I used to be a total MotoGP motorcycle racing fanatic until Dorna started stepping on websites for reporting anything more than bare order of finish and the rather insulting canned team press releases.

As it's the variety of opinions and thoughts about the races that makes it enjoyable for me, I just totally lost interest.

I haven't watched the Olympics in 12 years for similar reasons. If they want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, more power to 'em.

One day sports will learn that the strangulation employed by "rights holders" drives fans away. Where is the fans right to unbiased as it happens reporting? Its time the corporate suits realised that without a following the rights to any sport are worth Squat! Maybe if more fans had the backbone to "walk away" then the suits would have to think again.

Recursion is not well supported by natural languages. Call it pigopolists wanting to have their snouts in other pigopolists' troughs, and you can dispense with all the inverted commas.

It was inevitable that talk of "rights" would lead to non-persons such as corporations wanting to get in on the act - and likewise insisting that Governments guarantee their "rights". No longer happy being global monopoly capitalists, they want their profits guaranteed for them. Alistair, Darling, would you mind just bending over a bit further? Now you've had Northen Crock, you won't notice us at it one bit.

Have these clubs all got contracts where the players have signed over the rights to this IP?

They are arguably the original source of their own IP (their movements as they play) and the team then combines this IP with their own IP (stadium, kit etc) to make the final IP (the complete experience of watching the game).

And what the hell happens when someone crosses the ball in for a header? Does the scorer owe money to the guy who made the cross as the goal would have been impossible without the IP of the original cross? If the goalie saves the shot is he liable for causing the shooter a loss of profit? The IP of a goal is clearly worth more the shooter than the IP of a saved shot.

Inquiring minds demand to be told!

If you don't say exactly what we want, say goodbye to access

I wonder how much money and sponsorship the Premiership, olympics, rugby world cup etc, gets because of media support. The media industry should withdraw all sports coverage until these jokers wise up

I seem to remember a very popular fighter called Prince. Everyone in the UK used to watch the fights, talk about him, loved him even. Then came PPV and the chap disappeared into oblivion.

I haven't been to a live football match for many years due to the silly prices. They may mean nothing to the very highly paid city workers but it is well over a half days work for those on MW.. Similarly Speedway, stock cars - used to be very well supported, then came the price rises and away went the crowds.

One assumes that this directive is after protecting the periphery information about the event, ie you can't report that or tell anyone about it until you pay me first. The outcome - more money changing hands for the same situation as exists, but less people willing to part with the hard earned, hence the market goes down leading to higher prices leading to smaller audience.

Look at snooker (no one else does) used to be a boring sport until along came the hurricane who livened it up, some other great entertainers like 15 pint a frame Bill W, TV lapped it up, but then snooker got up its own with dress codes, drink codes, advertising codes, ad nauseum. Anyone apart from their mums watch any games other than Ronnie in the latest world championship? Even the TV people can't be bothered to cover it properly and it is the cheapest program to make. Our major local snooker club has just shut up shop due to lack of interest.

Darts went the same way, it was a man's game played with beer in one hand and fag hanging out 'yer mouth. Them blokes on telly were just like us but could hit the board more often! It was big business and the drunken exchanges on TV were good entertainment, they even wrote a song about Jockie Wilson! and then it tidied up its act. Now it is big business for about 8 players and the promoter. Most pubs and clubs here don't even have a dart board anymore. Again cheap TV to make, but even the World championships don't inspire decent terrestrial coverage.

Come to think of it, I can now understand why the sports promoters want to protect their ability to wring the last little drop

You just know it's a lost cause when they spend longer reporting the financial results for sport than they do the scorelines. I've given up on most of the sports I used to watch, in part due to a refusal to pay Rupert, in part because I'm sick of the tedious 'added-value' theatrics. sport in general could do with a sense of proportion. It really is only a fucking game.

"It was inevitable that talk of "rights" would lead to non-persons such as corporations wanting to get in on the act "

Notice how the European Fundamental rights changed:

1950 The European Convention on Human Rights

http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html

2000 The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/default_en.htm

They dropped the word 'Human' (so corps can get stuff like the right to free speech) and added 'Intellectual property shall be protected', as though the right to license an idea is 'property' and the right to license that 'property' is somehow a fundamental requirement of human beings.

What a joke they made of human rights legislation.