weeks you feel the need to write to the press about it.

What can the press do? Write a letter? "Dear Mr Secretary General of the BBC, 2 of our readers in York have written in to complain that they can't watch Eastenders for two weeks. They feel you should stop your coverage in the evenings (when people are tuning in to watch the finals) as Eastenders is more important."

It sounds like it is, pathetic!

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Firedrake says...
11:45am Tue 31 Jul 12

I don't paticularly want to watch the Olympics either (apart from a couple of minority-interest sports I can never find!) but at least it's only once every four years, and only the third time in the UK ... so I don't begrudge anyone else their pleasures for a fortnight.

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Silver says...
12:48pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Don't forget you can also watch things like DVD's on the tv, or go online and check things on Youtube etc etc

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manfromuncle says...
12:48pm Tue 31 Jul 12

If you don't want to watch it, there's upward of 50 to 600 tv channels in most households to choose from these days, try the simple thing of turning to another channel!

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J-Dawg says...
12:52pm Tue 31 Jul 12

"On behalf of the majority of TV viewers who pay a full licence fee but have no interest in sporting activities, can I put in a serious request that consideration is given to providing a sport-free channel"

There are plenty out there if you can be bothered to change channel.

There's the CBBC channel, MTV, Sky Movies etc.

"There also seems to be a problem fitting in the regular news programmes, which could be an attempt to focus the general population on the task ahead, namely the Olympics"

Oh no, you don't get the news at the usual time, well lucky you, try the BBC news24 channel. You can watch it all day long.

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Buzz Light-year says...
1:09pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Liz Edge wrote:
On behalf of the majority of TV viewers who pay a full licence fee but have no interest in sporting activities,

Majority? Where do you get your figures from?
If you're right then why does Sky have so many subscriptions?

David Quarrie wrote:
MANY of my German friends have emailed or phoned to say how much they enjoyed watching the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games

Did they laugh as much as Boris and Camilla did when they saw that bloke doing the Nazi salute?

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inthesticks says...
1:58pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Moan, moan, moan, moan, moan.
Loving the Olympics, all of it.

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Zetkin says...
4:21pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I not only dislike the Olympics, I actively despise them, but have avoided them by the simple expedient of not watching BBC TV or listening to Radio York.

It is a shame though that the BBC is spending so much of our money on this jamboree at a time they're cutting back and laying off staff.

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rockin33 says...
4:29pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I am not a sport fan and am reduced to watching recycled material on watch etc.

I do not think it is unreasonable to expect that the BBC1 content be left untouched for those poor people who choose not to have Sky at nearly £60 per month or simply cannot afford it!

And for the record there have been another 48 channels launched by the BBC on the red button service (24 standard & 24 HD) also consider the money being wasted that could be put into really good television content useable by the BBC for the next TEN YEARS of REPEATS

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Hicarrumba says...
4:42pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Just watch Dave, thats repeated Bulsh 22 hours a day. This is a once in a lifetime for some people. And again where do you get the 'Majority' from? I bet you are one of these people that see one person doing something wrong and brand the rest of the people the same. SHUT UP.

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YSTClinguist says...
5:24pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I keep reading, "Once in a lifetime."

Technically, how much difference is there whilst sitting on your sofa watching the Olympics in London than any other country once every four years? The arenas are all very similar, built to Olympic specifications, although I admit the faces in the crowds may be variable.

"Whoo! We're hosting the Olympics!"
"Where? Don't see it around here."
"It's down South"
"Huh? THIS... IS... YORKSHIRE!"

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ak7274 says...
8:47pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I just love it when someone decides that they speak for the majority without even doing a straw poll.

It gives their contribution no validity whatsoever.

I too have little interest in sport, yet find the Olymipcs quite compelling for a whole 2 weeks every 4 years.

I will also watch the Paralympics with equal enjoyment.

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yorkshirelad says...
9:24am Wed 1 Aug 12

My goodness...we'd win a gold medal at misery, wouldn't we?

Out here in the real world most of us are feeling really positive about the whole thing.

I've noticed that people are really interested in minority sports that normally don't get a bit of coverage...so my plea to the BBC would be to diversify it's sports coverage a little...the TV diet of snooker/football/F1 racing/golf does get a little tedious.

But the Olympics? A wonderful celebration and loving it!

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mjgyork says...
9:55am Wed 1 Aug 12

I was bored with the olympics six months ago. The sooner this expensive exercise in jingism is over the better. Stopped altogether would be better still.

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inthesticks says...
2:03pm Wed 1 Aug 12

am yisrael chai wrote:
I'm about as interested in the Olympics as I am in flaying my skin off, but one thing that has grabbed my attention is how terrible we're doing in it (a total of 4 medals, no golds, and languishing behind Slovenia in the medal table).

And that - taking into account all the pre-Games hype and predictions - further begs the question: What, if anything, are the British good at?

