Q&A: Andrew Thompson, Head of Sport, Channel 4 - March 2007  

This month, S&T talks to Andrew Thompson, Head of Sport for UK free-to-air commercial broadcaster Channel 4. Thompson was appointed to the position in February 2006. Prior to that, Thompson had been Head of New Media Development and Sports News at the BBC since 2001. In the latter role he was responsible for interactive TV, including the lauded coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournaments, and the multi-award-winning BBC Sports website.

Please describe your role and responsibilities

“I have been Head of Sport at Channel 4 for just over a year and I am responsible for the channel’s 650 plus hours of sports output per year, as well as building a multiplatform base. Horseracing is our biggest sport thanks to our groundbreaking three-year deal with Racing UK, which will give us 80 days of live racing on the channel. Winter Sports are our next biggest offering, such as World Cup Skiing. We have a whole series of other sports and we try to be as innovative as possible.”

What’s your strategy for acquiring sports television rights? Can you compete with the larger budgets of some of your industry peers?

“We can compete – and have done – for premium sports rights. We look at every tender as they emerge and then assess whether we are going to bid for them. We don’t want second or third division rights – we want quality coverage – and therefore we look at the major ones as and when they come up. We are certainly very much part of the game when it comes to looking at crown jewel events. We are also looking constantly at new sports and formats and keeping coverage fresh. For example, we plan this year to show The Red Bull Air Race World Series which is a global air racing event dubbed 'The F1 of the skies' at a peak Saturday afternoon slot rather than the previous late night showing. We are also covering a series of triathlons which are experiencing growing interest. We are able to experiment with our coverage of sports that are fairly new to television. Our poker programming is also on the up. Channel 4 is the channel that first brought poker to television in the UK, and look at it now.”

What are you doing at Channel 4 in terms of sport and digital media?

“We’re reviewing all that at the moment. The sports website at the BBC is extremely well-funded whereas we have a tiny operation at Channel 4 in comparison. What we need to do is evaluate our new media proposition and see what its relationship is with our terrestrial offerings. Our racing deal in particular has enabled us to develop a strong web presence through really looking at the elements that make racing work for audiences. What you offer online for racing is extremely important. There’s a demand in this sport in particular for archive in order to facilitate betting, as well as information during the actual races. We are working with Racing UK to develop an exciting new web proposition.” (Cheltenham Festival is pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport and photographed by Adrian Dennis).

How does your role at Channel 4 differ to your time at the BBC?

“I had a wonderful time at the BBC, but it is a different environment at Channel 4 and I feel liberated here. I can move ideas along faster. But most significantly I have been embedded in the commercial world at C4 – and have learnt a huge amount about raising money, as well as spending it.

What’s next for sport and new media in your opinion?

“Our online VOD service has been launched and has been extremely well-received. None of us can afford to sit back and not worry about how the web is developing – it is such a movable feast. We all need to think about how it is evolving and how we can take part in that world. Anyone who says they know what the next big thing is don’t really do. Seven or eight years ago we were all quite evangelical about the speed of change in terms of consumption of new technologies. Now, there is a certain speed of change, but always at a slower pace than we expect! At Channel 4 we are working through how traditional media fits with new media. The biggest single change has been ease of access for the consumer – allowing them to reach their sport wherever and whenever they want it.”

What about other technology at Channel 4?

“Camera techniques and technology have developed year on year and get better all the time. We are involved in high-definition discussions as a channel. I am a big fan of HD, but that’s another example of technology moving slower that we all expected.”

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