Name –

Cambridge National Sport Studies

RO54: Sport and the Media
Mr Ignatowski

RO54 Sport and the Media

LO1 – How is sport covered in the media?
Television:
Sport is an immensely popular and cheap way of entertainment for television companies to
broadcast around the world. It is much more cost effective as it costs less to show sport
event across the television and does not take much time to show as it does to write what
happened. It is easy to follow, has a lot of excitement, no old people are left behind as it is
easy to view and only has a short amount of advertisement when the players are taking
their position during broadcast. It is the best way to view sport because it supplies images
and sound that can be broadcasted live around the world. It allows the users to get the best
experience of the broadcast because it is in colour rather than being in black and white and
better experience over reading and listening about what happened. There are three ways in
which sport is viewed on television across the world:

Digital terrestrial television

DTT is when images are sent by radio waves from transmitters of the TV station to the
receiver of the TV which is connected to the antenna. If the household watches on BBC
programmes they need to have a TV licence which pays the price of producing BBC shows
for the household (figure 1). However other channels are funded through advertisement, so
you do not need a tv licence to view these shows. This is because a lot of companies pay a
lot of money to advertise during these major sport events because a lot of people are
watching the sport event so it will help improve the popularity of the company which
advertises during the event. But Major sport events are ring fenced this means they are
protected by satellite companies as they are important to British values and other countries
therefor, they want everyone to be able to enjoy the sport event so no one is left behind.
For example, you can view FIFA world cup, UEFA European championship, and FA (Football
Association) world cup.

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Name –
Cambridge National Sport Studies
RO54: Sport and the Media
Mr Ignatowski

Satellite
Satellite television is a service that delivers programmes to viewers from them
communication satellite that orbit the earth 24 hours to the viewers location. To receive
these signals from the satellite you need a satellite dish fixed to the side of your house
facing directly to the satellite and a subscription to the satellite provider which you pay to
receive the signal. For example, the sky sport supplies the biggest sport package in the UK. It
also receives the biggest number of subscriptions across its competitors. It was the key to
the launch of the primer league of football in 1992 and has increased the commercial side of
the football. Satellite subscriptions have many benefits to sport:

• Increased money going to sport team to invest and improve.

• In current package (2019-2021) involves sky paying the primer league £ 10.7 million
for each match shown live which is split between the two teams concerned.
• The top teams are shown on sky 30 times a season, giving them an income from sky
more than £150 million which they can use to pay wages and buy players.

Pay Per view (PPV):

Pay per view is a system when a television service provider allows the viewer to buy live
events to view. It is available through satellite, cable, and internet television services, for
films or sport events such as the sky box office. Sporting events that are available through
pay per view are boxing and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Pay per view system is used in sport
or fight events because these are extremely popular and rare events that are only viewed
once in a month or a year. Therefore, they are not viewed by the subscription service as a
result they are viewed by promoters to make more money as they can possibly get while
offering these one-time payment deals. For example, in 2017 1.5 million people used pay
per view to watch the heavy weight boxing match between Antony Joshua and Waldimir
Klitschko.

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Name –
Cambridge National Sport Studies
RO54: Sport and the Media
Mr Ignatowski

Written Press
Before the development of radio and television written press was the main way by which
sport and news was distributed across the world. The most popular form of written press
was newspaper, however now a days other form of written press has formed e.g., magazine.
But the internet. But when the internet arrived there has been a significant decrease in the
number of copies that are printed, because a lot of people read newspaper and magazines
on the internet. This is because people can access these resources of information much
more easily on the internet rather than buying a copy. There are 4 types of written press:
newspaper, magazine, books and fanzines.
Newspaper
Now a days newspaper come in two different formats, broadsheet and tabloid although
some broadsheets are now appearing in tabloid size. Both types must sell a lot of copies to
make money because a lot of people don’t read news on newspaper as they can watch it on
television which is much easier. Broadsheet papers tend to supply information in more
detail on diverse types of sport and what happened in the match or event. Whereas tabloid
newspaper tends to supply information about sensational stories that cover relatively few
sports. Newspaper companies also make profit from the internet because they don’t have
to print newspaper because people can access them online. For example, the most trending
broadsheets are Mirror and the sun. The most popular tabloid newspapers are Sunday, daily
express.

