It always feels like a long off-season but the planning for the new is already well under way. We are expanding our coverage again this year and will be showing all the (125, MotoGP and 250) on Saturday afternoons on the red button alongside our existing coverage on race day - 125, 250, MotoGP and MotoGP Extra - which all adds up to over seven hours of coverage a weekend.
We've been getting a lot of feedback both here and on about a couple of key points. One has been our commentary line-up for this season and the other about not being able to record red button coverage. Both of these issues have been exacerbated by losing the rights to show MotoGP for the forthcoming season leaving the Ö÷²¥´óÐã as the exclusive broadcaster for the sport.
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I normally sleep soundly, but as director of sport I've found there are two exceptions to that rule. One is the night of where the buzz of the event is like drinking 23 cups of black coffee, and I find myself pacing round a hotel room in Birmingham or Liverpool at three in the morning. The other is when we have a Premier League rights deal in the offing and there's the late-night jab of awareness that we're at the once-every-three-years moment when the fate of is at stake.
Well, we've just been through the rights process for Premier League highlights - and I'm delighted to report that the Ö÷²¥´óÐã has been successful. Match Of The Day will stay on Ö÷²¥´óÐã screens until at least the summer of 2013 in the current format: the main show on Saturday night, the repeat on Sunday morning, MOTD2 on Sunday evening - and then the occasional special, like tonight, when we catch up with a midweek fixture list.
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It's that time of year again when Britain wonders if it can produce a for the first time in 73 years.
starts in the early hours of Monday morning and Andy Murray is favourite to win according to many bookies and claiming .
In doing so he beat former World number one and three-time Australian Open Champion, Roger Federer, . Perhaps crucially, - the US Open 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.
Murray is in great form - - but it is hoped he learned a lot from last year's , who then made it all the way to the final. He should be prepared for an "in form" outsider this year, but I am confident he should do better than his performance in 2007 too - .
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So what's going on with - a programme that has undergone significant changes in recent years. Well, I'm the person responsible for implementing those changes - I'm here to explain all.
Here's some background: last year we extended Ski Sunday to include longer features - from snowboarding in to ice diving in , the show's presenters, Ed Leigh and Graham Bell,
Ski Sunday also continued to cover ski racing, we had one of the most exciting races I've ever seen. I'll never forget skiing up the side of the netting, on the advertising banners and still managing to finish second - just amazing!
But I have to admit we didn't get things quite right last year. Ski racing fans wanted more of the action and our new viewers wanted more adventure.
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| 10:53 UK time, Saturday, 31 January 2009
