10-02-2024, 04:17 PM
(08-02-2024, 12:26 AM)RhysJR Wrote: BBC Wales' coverage of the Welsh Open snooker next week will for the first time start at 10am for the first few days, rather than at 1pm. This is helped by Politics Live not airing next week. The evening sessions will have an hour on BBC Two Wales, and will air in full on the Red Button and iPlayer nationally (all BBC Two Wales coverage is simulcast on the Red Button as well).
BBC Wales' Catrin Heledd and Ian Hunt are the two presenters billed all week.
Eurosport's linear coverage dosn't begin until 12:30 at the start of the week. Looking at the schedule, it looks like their studio coverage doesn't kick in until the Friday once again.
Am I right in thinking BBC Wales are the host broadcaster for this event? It's a bit hard to establish as it uses the WST graphics package rather than the BBC's own on matches, and the Eurosport studio is usually in the prime location overlooking the tables, with BBC Wales in a corner of the practice room out of the way.
www.bbc.co.uk
(Thanks to Nick Metcalfe on Twitter for spotting the change to the BBC coverage)
Eurosport have never generally broadcast the morning session as they keep that on Discovery+. So the Welsh Open being fully covered on FTA via the BBC is a win for them.
The tournament itself is a combined production from both BBC Wales and Eurosport. While the BBC get dibs on the commentary box on-site and partially produce the coverage (ensuring 50fps transitions and high audio quality on table one), they don't get control over the scoreboard graphics, the actual stinger transition graphic that is used, and have a separate "birds eye" view camera (as Eurosport use a separate camera that ensure the advertising boards are in shot as much as possible). They also get some partial control over the table one matches (making sure Welsh players are on there for example), but thats about it, and they're also only able to focus on Table One (ie there isn't commentary for any other match).
Also as a side note: anyone on satellite platforms can access BBC Two Wales via channel 968, so it'll be where I'm watching once the coverage begins (before moving to Red Button and/or Eurosport). 👍