BT Sport suffered a major glitch during its live coverage of Premier League fixture Leicester v Crystal Palace, leaving the broadcaster’s coverage without any commentary.
Gremlins had already affected the start of the broadcaster’s coverage. But BT Sport suffered more problems during the second half of the game, when coverage froze. It resumed shortly afterwards, noticeably without the commentary from Darren Fletcher and Lucy Ward.
Subscribers took to social media to say they actually preferred the commentator-less coverage. FourFourTwo writer Mark White summed up the mood, tweeting “BT Sport without commentary is a dream”. Others called the commentary-free glitch “glorious”.
Unfortunately for those fans, commentary soon returned to what turned out to be a rather dull goalless draw.
Amazon confirms fans desire for no commentary option
Amazon’s Premier League became a hit with viewers back in 2019 when it launched its coverage with a ‘stadium noise’ soundtrack, allowing subscribers to do without the commentators. Fans and media outlets applauded the move, with the i newspaper saying Amazon had “solved a problem that’s been bugging football fans for generations.”
The reaction from today’s BT Sport coverage implies fans would warmly welcome that option on other TV providers as well.
BT Sport bosses might do well to consider this an option ahead of the expected relaunch and rebrand of the service in the near future.
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At the end of August, BT Sport was combined with Warner Bros Discovery’s Eurosport UK under the holding company BT Ninety-Five Ltd – a 50/50 joint venture between BT and WBD facilitating the merger of each firm’s sports channel businesses. The Eurosport brand is currently being sublicensed to the company by WBD. But in the near future, both brands will be replaced by a brand new sports service for the UK and Ireland.
Until the relaunch, there are no changes to how viewers access and subscribe to both BT Sport and Eurosport UK.
Iain Hatton