15-07-2023, 07:06 PM
(12-07-2023, 07:27 PM)RhysJR Wrote: With the World Aquatics Championships starting in Fukoka, Japan on Friday, there is once again no UK broadcaster currenlty scheduled to show the events.
Last year, the swimming was shown live on BBC iPlayer only (so we had the rather odd set-up with the European Championships getting better coverage than the World Championships) via a deal agreed by the EBU (that I think was only announced the day before the competitions began). The previous edition was only available behind a paywall on the FINA website, with the BBC showing daily highlights; this was blamed on World Aquatics/FINA asking for too much money from broadcasters globally, with there being no live coverage in many other European nations and in Australia most notably.
This does not look to be the case this year, with many other European countries getting FTA coverage, with the UK a very notable abscence in the list on the official website below. Action will be shown live on the EBU-operated All Aquatics site and behind a paywall on the World Aquatics Recast channel (not sure if any events will be exclusive to Recast otherwise there's little point in it being available).
It's unfortunate timing that the event will take place the same time as the FIFA Women's World Cup and in a smilar timezone (the 2023 edition was originally meant to be in Doha with Fukuoka hosting in 2021 then 2022) which would make it understandable for the BBC (as they are the most likely to broadcast this) not to show the event on its linear channels but a bit disappointing there is, at the moment, no iPlayer coverage either.
www.worldaquatics.com
The 2022 announcment from the EBU:
www.ebu.ch
Interesting that BBC swimming commentator Andy Jamieson believes that the BBC and World Aquatics are still in discussions about airing the World Swimming Championships next week. Would be nice if a deal is sorted.
The diving has already begun, with a British medal only being available on All Aquatics.
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