Magazines:
Magazines are books that include information about a particular sport and the matches that
were held in week or month. Commonly most magazines are published weekly or monthly.
The main sports that are published in magazines are boxing, four or two matches, world
soccer etc. These are used to make a sport and players renowned. Magazines are popular
because they give priority to visual aesthetics throughout the pages in the magazines not
through the cover of magazines which creates a highly sensory reading experience which
helps improve the memory of people on what they read on the magazine about a specific
sport.

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Name –
Cambridge National Sport Studies
RO54: Sport and the Media
Mr Ignatowski

Books:
Books on sport are about a player, coaching and some specific rules and instruction about a
specific sport. Books written on sport are in two types of fiction and non-fiction. Non-fiction
books are about individual sport player, history of sport and annual detailing of a year of
news or statistics about a sport. Some non-fiction books have become famous such as the
cricketer's Almanac Wisden which is a monthly published that is compiled in an annual full
of stories, reports, scores and statistics about cricket. Fiction books on sport are made up
stories in which the sport has impact on a plot or a character or how people cheat to win.
Fiction books have also become famous such as football against enemy, which is about
looking on cultures and their history, to understand what type of football players they
produce.

Fanzines:

Fanzines are just like magazine but are usually by armatures for fun of a particular team or
athletes. Fanzines can be found in many different sports, though, are written about sports
that has many spectators because it helps them make profit from the sport and to give the
fans of a particular sport information in a fun way. For example, rugby league has several
fanzines and some non-league football clubs also have fanzines to increase their popularity.
Now a days people use online website because they are cheaper and easier to produce, and
anyone can access them. This also helps fan to get information about a specific sport for
free rather than having to buy it.

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Name –
Cambridge National Sport Studies
RO54: Sport and the Media
Mr Ignatowski

Radio:
Radio became a fashionable way of communication to people by 1920. At the start sound
was sent by radio waves to the radio receivers which were analogues but got replaced with
digital sounds at the start of the 21st century, which gave an exceptional quality of sound
and choice. But when televisions came out in 1960 the number of viewers on radio
decreased because television gave a better sound and supplies images which helps improve
memory of people on what has happened during the match? There are three ways by which
sport can be broadcasted on radio:

• Local Radio Stations

• National Radio Stations
• Internet Radio Stations
• Dedicated sports radio stations
Dedicated radio stations:
Dedicated radio stations are supposed to broadcast all major sport events in the country
where the radio station is found. For example, BBC radio 5 live broadcasts all Majour sport
events that take place in the UK or involves British competitors. This is because they are
important to British values and that no one in the country misses out. However due to
restrictions they are not able to cover some events that take place in the UK. As a result,
they must be broadcasted on the sister channel of BBC radio which is 5 live sport extra.
Lacal radio stations
Local radio stations are supposed to cover all the event that take place in the city the radio
station is located. This can be done by a BBC radio station or through a commercial station.
This helps to attract investment into the club the station provides coverage on and will
make the club well known in the world. For example, BBC has nearly 50 radio stations.
Nearly all of BBC’s stations provide coverage of local sport, news etc. BBC radio Leeds
covers all the sport events that take place in Leeds and Bradford.
Internet radio station

Internet radio stations are stations which transmit audio using digital signals that are then
broadcasted on the internet. These stations have a better quality of sound as the audio is
digitised. These radio station broadcast signals over the internet. To access these radio
station broadcast you need access to Wi-Fi. The first internet radio station was launched in
1993. There are over 350 radio station in the UK that stream on the internet.
DAB radio
Digital audio broadcasting receives that do not allow any of the static that will affect the
analogue radio signals as a result it is much clearer to listen to. To be able to listen digital
audio broadcasting you need a DAB device. There are over 300 digital audio broadcasting
station and are heavily promoted because it has a better source of radio than analogue

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Name –
Cambridge National Sport Studies
RO54: Sport and the Media
Mr Ignatowski

signals. Sports features heavily on these stations as it attracts listeners relatively and cheap
to provide.

