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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
MVM
join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA

jvmorris

MVM

[Semi-Serious] Six Nations

Yes, sports, it's that time again.

Unless one of you Brits is going to be so kind as to provide a high bandwidth VPN channel so that I can watch on BBC, I shall be forced to resign myself to canvassing tawdry American sports bars (once again) in search of coverage. (And Friday is England v. Wales.)

It's not that there's anything wrong with an American sports bar -- other than the fact you can't buy a good bitter to go with the event. Damn, it's been seven months since I've had a decent bitter.

Soho97UK
Premium Member
join:2004-08-18
UK

Soho97UK

Premium Member

Sadly my VPN is based in the States for US content ...

jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
MVM
join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA

jvmorris

MVM

Sadly, so am I.

I think it's a bit odd that they're showing the France/Scotland match on Saturday on BBC America, but not the England/Wales match on Friday (from Cardiff, no less).

i believe a trip to the Buffalo Wing Factory & Pub may be in order tomorrow afternoon. (No, this is not where Welsh wings are made.)
pauldenton
join:2003-12-20
London

pauldenton

Member

said by jvmorris:

Sadly, so am I.

I think it's a bit odd that they're showing the France/Scotland match on Saturday on BBC America, but not the England/Wales match on Friday (from Cardiff, no less).

it appears that they are only showing 1 match per weekend....
»www.bbcamerica.com/conte ··· dule.jsp

i imagine that timing may be a factor in selection - since basically (barring the Calcutta cup game on Sunday 13th march) they are showing the game played at 17.00 GMT on Saturday each week

i guess the US rights to all the games would have been too expensive for BBC America's experiment.... maybe in future years you'll get more.....

jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
MVM
join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA

jvmorris

MVM

Paul,

Correct, we poor souls are only getting one match per week on BBC America. However, I guess my complaint is more about the matches chosen for show in the US.

Of the Six nations, we get
3 involving England
3 involving Scotland
1 involving Wales
1 involving Ireland, and
2 involving France(!), and
0 involving Italy.

IIRC, Italy was very well rated prior to this year's program and I find it rather odd that they're not being shown at all.

If it's a matter of BBC America being Anglo-centric, it would have made more sense to having at least two matches involving Ireland and two involving Wales, dropping France entirely.

And, if it's a matter of BBC America trying to play to the American audience, we could have had 1 less England match, two less French in exchange for at least 1 additional Welsh, 1 Irish and 1 Italian.

There is a remote possibility that some of the alternatives may pop up on another of the 600+ channels carried by Verizon FIOS, so I've now got a capability to at least look for other options.
pauldenton
join:2003-12-20
London

1 edit

pauldenton

Member

said by jvmorris:

Paul,

Correct, we poor souls are only getting one match per week on BBC America. However, I guess my complaint is more about the matches chosen for show in the US.

Of the Six nations, we get
3 involving England
3 involving Scotland
1 involving Wales
1 involving Ireland, and
2 involving France(!), and
0 involving Italy.

IIRC, Italy was very well rated prior to this year's program and I find it rather odd that they're not being shown at all.

not well rated afaicr......
said by jvmorris:

If it's a matter of BBC America being Anglo-centric, it would have made more sense to having at least two matches involving Ireland and two involving Wales, dropping France entirely.

that would be, quite frankly, nuts - France are (with England) the 2 world class sides in the tournament, and play the most entertaining rugby - and are the defending champions.....

prior to the tournament the participants ranked as follows in the IRB rankings:
4 ENGLAND
5 IRELAND
6 FRANCE
7 SCOTLAND
.
9 WALES {who hadn't won a single match for a whole year on the eve of the tournament }
.
12 ITALY
said by jvmorris:

And, if it's a matter of BBC America trying to play to the American audience, we could have had 1 less England match, two less French in exchange for at least 1 additional Welsh, 1 Irish and 1 Italian.

hmm - the available matches were/are - chosen matches in Bold:
week 1:
Fri 4th Feb 11 19:45 Wales 19 - 26 England Millennium Stadium
Sat 5th Feb 11 14:30 Italy 11 - 13 Ireland Stadio Flaminio
Sat 5th Feb 11 17:00 France 34 - 21 Scotland Stade de France
week 2:
Sat 12th Feb 11 14:30 England 59 - 13 Italy Twickenham Report
Sat 12th Feb 11 17:00 Scotland 6 - 24 Wales Murrayfield
Sun 13th Feb 11 15:00 Ireland v France Aviva Stadium
week 3:
Sat 26th Feb 11 14:30 Italy v Wales Stadio Flaminio
Sat 26th Feb 11 17:00 England v France Twickenham {this is likely to be the "grand slam decider" - only someone crazy would omit this game.....}
Sun 27th Feb 11 15:00 Scotland v Ireland Murrayfield
week "4":
Sat 12th Mar 11 14:30 Italy v France Stadio Flaminio
Sat 12th Mar 11 17:00 Wales v Ireland Millennium Stadium
Sun 13th Mar 11 15:00 England v Scotland Twickenham
week "5":
Sat 19th Mar 11 14:30 Scotland v Italy Murrayfield
Sat 19th Mar 11 17:00 Ireland v England Aviva Stadium
Sat 19th Mar 11 19:45 France v Wales Stade de France

so they are giving you:
a) one match each at Stade de France, Murrayfield and the Aviva Stadium (Dublin) and 2 from Twickenham {sadly none from the millenium stadium - but the only 2 possibles were either broadcasting on friday, or the wales v ireland game that would mean missing the Calcutta Cup game that is always a very hard fought affair}

b) what were/are, on paper, the likely "best" (i.e. most competitive) matches {certainly given that they are unlikely to have been prepared to broadcast the match on friday when most of the potential audience will be at work/in school....}
certainly France v Scotland was the best game in week 1....

not sure what US schedules are like on a Saturday afternoon/evening - that may be why they didn't opt for a later broadcast of France v Wales as match 5

by either ranking, or likely potential audience (just how many "welsh-americans are there??*), the country that should have got more matches is Ireland (at the expense of Scotland) - but the only way i can see it being possible schedulewise, given 1 match per weekend, broadcast live, would have meant you loosing todays wales v scotland in favour of tomorrows ireland v france.... which would then give:
3 involving England
3 involving France
2 involving Scotland
2 involving Ireland
0 involving Wales
0 involving Italy.

i.e a virtually stricly ranking based choice (but one that leaves you even less satisfied methinks....)

or i guess one could have foregone the calcutta cup for wales v ireland to get:
2 involving England
2 involving France
2 involving Scotland
2 involving Ireland
2 involving Wales
0 involving Italy.

with each side having one home and one away game.... but the rugby seen would be poorer methinks

hmm - one other possibility that occurs to me is that picking the Calcutta cup game moves it away from Saturday 12th march which would involve a clash with the FA Cup quarter finals {all 4 of which are played on that day, and broadcast in the US on Fox Soccer - which might be a ratings worry..... }

*edit: to answer my own question, according to the US census there are:
36.3m irish-americans - plus another 3.5m of "scotch-irish" descent
27.5m anglo-americans
17.75m italian-americans
9.5m Franco-americans {not including french canadians - another 2m of them}
5.8m scots-americans
and a whisker under 2m welsh-americans....
»factfinder.census.gov/se ··· -format=

obviously all of these are not exclusive and a few may even claim to be all of these

now off to watch france v ireland...