MotoGP: BBC TV boss in commentary team dispute

THE VISORDOWN news team had to laugh when we saw a letter from the BBC's MotoGP Series Producer, Belinda Rogerson, getting stuck in on Crash.net's forum, regarding the Corporation's decision to keep Charlie Cox and Steve Parrish as the sports commentators for next year's MotoGP series.

The Beeb's decision has come in for a high level of criticism after MotoGP fans throughout the country expressed their disgust that Eurosport's arguably superior team of Toby Moody, Julian Ryder and Randy Mamola had not been snapped up by the BBC, after Eurosport lost the broadcasting contract at the end of 2008.

Ms.Rogerson has responded to critics via the Crash.net forums but her reply seems to miss the entire point of the argument: Why didn't the BBC drop Cox and Parrish in favour of the best presenting team in MotoGP?

Here's the Series Producer's response in full:

"Having read my way through the various comments on the site I wanted a chance to respond to some of the points raised. The BBC team work hard to produce the best possible coverage but I also accept that it is impossible to please everyone with our programmes. I also want to point out that many of the posts are of a highly personal nature and I am not prepared to get involved in that discussion.

"BBC Sport are proud of their coverage of MotoGP and bringing premier class racing to a terrestrial audience. In 2009 we are expanding our coverage to include Qualifying of the 125 and 250 classes on Saturday alongside MotoGP Qualifying from every round on the red button. There will be live coverage of every race and in Europe MotoGP Extra after the race has finished giving further insight and interviews. That's around 7 hours of coverage each weekend.

"Our coverage attracts audiences of over a million with an approval rating that has been the highest for any terrestrial program in a given week. We believe the BBC team and the commentary team are key to that success and we look forward to another exciting season in 2009."

Cox and Parrish or Moody and Ryder? We know who we'd have every time.