Internet
The internet is a global network of connected computers and computer networks owned by
companies and individuals. The internet carries a vast range of data and information which
include documents and software packages. The internet has become the most famous form
of entertainment and communication compared to telephone and television which allows
people to have access to any resource they want any time which is on the world wide web.
It can keep a track of every sports event that takes place in the world. The internet also
allows people to have a face-to-face conversation using instant messaging and by using
social networking sites. This allows people to talk about sport as it happens.
Blogs:
A blog is a Web site that offers a casual online journal that displays information in
backwards order, with the latest information appearing first. Sometime the blog made by a
single editor and author but now a days they are a group of several authors writing the blog.
The number of blogs in the world has decreased because people know how to support a
blog so don’t need to hire a specialist to keep it. Commonly blogs supply information on
sports. Some examples of popular blogs are Anfield HQ, Caught offside etc.

Video sharing
Video sharing sits are free and allows people to generate money for themselves by making
people watch advertisements on their channel. This allows people to share videos with the
world and there are no charges for posting a video. Many sites now a days have restrictions
on the size of videos and their duration and what the video type is to make sure it is safe for
Childrens to watch. Sport is exceedingly popular on video sharing site because people
commonly like to watch the epic moments of an event. Examples of some video sharing
sites are YouTube, Vimeo, photo bucket.
Social media

Social media I when you create an account on the internet and personalise your account by
adding pictures of massages and accepting friends' requests of people and your friends.
Now a days many sport teams and players have their own social media account on which
they post comments about their matches, clips of themselves scoring goals and about their
players. It is different from social media because it is interactive and fast while written press
is informational and takes a time to make to write about it. Some common examples of
social media websites and apps are Facebook, Instagram, snapchat, twitter and WhatsApp.
These apps have more than a billion users registered on them.

fan sites:

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Name –
Cambridge National Sport Studies
RO54: Sport and the Media
Mr Ignatowski

Fan sites are created and supported by fans of a sport, sporting celebrity, team or event that
they like. These sites supply specialised information about sport by suppling videos, images
from other sources of information from the internet. These fan sites tend to supply the
latest news about sport or whatever information the fan site tends to supply and allows
people to discuss what they are watching and what they think about it so the site can be
improved. These sites are commonly created by people who like a sport, but some are
owned by a club or athletes in which the organisation supplies the information rather than
having to choose it from diverse sources which means that the information is more correct.
Live stream
Live streams are like live matches which are viewed on television, but you cannot rewind,
and the content is provided by radio signals that are caught by the antenna or a satellite
dish. Live streaming requires a camera which can connect to Wi-Fi and shares the stream
across the world so people around the world can see the match/event. Live streams include
a large variety of topic on which they are based on for example gaming is one of the most
famous form of live stream. Most social media apps such as Facebook live include the choice
to stream live which means that people following you will get a notification of you
streaming live.
Peer to peer
Peer to peer allows people to share files with members of the network or with the world.
This technology allows users to have access and share any digitised files such as photo,
videos and text written on the sport or different content which the peer-to-peer network
provides. Using peer to peer is a very efficient and easy way to use to supply information
because it is easy to support, and you can have other people to join you network to make
peer to peer more popular by supplying correct information about the sport. For example,
Sop Cast is an easy and free peer-to-peer which provides videos and pictures on sport
events.
Podcast
Podcast is a series of digital audio and video files that can be downloaded from the internet
and watched. Most podcast are subscription-based meaning that you must pay to be able to
watch the content proved by the podcast owners. So, all the new content is automatically
downloaded when the provider puts it on podcast on the device which you have logged on
to the podcast. Most podcasts are audio based so you don’t get much out of the
subscription because you can't see what happened. For example, The Big Podcast with Shaq
provides information on sport and other content by audio format.
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