I don't just mean at sport. I mean generally. Whining about things, being illiterate and finding creative ways of dodging responsibility and productive work don't count since they're shameful qualities.
Perhaps if you had some interest in history you may be a bit prouder of British achievements, I can only conclude that you aren`t British or you may know a few of the many thousands of great inventions and things that `we` have been good at.
To name a few of the many, invented by British people;
Television, fridge, flushing toilet, silicone, plastic, insulin, syringes, vaccines, MRI & ultrasound scans, hovercraft, submarine, cats eyes, tarmac, jet engine, steam engine, discovery of law of motion, gravity, atoms, oxygen, hydrogen etc., stainless steel and not forgetting the corkscrew.
The best music industry in the world AND the most important invention of the 20th C, the internet.
These are just a few and if any British person doesn`t feel proud of British achievements then I can only suggest that you go and live abroad and don`t give Britain another thought (and don`t collect your British pension either).

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inthesticks says...
11:28pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Tim Berners-Lee was born in London and was knighted and is accredited with inventing the world wide web. The intelligence to invent something and the funding behind it are two completely different areas, even a philistine can appreciate that.
You might find that it makes your debate more potent - and there`s another one, viagra - British invention, I guess that makes some people proud.

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Prob says...
1:08pm Thu 2 Aug 12

to the two posters above - you're both right.

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web

The Americans invented the internet.

They are different things. I am not going to go into the detail, you can read up on it.

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Ichabod76 says...
2:31pm Thu 2 Aug 12

inthesticks your forgetting the Higgs Boson

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inthesticks says...
8:01pm Thu 2 Aug 12

Good shout, but I left it out as it`s a work in progress (I think) But I left loads of stuff out. Research done by Japan or Sweden or somebody other than Britain said that Britain was key in over 50% of inventions, wow, how can anyone not be proud of that? I know the USA are annoying with their self praise but we need to stop being embarrassed about our place in history. And I say again, our music industry is THE best in the world.

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York Bob says...
1:48pm Fri 3 Aug 12

am yisrael chai wrote:
I'm about as interested in the Olympics as I am in flaying my skin off, but one thing that has grabbed my attention is how terrible we're doing in it (a total of 4 medals, no golds, and languishing behind Slovenia in the medal table). And that - taking into account all the pre-Games hype and predictions - further begs the question: What, if anything, are the British good at? I don't just mean at sport. I mean generally. Whining about things, being illiterate and finding creative ways of dodging responsibility and productive work don't count since they're shameful qualities.
"Whining about things" would be your specialist sport, yisrael. It's all you do on page after page after page of this website.

My family are loving the Olympics. My five year old asked his swimming teacher to "teach him to do butterfly". He and his three year old sister sit in front of the TV and shout "Come on Britain". It's only people like you who and your fellow miseries who stand in the way of it being a wholly positive experience for the country.

And you shouldn't have called how rubbish we were doing so early - I think you'll find by the end that we have done very well.

And if you don't like what's on TV for 2 weeks then read a book.

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oi oi savaloy says...
11:46am Sat 4 Aug 12

am yisrael chai wrote:
I asked what Britain was good at. Not what it achieved in its past. I haven't got the time nor the inclination to take apart your British invention claims, but one that sticks out is the claim that Britishers invented the intarwebs. In fact the internet was created by DARPA, which, the last time I checked, is an agency of the US Defense Department. So I'll ask again - what, if anything, are the British good at?
Moaning!

Or waving rainbow flags and going look at me I'm gay!

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Digeorge says...
7:40pm Sat 4 Aug 12

Well as a once-upon-a-time 'regular' of Eastenders, I haven't missed it at all in the last few months as the programme has got boring.

I have particularly enjoyed the Olympics 'particularly the parachuting Queen', the horses (partly as a result of coming from a 'horsey' family), rowing, swimming and everything else really whether it is a Great Britain win or somebody else and all those crowds of people flocking to it so no wonder nobody is in Central London spending money!

I found out what the 'bouncing on the beds' was all about apparently all about Trampolinging and an NHS political statement!

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Dave Taylor says...
9:56pm Sat 4 Aug 12

The Test Match has been bloody brilliant.

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Digeorge says...
10:07am Sun 5 Aug 12

Well yesterday was truly brilliant with SIX gold medals, one after the other.

What amazes me is that my neighbour's badly behaved children who "allegedly" are interested in sport, weren't watching anything but outside.

We will probably NEVER witness what happened yesterday in many of our life-times again. We were watching sporting history unveil itself.

And as for Michael Phelps, I couldn't imagine what 18 gold medals, 2 silver and 2 bronzes look like.

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wildthing666 says...
8:11am Mon 6 Aug 12

With the country now having DTV for the Olympics why didn't the BBC invest in a couple or so channels on the freeview so they could give people the sports without affecting other programming? Maybe not enough money left after paying so called stars the money they aren't worth to present rubbish.
Freeview was claimed to give so many extra channels but when people want it for sports they are let down by the service providers, time to make the BBC pay its own way.

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