BBC axes Ski Sunday after nearly 50 years on air
The BBC has announced it is dropping Ski Sunday, the long-running winter sports programme, in news revealed on Tuesday after almost 50 years on television in the UK. The decision ends a staple of Sunday afternoon sports broadcasting that had become closely associated with winter racing and mountain features.
Ski Sunday debuted in 1978 and was first presented by David Vine, helping to introduce British audiences to alpine names such as Franz Klammer, Konrad Bartelski and Michela Figini. Over its run the programme became known for its distinctive theme and for bringing winter sports coverage to Sunday viewers.
The show’s theme, Pop Looks Bach, was composed by Sam Fonteyn and recorded for the Boosey & Hawkes Music Library in 1970; it frequently featured high in polls of signature TV sports melodies. “If music is licensed from a music library, you never know when it might appear,” recalled the composer’s son, Nicholas, when the programme was rebooted in 2008 but with the popular theme retained.
In later years Ski Sunday evolved into a magazine-style programme with a broader winter sports remit; its final presenters were Ed Leigh and former downhill racer Chemmy Alcott. The Guardian report said there will be no more mentions of Val-d’Isère and Val Gardena to brighten the mood on a Sunday winter teatime.
The BBC’s head of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, has been criticised recently and the corporation’s critics were expected to condemn the decision. Speaking at the Financial Times business of football conference, the director of sport said: “My challenge to us at the BBC all the time is let’s just make sure we are in the conversation of the things that matter. For example, we have audio rights to Formula One but not video rights. But we still have reporting and live pages and digital video that draw in millions and millions and millions of people. You can still be relevant, you can still matter if you don’t show the sport.”
Kay-Jelski has faced specific complaints for refusing to send his expert panel from their Salford base to New York until the World Cup semi-finals and for scrapping the Saturday lunchtime preview programme Football Focus; there were also media reports last month of unrest among the Match of the Day production team on the eve of the Premier League season. Those controversies were cited in coverage of the decision to end Ski Sunday.
A BBC press release set out the broadcaster’s rationale, stating: “Since its debut in 1978, Ski Sunday has become an iconic part of the winter sports calendar, bringing the excitement, drama and beauty of the action on the snow to audiences across the UK. Changing audience behaviours and the tough financial decisions needed to meet savings requirements mean BBC Sport must continually review how it delivers value for licence-fee payers and serves audiences across all platforms. This decision forms part of that process.”