The genre of Sport on Television can be used as a key component of many GCSE courses. Students studying the WJEC GCSE MEDIA STUDIES for examination in 2010 are required to study sport on television. The WJEC exam papers – two hours writing and 30 minutes reading or viewing - for 2010 are in two parts: Section A has FOUR compulsory questions focusing on SPORT ON TV - for a full scheme of work see WJEC Sport on TV.
An Introduction
Sport on television is something of a contradiction. Sport is what you do to keep active, fit and have fun. It can be very competitive, or just a jog or cycle in the park.
Watching sport from the comfort of the armchair is not a displacement activity for the real thing, but a completely new ‘activity’ invented in the 20th century by television.
The trouble is it has become associated with eating too many fattening fast foods, and becoming ‘a couch potatoe.’ This is a pity as sport on TV attracts very big audiences, and is a very good use of television technology.
Bringing the excitement, emotion and spectacle of such diverse sports as golf, swimming, football, skiing, athletics, tennis and cycling and motor racing democratises these sports making them available to nearly everyone at a fraction of the cost of actually being there – although that fraction can be high,...
