Q&A: BBC Sport - November 2004  

Continuing its series of questions and answers with companies influencing the digital sports space in the UK and Europe, Sport and Technology spoke to Andrew Thompson, head of new media, sports news and development for BBC Sport.

Source: EMPICS

"I look after three departments; sports news, interactive services and development. The latter is involved in the development of new programming, technological innovation and finding a new generation of devices. It is the BBC's role [as a public service broadcaster] to be at the heart of innovation. Finding creative partnerships should also be part of that remit."

Indeed, has your role changed in light of recent Graf Report? [The UK's Secretary of State commissioned former newspaper executive Phillip Graf to conduct an independent review of BBC Online in August 2003. The report was delivered in May 2004, and deemed that at least 25% of the BBC's online content (excluding news) should be supplied by external and/or independent suppliers by the time the current Royal Charter expires at the end of 2006].

"Partly we have responded to Graf but also in response to other areas that we are committed to. One of the areas we are looking at is being proactive in working with companies outside the BBC. There have been other BBC-wide reviews such as assessing the BBC's 'value for money'. The BBC is having a good old look at itself at the moment and a number of themes will emerge that we'll address."

How do you feel about the link between technology and sport?

"What's been fascinating to me is the increasing alignment between our editorial and technical teams at the BBC. Over the last few months, our development and technical innovations department and our editorial teams have been working together to create new content. This has largely been within sport. Sport is one of the few genres that has kept pace with change. Sport is - and indeed should be - one of the leaders when it comes to developments in new technology."

Which 'new' technology do you think will have the greatest impact on the BBC?

"The take-up of broadband has been growing rapidly and is a huge area of potential growth for us. The Olympics [Athens 2004] was a great success for us with over 2m requests for our broadband offerings. We received a huge amount of positive feedback that led me to believe this area has great potential for us although of course there are big rights issues to be sorted out first."

What is particularly exciting to you in the industry at the moment?

"Technology is throwing up so many opportunities. At the BBC, we undertake constant refreshment and appraisals of ideas, how technology is used, what relationships with technology companies should be and how can we enhance our web content etc. Discussions in these areas are taking place all the time. The Olympics gave us a real boost and enabled us to undertake some real content creation. Our Interactive Broadcast Centre is at the heart of the BBC's televised sport and is no longer just a bolt-on. Delivering interactive content across multiple channels is at the heart of the BBC."

How did you cope with the enormous traffic demands to your website (www.bbc.co.uk/sport) during the Athens 2004 Olympics?

"We coped really well, it was a great success. Now we are assessing how we best push forward on multicasting. It's now time to sort out the financial modelling."

What are the demographics of the BBC Sport website?

"The demographics are very male and skewed towards the young when looked at in context of the demographics for the BBC as a whole. We do have discussions on whether we should be focusing on this young, male demographic or whether we should be focusing on others."

Which sports do you think will do well on the web?

"It's all about the quality of the image. As more people take up broadband and the pipes get fatter, all sports will be open for exposure on the web. But it will be interesting to see whether some sports will end up only on the web rather than television."

How do you envisage the future for sport on the BBC?

"The BBC's strategy is extremely exciting. It's all about the integration of media, convergence and about developing partnerships. These are all driving forces and it is only right that the BBC should be a great innovator. We are a highly respected brand and have the weight and the power to create opportunities within sport and new technologies."

The next Q&A will feature David Yu, CTO of P2P online bookmaker Betfair and IT director of the year in The Telegraph Business Awards 2004

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