ITV’s ‘garbage’ England football coverage explained days before World Cup | Football | Sport
ITV were hit with complaints from England supporters for their coverage and the camera quality and angles (Image: ITV)
England supporters were left seething, with many vowing to boycott ITV’s World Cup coverage after the broadcaster’s “garbage” footage quality during England’s friendly against New Zealand ahead of the tournament.
Thomas Tuchel’s Lions took on New Zealand at the Raymond James Stadium in Florida on Saturday evening, in their penultimate fixture before the cup.
However, fans watching from Britain were stunned by the shaky camerawork, poor picture quality, absence of commentary and delayed audio. Many pledged to abandon the channel ahead of the Fifa tournament, vowing to rely solely on the BBC‘s coverage instead.
One supporter raged on X: “ITV picture quality on this England game is garbage. Like watching Mexico 86.” A second said: “ITV apologies for the 70mins, plus HT of ‘loss of sound’. What an absolute shambles of a network. Please, please, please, do not allow these amateurs to broadcast any important England game during the Fifa World Cup.”, reports the Mirror.
England played New Zealand ahead of the cup (Image: David Buono/Action Plus/Shutterstock)
He added: “So ITV have decided to come back from the HT break, still without any commentary, any words, from anyone. 45mins plus they’ve had to sort that. Just silence, and ambient crowd noise. What an absolute shambles of a network they are. “
Another said: “American host image + ITV = absolute s*** picture quality. World Cup will look crap on ITV, at least BBC will be having a 4k feed.”
A fourth added: “I TV are an absolute disgrace already this World Cup. Last night Brazil v Egypt commentary at least 5 seconds behind the pictures and tonight a friendly no commentary at all!”
A fifth said: “Football commentary is at a low point in this country. It’s very much a lost art and only a handful of decent commentators and co-commentators exist now. The debacle of the CL final on TNT and that dross from ITV for the England game last night shows it.”
Another added: “If this is the quality of football coverage we will be getting on ITV ( Morocco v Norway) then it’ll be BBC for me during the World Cup. Why is there no commentary on ITV4 for this game?”
Will ITV’s World Cup Coverage be as bad quality?
Nevertheless, some supporters rallied to ITV’s defence. One said: “It is the same on the BBC for the Scotland game.” A second highlighted: “It’s the American footage.”
An ITV source told the Mirror that the match coverage came from a third-party feed, and was not ITV camera work or picture delivery.
It remains unclear whether the same third party provider will be used for the World Cup Games, and ITV have declined to comment further.
One X user said: “It’s using a different broadcast/feed. The World Cup broadcast will be completely different and hopefully better.”
Out on the pitch on Saturday, Tuchel selected a starting XI featuring Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Jarrell Quansah, Djed Spence, Jordan Henderson, Kobbie Mainoo, Morgan Rogers, Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins and Harry Kane.
For nearly 45 minutes the play remained steady, but with just a minute left before the break, Kane gave England the advantage in Tampa. Spence was afforded plenty of room down the left flank, before the full-back cut inside onto his right foot and whipped in a cross. Kane shook off his marker and guided a header into the far post to hand England a 1-0 lead.
