They didn't see it coming?

Setanta have hit the headlines because they can't afford to pay the football clubs what they promised them for the broadcasting rights.*

Isn't this more or less exactly the same as what happened with ITV Digital back in 2002?

* The BBC sports reporter mentioned that Setanta's revenues were dropping because the economic downturn had hit them twice over - it affects advertising revenues (the main reason why broadcasting rights to sporting events have any value) - and a lot of their income came from pubs, where people like to watch games, but people now have less money to spend in the pub; add on the smoking ban and you can see why that source of income has dried up...

Now that would be a headline: "Smoking ban sounds death knell for British football".

He Kills Coppers (3rd and final)

The final episode was pretty gripping until the last twenty minutes, where the ambitious young journo turned into a miserable old psycho and the baddie was inexplicably shot down at close range by armed police.

Highlight: Billy Porter shouting "You can't even organise the washing up! What on earth makes you think that you can bring down the government?"

All-in-all, a bit of an anti-climax. The sixties are just so much more telegenic than the eighties.

He Kills Coppers (2)

Just watched episode two. It's still brilliant edge-of-the-seat stuff.

But why on earth did the Irish fairground guy call him 'Billy' to his face? After he'd made his 'phone call he should have just kept walking. And am I right in assuming that ambitious young reporter is a repressed gay? Or is he just a total sadist?

He Kills Coppers

I don't watch much telly - it's just sort of on in the background, most of the time - but I must say, this new series on ITV is brilliant.

It's a lot like Performance but without the druggie stuff, i.e. loads of senseless violence and a few sexy scenes that are totally seedy and mildly unpleasant. But somehow compulsive. My favourite character so far is the young reporter.