Sport on Television

Advantages

• Broadcasts instantaneous sporting action to a large audience.
• Cheap to film compared with dramas etc. Hence features heavily on TV schedules particularly at weekends.
• Has brought minority sports to the fore
• Helps participants reach superstar status
• Raised performers earnings
• Provides role models
• Developed academic qualifications, sports science, books, journals and videos.

Disadvantages

• Places athletes under pressure to perform more regularly than is good for them
• Players become public figures where their every move is scrutinised
• Over dramatises problems in sports world
• Sensationalism sells papers
• Focus is often on the critical element of sport e.g. a violent incident or a challenge to the ref
• Deals between sporting bodies and the media can favour certain sports e.g. Adidas and FIFA