TV Sport

Women’s football is “a success story but it’s only just beginning”, argued Dawn Airey, Chair of the Barclays FA Women's Super League and former Channel 5 Chair. “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. We want young women to see you can play football at a very high level and make a really good career out of it.”

Free-to-air access, she said, was “absolutely critical”, adding that women’s football has to balance “revenue and reach. We need to drive money into the game but we absolutely want engagement, and to get engagement you need that fee-to-air opportunity.”

There’s a perfect storm this summer – and it’s taking place on our televisions. The rise of women in sport has been gathering pace for years. Now – thanks to commercial pressure, the push for equality and some incredible momentum provided by the sportswomen themselves – they find themselves in their strongest-­ever position..

Diving deep into the technology, IMG Media head of engineering Bagnall gave a description of how IP (internet protocol) has changed the face of outside broadcasts, with SDI (serial digital interface) circuits being enhanced by IT communication. As well as providing a fully uncompressed service to traditional broadcasters, Bagnall demonstrated how OTT (over-the top) internet delivery was being achieved.

Working as an analyst, said Austin Healey, “Your job is to tell the truth. You’ve got to be honest if you’re on television – people will spot a lie when they’re at home watching.”

It’s a long way from Pennine Radio to Eurosport’s Paris HQ near the banks of the Seine.

When Peter Hutton began his career as a 16-year-old sports presenter in Bradford, the explosion in rights fees and multichannel revolution that transformed the sports media landscape was still to come.

Further off still were the shifting sands of today’s global sports broadcasting industry, where the swirl of new technology and changing viewing habits mingle with the still potent pull of live sport.