The popular reality TV show Big Brother has inspired the BBC to incorporate a new feature into their World Cup coverage.  When Big Brother is beamed out live on E4 there are periods when the sound is muted, and at other times the camera also pans away from the action to focus on a kitchen appliance like the oven. This is to protect the TV Company from litigation when a housemate states something that might be slanderous, or engages in risqué activity that can’t be shown before the watershed. Beeb decision-makers are impressed with the added mystique that these periods of silence bequeath Big Brother Live. They have decided that this ruse should be applied to BBC coverage of World Cup games. BBC Head of Sport Martin McKeever-Euginedes spoke to WCH about this new approach.

“Research has shown that our viewing figures often plummet during football games that we show - even exciting games that England are winning! Investigations revealed that the reason for this was the BBC’s team of commentators and pundits. Viewers get very irritated with John Motson talking utter rubbish throughout matches, and Mark Lawrenson’s world-weary asides also grate somewhat. (Don’t even mention the attempts at humour!) We decided that the way to tackle this was to adopt the same policy as that deployed on E4’s live Big Brother show. Therefore, when Motson and Lawrenson are prattling on too much we will mute the sound and the viewer will just be able to hear some birds whistling, and sometimes a plane flying overhead. If the action on the pitch is dull we will also have a camera close-up on something static like a goalpost, at least until the game improves.

“Furthermore, we discovered that our viewing figures almost hit zero during the half-time break of the recent England v Hungary friendly. This is because our audience could not stand the inane twaddle being spoken by Hansen, Wright et al. Therefore we will also mute the sound for the interval and focus the camera on some thick cables lying behind an advertising hoarding – and leave the pundits to talk amongst themselves. I’m sure that this initiative will greatly improve the viewer’s experience of World Cup football on the BBC this year!”

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