Resigned to inane Cable TV coverage of the World Cup

I read with horror about the television broadcasting plans for this year's football World Cup. Yet again, Cable TV has secured exclusive broadcasting rights to almost all the matches.

I live in an area where Cable TV is not available. However, this is the least of my problems. Should I decide to have a satellite dish installed for the finals, I am faced with the monster that haunted me throughout the 2002 World Cup: the Go! Go! Go! Football show.

This programme bore the brunt of every disparaging comment that came out of World Cup 2002. Yet Cable TV insists it will run again.

To be blunt, it can potentially ruin the tournament, replacing thorough analysis and punditry with mindless games and idiotic behaviour. My mind flashes back to a moment of horror in 2002, when South Korea eliminated Italy. Rather than stay with the coverage to see the interaction of the home crowd with their heroes, Cable TV went back to the studio for more pitiful dialogue and juvenile high jinks.

Surely an option should be given, as is now available during the Champions League coverage, to choose Cantonese or English punditry or commentary. There is also the option of some intelligent post-match analysis from an experienced panel of experts.

Maybe the government could step in to protect these events. In Britain, several events, such as the World Cup, Wimbledon and the Olympics, must be covered by terrestrial television, and broadcast rights cannot be bought by private companies.

Perhaps Cable TV could offer an option for those who enjoy the finer aspects of the beautiful game: have one channel for mature, informative and rational discussion, and dedicate the other to the inane, vacuous and imbecilic.