Sport and Mediatization by Kirsten Frandsen

Author:Kirsten Frandsen [Frandsen, Kirsten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781032176703
Google: OyuRzgEACAAJ
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2021-09-30T03:49:49+00:00

Two phases of mediatization

The relationship between television and football has taken different paths throughout Europe. However, in Northern Europe, television’s impact on football may be very roughly described as having developed in two distinct phases. In the first phase, which lasted until the European television market started undergoing massive deregulation in the 1980s, the national federations’ resistance (as expressed internationally in the “Vienna accord”) meant that collaboration between football and national television broadcasters was limited. For instance, in the United Kingdom and Denmark, coverage was restricted mainly to international matches distributed via Eurovision either live or as delayed transmissions, consisting of coverage of non-competitive games that were not under the ruling of the national football federations, or brief edits, delayed highlights, or delayed transmissions of the national team’s matches, or highlights or brief edits from select national league club matches (Frandsen, 2013; Haynes, 2017)

Competition among television channels on the national markets was either non-existent or rather modest, and broadcasters had the upper hand with regard to the fees paid to football clubs or leagues for permission to cover matches. In most cases, broadcasters’ payment to football organizations was rather moderate, though high compared to the fees offered to other sports clubs or leagues, because television broadcasters were quite eager to include football in their programming, and they assiduously avoided speaking about compensation (for declining attendances) or payment for the right to broadcast. Without competitive pressure, many broadcasters were “in a position to set the negotiating pace” (Barnett, 1990, p. 29). But again, football enjoyed a privileged status in many contexts, as in Denmark, where, until the mid-1980s, it was the only sport that had formalized two-year contracts with the national broadcaster, which set the practical and economic frameworks for coverage.

Even with limited football coverage, television started to influence football, both directly and indirectly. As the gate receipts continued to fall in the 1960s and 1970s, many of football’s governing bodies gradually realized that they needed new revenue, and started to reconsider their opportunities with respect to television. In the United Kingdom a collaboration had already been negotiated by the mid-1950s, leading to an agreement in 1955 that allowed the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to cover professional Football League matches for up to 15 minutes every week, which was later followed by an extended highlights program, Match of the Day, beginning in 1964, which presented a 20-minute edit of one English League match, broadcast on Saturday night at 10 pm. Despite the limited coverage, these arrangements set the relationship between television and football into a more regular scheme. According to Haynes (2017), this paved the way for television’s influence on football. British football stadiums were furnished with platforms for television cameras, and for the sake of conveying the game in the best way possible through television’s black and white images, the television broadcaster managed to convince the teams to change the colors of their uniforms and the organizing club to change the color of the match ball. Although they exhibited an

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