Byline: Alan McKinlay
IT'S not easy establishing an identity for a TV channel, so Five must have thought long and hard before ditching its live American sports coverage.
Except that if they had really thought for any length of time, they would surely not have done it.
The late-night airwaves on Five are now free to accomodate ancient Dutch football, monster trucks on ice or maybe just the return of the test card as no one will be watching.
While you can still watch live US sport on NASN, it will be without the British twist that Five's programmes provided.
Sky's superb NFL coverage is left to fly the flag.
I'll miss the baseball most of all. This quirky gem of a show kept fans of the sport - and a large student audience - entertained, despite being messed about by programme controllers at Five, who often delayed the start so it wouldn't be live or ended early to miss the finish.
During the World Series, the show was receiving 1,000 emails a night. Now that's audience participation.
The baseball show was also the only one which had been on Five since the channel's inception 12 years ago.
Cost cutting is the reason for the axe, but that seems strange after recently shelling out to revamp the studio set.
It's always cheaper to show repeats or bought-in shows rather than homeproduced programmes and it is a shame Five has such little faith in the ones it does make.
Still, at least Five's output fits in perfectly with the identity it is apparently pursuing - as a cheap alternative to proper terrestrial television.
