AIBU to be fed up with complaints about paying to watch the Commonwealth Games

Well it was 6 quid to get into Villa Park in the early 90s for under 16s. My mates and I blagged this until we were 18 as they didn't id you. And that was top division. Nowadays it would be impossible for teenagers by themselves whereas we could easily do it from pocket money.

I'm glad it hasn't been on free tv, because I find athletics about as exciting as watching paint dry, and we've already endured weeks of bloody football because of the World Cup.

I'd be perfectly happy if all sport was on a pay to view basis, although I'd miss Wimbledon.

Depending on your Sky package - we get HBO Max included with outs (can't remember how - husband does the annual Sky cancellation phonecall dance). I've had it on for background viewing most of the week while working from home.

I don’t watch it, but Channel 5 were showing it last night, and that’s free.

I agree with OP, fed up of people moaning that they can’t watch it on the BBC. I agree it is a shame they were outbid, I don’t particularly like the style of coverage on HBO Max,
However, adding it to Prime Video for £5.99 for the month is good value.

I agree the BBC does it so much better. But there is a lot of objections to paying the licence fee, especially on here. So when more and more people don't pay it, then it impacts on their funding and makes it more likely that the BBC will not do the big events as they can't afford to bid for them.

I get TNT sports free as part of my BT broadband package so do check things like that.
I love multi-sport events, but the TNT coverage is poor IME. The studio based presenters are not great. There's one stream showing 4 completely different sports at once which makes impossible to follow them all. And then for eg gymnastics you could watch either the vault, or the floor, or the bars - not a mix of all.
My preferred option would always be the BBC for this sort of thing. They do it so much better than the other mainstream channels.

It is on Channel 5 in the evenings.

Indeed.

Assuming the BBC went behind a paywall for their TV and iPlayer output how much would you feel is reasonable for a monthly subscription?

Most basic Sky packages start at higher than the current £15 licence fee, and get higher if you add in extras. And they get advertising revenue on top. What would a reasonable charge for the BBC to do this?

My personal opinion is that the licence fee should be scrapped and BBC1, BBC2 and iplayer should be behind a paywall.

Because they bid for the rights and were outbid? They don’t have the rights. It isn’t a BBC decision.

We are watching it on BBC Alba - if you aren't in Scotland then you can check iplayer for the channel, I think.

The only issue is the switching between sports and venues - they are trying to cover so much on one channel that you can't really plan the viewing.

But even though it is in Gaelic and none of us speak it, we are enjoying watching it.

I don't have Sky and don't want it.

Agree. Just because you can’t afford the basics does that mean you shouldn’t be able to enjoy national sports and competitions on the TV? Even more reason to have the accessibility to sport to inspire you.

I would never pay to watch sport as I’m not a big fan BUT I always enjoyed watching it and grew up in a home where we watched a lot of sport because it was ‘on’. I know about a lot of sports due to this, rules, venues, sportspeople. Having sport behind a paywall excludes the majority of people and importantly children, who don’t get exposed to it just because it’s ‘on’ in the home.
They love talking about making sport available for everyone and accessible, but all they seem to have done over the last 10 years is make it less and less so. It’s not on the TV unless you can afford to pay for it, taking your kids to a football match has become extortionate (my boys used to go and watch a premier league match with their Dad quite regularly, now we couldn’t afford it), even the snooker which my husband enjoys, going to see has become too expensive now. It won’t be long until Wimbledon is on a pay tv channel. We lost the Tour de France this year which has been super sad…. I think everyone knew about Bradley Wiggins at one point!!!!!

The Commonwealth Games is such a piss-poor third rate event that I'm surprised anyone cares.

There’ll be the hardcore fans, the single sport enthusiasts, and the casual watchers. I’m a casual watcher so I’d probably catch some stuff on a Sunday afternoon or a Tuesday morning when I’m not working. I don’t want to see it that much, but I’d definitely dip in and out of it - a bit like Glastonbury coverage. That said, I wouldn’t bother paying if it’s behind a paywall and I think there’s a fair percentage of people like me. It’s a shame really - the sports don’t get the promotion they’d otherwise get, and the host country doesn’t get to showcase its magnificence to the world in quite the same way.

It is available in the UK though - just on streaming

@AImportantMermaid The Opening Ceremony was on Channel 5. It's available on their streaming service on catch up so you can still see it :-)

I didn’t even know it was on! What a shame. I love a good opening ceremony.

I am disappointed that it is not available to watch in UK considering Scotland are hosting it. It’s a shame but as we work FT and would only watch hightlighrs and weekends am certainly not paying for it. I think it’s a shame for the UK athletes who are also not getting the coverage UK wide they deserve for their successes and hard work.

I would rather it not go on any sport but it’s what makes the BBC money. Wimbledon, Olympics, World Cup etc etc - if people want to watch it, then I wish they would pay for it separately. We have only just come out of an interminable football tournament (well it felt like it).

I rarely watch the BBC now because its quality of programming is poor but I don’t think public money should be funding sport.

The BBC were outbid for the rights by TNT sports. It faces huge cutbacks and has just had a big outlay with broadcasting the World Cup and Wimbledon. So I figure it had to stay within its budget.

There are daily highlights on Channel 5 that are free.

I suspect the comments come from it being a British centric event rather than some shared across the world (like the WC or Olympics)

it's poor it not on free to air tv