Sport and art no simple mix and match as TV rights deals skyrocket

I had occasion to rock up to the Irish Book Awards before Christmas, a good evening in what used to be known as the Burlington, even if it ended long before the usual evening finish, or even morning finish, you’d traditionally associate with the old Burlington.

One of my personal highlights was the prize-winner who gave a short, passionate, speech which moved beyond the usual thanks to the publisher, the editor, the judging panel, and on to slightly different, new territory — about how good it was that the ceremony was being recorded for broadcast later that week, that it was only right that a programme dedicated to books be shown on television rather than, say, sport (a good deal of nodding in agreement among many of the attendees not sitting with any, you know, sportspeople), or cooking (not quite as much nodding in agreement, given the dozens of cookbook authors sitting in the direct eye line of many of the attendees, obviously) and so forth in this vein.

Pleas for more culture, given the vast amount of sports available — across all platforms — came back to me last week when reading a blog on The Economist about the arts.