The Sport Thread

[Steve Williams]

Presumably the same feed used for both broadcasters nowadays but back in the 70s/80s did the BBC and ITV use the same match footage fir the FA Cup Final?

No, both did their own, but there was an agreement that each broadcaster would make their pictures to the other if they were having problems. That happened during an England vs Scotland match in the seventies, ITV lost pictures for a bit so they used the Beeb's, and the Beeb deliberately didn't put any graphics on screen while they were doing that.

Think the Beeb were host broadcasters this year, certainly they had a director credited in the Big Long List of Credits. The timing couldn't have worked out better for the Beeb, the best since 2005 when they also had the Cup Final going to penalties (and it was Man U, alongside Liverpool the biggest draws) and Eurovision on the same day, plus imperial phase Doctor Who in between.