by SnookerFan » 12 Jul 2011 Read
Another thing that struck me about Eurosport last night, after catching up on a bit of World Cup action, was that it's perhaps a better tool for the established snooker fan then creating new ones. I know the channel has created a lot of new fans in Europe, but they don't have much choice. (And I can't comment on the presentation or commentator abilities in other countries.)
But their almost random nature takes away from what got me hooked on snooker in the first place. Snooker is a sport that has an ability to hook you. When you first start watching, you might not know the people in the game, but if something dramatic happens, you stay to see the next frame. For example, if somebody misses frame ball, and the other guy clears up, you stay to see the next frame to see what happens next. And so on... That's what gets you hooked on the game, and then if you tune in to the same tournament a couple of days later, and the same guy who won was playing, you'd watch due to sort of being; "Oh this guy again."
I'm not a new fan any more, so that doesn't apply as much. But how many people are going to get hooked to a tournament if, say, half the match is cut off due to an important skiing tournament coming on. (On Sunday morning the final of the Wuxi Classic cut off just when Selby and Carter were arguing with the referee.) Not being able to show all of the matches doesn't help, though that's not exclusive to Eurosport. (See the UK Championships up until this season.) Also, as people have said, for a channel with a budget of £8 a decade, it's understandable. There is a lack of analysis before or after games, and commentators who make elementary mistakes. (Yesterday, they didn't know which of the Pakistani players were which. And I'm sure we can all come up with other mistakes they've made.)
All in all, it's not a diss to Eurosport. As has been said, they do as good a job as a small time, low-budget TV station can. And I'd rather have the tournaments televised this way, then not at all. Snooker isn't an affluent enough sport to attract much mainstream TV attention outside of the majors, so in that respect Eurosport can be a godsend.
My point is only, I think it's aimed more at people who watch a lot of snooker, and don't necessarily need top commentary or analysis to know what's going on. A new fan wouldn't neccessarily be hooked on it by watching a lot of half matches with poor production values. This is where the debate lies, for me. Established fans wanting to watch as much snooker as possible may be grateful that it's on. But would it create legions of new fans, like a BBC tournament might?
It was just a thought that struck me, from what got me hooked in the first place.
