CBC draws record audiences for World Cup Final

[hugh]

A record number of Canadians tuned into coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa final on Sunday according to BBM overnight measurements.

The combined total audience of 5.82 million for the final was more than double the combined audience to the English and French live broadcasts of the Final in 2006.

[Francois Caron]

The CBC did a fantastic job with this broadcast, first by using what I believe was the generic English feed staffed by professional commentators, and second by providing a highly reliable Internet feed which suffered very few video dropouts and practically no audio dropouts.

[din556]

how may watched the final on ABC in Canada? I tried to avoid CBC and watched the final on ABC.

[DT1]

I watched the first 20-30 minutes on ABC but when I switched over to CBC the picture was much better (at least on Bell anyway)

[james99]

Watching "soccer" on ABC is like watching hockey on NBC. No thanx.

[doglips]

Martin Tyler (abc) vs John Helm (cbc) and better picture (abc) = no brainer.

[NB Josh]

Originally Posted by james99

Watching "soccer" on ABC is like watching hockey on NBC. No thanx.

Nah, I think that listening to John Helm call a game is like listening to Joe Buck call the Super Bowl; no matter how long he has been calling the sport, he is still terrible at it. I'll take Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku (two Brits BTW) over him any day of the week. Tyler is right there with Jim Nantz (NFL), Chris Cuthbert (CFL & NHL) and Mike Breen (NBA) as the guy who I want calling the big game. There isn't a better football commentator in the (English speaking) world.

I did prefer CBC's studio show, considering that I can't stand Lalas and McManaman. A studio of Mike Tirico, Ruud Gullit and Roberto Martinez would have been better.

Andrew, I agree with you somewhat. I found that Kevin Keatings particularly does it. It seemed that every game he commentated on, he had to mention every player who played in the Premier League and what team they played for. He didn't do it so much for players who played elsewhere. Then again, they all commentate on Premier League (and even Championship) matches all season, so its somewhat excusable. Think about it, how much do we know about the Kontinental Hockey League or Nippon Professional Baseball (albeit the gap between football leagues and leagues in other sports isn't as big).

[SportsFan]

Originally Posted by james99

Watching "soccer" on ABC is like watching hockey on NBC. No thanx.

What didn't you like about the World Cup on ABC?

I actually do switch over to NBC's hockey sometimes. 'Doc' Emrick calls a good game.

[taxtwit]

Originally Posted by DT1

I watched the first 20-30 minutes on ABC but when I switched over to CBC the picture was much better (at least on Bell anyway)

I watched the first 20-30 minutes and fell asleep - surprised I lasted that long

[Neild]

Originally Posted by DT1

I watched the first 20-30 minutes on ABC but when I switched over to CBC the picture was much better (at least on Bell anyway)

Maybe you have that backwards? The picture quality on CBC was so dismal compared to ABC. I took pictures actually so if at some point I figure out how to post them here you can take a look.

Initially I was observing the poor motion compression of 2010 CBC versus the much superior 2006 TSN coverage, but I also grabbed a shot of 2010 ABC vs 2010 CBC and the difference couldn't be more obvious.

[PFD]

Originally Posted by din556

how may watched the final on ABC in Canada? I tried to avoid CBC and watched the final on ABC.

Why would yo do that?