BBC and ITV have been slammed for their ‘diabolical’ decision not to air World Cup highlights on TV in the morning despite nightmare overnight kick-off times in the UK
BBC and ITV have both been slammed for their decision not to air World Cup highlights on TV, despite kick-off times being mainly throughout the night in the UK.
The World Cup in North America kicks off today with hosts Mexico taking on South Africa in a repeat of the iconic 2010 opening match. That game in Mexico City will kick-off at 8pm in the UK; a respectable time considering local time kick-off is 1pm – early for an opening tournament game.
However, the second game of the tournament between South Korea and the Czech Republic will be played at 3am BST on Friday morning, when most of the football fans this side of the Atlantic are fast asleep.
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Hardly anyone with a job – and it could be argued in their right mind – will be staying up to watch the second game in Group A, but the only chance to see the game on telly will be for fans who watch it, with no highlights program to be aired on TV the following morning by either of the broadcasters.
This will be the case throughout the tournament, despite all the fixtures scheduled between midnight and 5am. Highlights will be available to watch online across multiple platforms from BBC and ITV, including on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app, ITVX and the ITV website.
But the duration and extent of the coverage on BBC and ITV’s websites and apps remains to be seen. And fans hoping to avoid finding out the scores who simply want to wake up and watch an easily digestible Match of the Day style programme from the comfort of their sofa have been left fuming.
One fan ranted on social media: “Have I got this right? The #BBC and #ITV don’t have a morning or afternoon #MOTD style highlights show of #FIFA #WorldCup games we’ve missed through the night? Diabolical.”
A second said: “I was expecting BBC and ITV to have daily morning highlights shows but it seems not. So if I want to wake up and watch highlights of the overnight matches without knowing the scores what do I do please?”
Another said: “It’s such a missed opportunity from BBC and ITV. I don’t want to have to search for highlights and find out the scores on video titles and thumbnails.”
BBC and ITV have both been contacted for comment.
On Saturday June 13, Brazil start their World Cup campaign against Morocco at 11pm BST, Scotland then play Haiti at the ridiculous hour of 2am before Australia face Turkey at 5am.
England’s first World Cup game against Croatia on June 17 kicks off at 9pm, with the second group game against Ghana the following Tuesday also a 9pm start. However, the final group game against Panama kicks off at 10pm.
The Three Lions also face the risk of playing their knockout games in the early hours of the morning if they fail to top the group.