BT Sport set for the 2014 Fifa World Cup with new shows and live friendlies
As the FIFA World Cup in Brazil draws ever closer, BT Sport will be keeping fans entertained throughout the tournament with two exciting new programmes; Baker & Kelly Not in Rio and The Football’s On.
Baker & Kelly Not in Rio, hosted by Danny Baker and Danny Kelly, will be broadcast live each evening (for 32 days) throughout the FIFA World Cup, offering fans their unique insight and comment on the big, little and unusual stories unfolding in Brazil. The show will provide lively studio discussion with football stars, football-loving showbiz guests and interaction from the audience. Each one hour show features tournament news and reports from Brazil, alongside special features in the entertaining spontaneous style originated by the two Dannys in their weekly BT Sport show, Baker & Kelly’s V.S.P.O over the course of the season just-ended. The first show airs on BT Sport 1 on Thursday June 12 from 7pm.
With a nod to ‘Paul the Octopus’, the Germany-based octopus who became an unlikely star of the 2010 FIFA World Cup for correctly predicting the results of games in the tournament, each show will see Danny and Danny use different and hilarious ways to predict FIFA World Cup match results. The World Cup predictor feature builds on the successful Toaster Predictor feature in Baker & Kelly's weekly BT Sport show, which has popped-up Premier League match outcomes all season. The TV series is a co-production between BT Sport and Campbell Davison Media, the company behind Danny Baker's multi award-winning BBC Radio 5live Show on Saturday mornings.
The Football’s On is a one-hour comedy-themed show that will air throughout May and June which puts the boot into the beautiful game and has a laugh about it. Award-winning comedian and Arsenal fan Ian Stone will host and be joined by some of the countryʼs top football-mad comedians to dissect World Cup antics from on and off the pitch. Our starting line-up features household names including Alan Davies, Jason Manford, David Baddiel, Frankie Boyle and Mickey Flanagan. Rising comic and actor Doc Brown will be a mainstay guest on the show alongside Ian and the celebrity guests.
The format adopts a panel show format with Stone asking questions about the quirky, new or fun aspects of the FIFA World Cup and guests picking up points for the funniest and most compelling answers. The show is designed to become an essential take on everything that moves in Brazil this summer and everything that happens in the world of football. The next episode airs on BT Sport on Friday May 16 at 11pm.
Grant Best, senior executive channel producer, BT Sport, said: “Both of our new World Cup shows promise to offer fans the perfect FIFA World Cup companion. We will offer fans an entertaining, alternative and informative take on this summer’s tournament.”
Supplementing BT Sport’s TV shows will be an extensive World Cup section on btsport.com, which will contain video, news, scores, fixtures and other statistics from Rio. Additionally, each live show of Baker & Kelly Not in Rio will be available free-to-view on our website at btsport.com.
There will also be a 90-minute FIFA World Cup special from Life’s A Pitch, the show where guests from football and beyond join host and renowned broadcaster Des Kelly as he provides viewers with a fresh, unique take on ‘the beautiful game’. Airing on 5 June on BT Sport 1, the World Cup special show will bring fans a mix of debate, a multi-national panel of guests, live music, plus features on World Cup-related matters and tournament predictions from celebrities.
Complementing the mix of studio-based shows, BT Sport will broadcast more than a dozen friendly matches involving the likes of hosts Brazil, Germany, Belgium, France and the USA. Games include Germany v Cameroon (7pm, BT Sport 2, 1 June), Brazil v Serbia (1am BST, BT Sport 2, 5 June) and France v Jamaica (8pm, BT Sport 1, 8 June).
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