World Cup coverage
As we approach the business end of the competition who is winning the television battle?
The BBC always has the advantage of no adverts.They have gone for their stalwarts of Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, the grumpy Mark Lawrenson with more than a nod to the female lobby.
ITV are using the excellent Mark Pougatch to present but some of their panelists are sullen, notably Roy Keane and Henrik Larssen.
Their best analyst is Lee Dixon.
‘Two aspects of BBC coverage irritate me.
Firstly the banter between main and co-commentator. This reflects a regrettable dumbing-down of standards and the development of the Question of Sport comedian. The only problem is that they do not have the wit and timing to be funny and generally the jokes fall flat. Somebody should point out that the role of the co-commentator is to add value through their expertise.
The second irritant is the reference to social media as if it’s some impressive authority on the game.
On BBC5 LIVE Mark Chapman and Kelly Caites are the worst culprits. 
I have no interest in hearing Ray from Swanage – give me the well informed and articulate Tim Vickory any day of the week.
The current BBC thinking appears to be no differentiation between male and female sport which leads to viewer/listener confusion over which ODI international it is: the one versus South Africa or Australians and the Ashes name has been extended to the ladies competition.
Thus in the same spirit women commentators should not be judged by their sex but by their performance. In terms of knowledge, voice and presentation I find almost all of them wanting except for Alison Mitchell.
There also some hypocrisy there as I have heard little or no criticism of Iran’s regime that forbids women watching football in the country. Yet you know the mildest sexist gaffe by a male commentator will lead to him being hung, drawn and quartered.
