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Impartiality row impacts BBC Sport for second day


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As the impartiality row between the BBC and Gary Lineker rumbles on, there’s been further disruption to BBC Sport output today.

A summary of today’s BBC Sport broadcasts:

  • BBC Two’s live coverage of the Women’s Super League match between Chelsea and Manchester United, was curtailed slightly. There was no studio-based presentation at the start and end of the coverage. Short filler programmes were played out instead (The Best Dishes Ever and Coast).

    Live pictures of the match were still broadcast but commentary was provided by Nigel Adderley on the world feed. The world feed is not run by the BBC. Some viewers reported issues with the audio levels.

    At half-time, the global commentary paused and the BBC played highlights of last week’s Continental League Cup final.
  • TV coverage of the the rugby Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and Ireland has gone ahead as planned. Gabby Logan is presenting, with contributions from studio pundits.
  • A number of pre-recorded programmes replaced the first two hours of 5 Live Sport (12pm – 2pm). Live commentary of Premier League action go underway from 2pm.

    Before kick-off, commentator Alistair Bruce-Ball said he wanted “to reiterate what we said ahead of our football coverage yesterday”.

    “I know you’ll all appreciate this is a difficult time for BBC Sport and for all those who work in the department, and we hope it all gets resolved as soon as possible,” he said.

    “It’s been a very difficult decision to make personally, I can assure you it’s not been taken lightly, but I’m a BBC staff member, I’m a radio commentator for this station and, just like yesterday, we are here to provide our football service to you, our audience.”
  • Match of the Day 2 was cut down to fifteen minutes and followed the same format to last night’s Match of the Day.
  • Sportsworld was back on air on the World Service.
VIDEO: sound issues during World Super League coverage on BBC Two. Viewers complained about not being able to hear the commentator over the stadium noise. TX DATE: 12th March 2023. COPYRIGHT: BBC.

On Saturday, BBC Sport output was impacted by presenters, pundits and commentators refusing to take part in a number of programmes, in protest at the BBC’s action against Gary Lineker regarding a social media post on the government’s latest stance on asylum seekers.

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PICTURED: Match of the Day 2 opening titles. COPYRIGHT: BBC.