Broadcast Sport magazine (Winter 2020) – free digital edition

The issue includes features on sports docs, virtual fans, teleporting athletes, Watch Together apps, diversity in sports production and lots more.

This issue has come out just before the country goes into lockdown once more, as sport production and broadcast was beginning to find ways to get back on its feet again.

The leader I wrote for the issue is below, which also provides an overview of the content in the magazine.

Looking back at my leader in the spring issue of Broadcast Sport, it’s fascinating to see what a different world we lived in back then.

I talked about what an action-packed year it had already been, with the Six Nations rugby, the Wilder v Fury fight, the Australian Open and Super Bowl LIV.

That was in February, when we were looking forward to Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics, as part of a year that, I said, “should provide a wealth of content for sports fans”.

Of course, less than a month later, all that optimism came to an abrupt halt as Covid-19 lockdowns came into effect.

This issue is all about how the sporting world responded.

Almost immediately, new lockdown esports up schedules. When live sport slowly started to return, virtual fans replaced real ones, athletes were ‘teleported’ into studios, and Watch Together social viewing gave fans features on all these developments throughout this issue.

Also under the spotlight is the industry’s response to the Black Lives Matter campaign. Our ‘Taking a Stand On Diversity’ feature (p26-29) looks at what three industry leading lights are doing to address the issue.

Elsewhere, we go behind the scenes on documentary Finding Jack Charlton to establish itself as a major sports broadcaster (p12-14).

I hope you enjoy the issue, and that the next one can celebrate a comprehensive return of all forms of live sport.