BOYCOTT SENDS PLAYOFFS TO PLAYER
If you want to watch the WBBL Playoff quarter-finals, then you’ll need to retune your streaming.
Sky Sports have followed a number of leading sporting bodies, plus the BBL, in planning a social media boycott from 3pm Friday 30 April through 11.59pm Monday 3 May, aimed at challenging online abuse.
It means the BBL and WBBL will now go into their playoffs with no social media promotion.
But the impact will also mean that the WBBL’s opening post-season round in Newcastle on Saturday and Sunday – plus Monday’s first two first legs of the BBL Playoffs – will not be on Sky Sports’ YouTube, as scheduled, but is now to be screened free on the BBL Player.
A statement from the BBL said: “Sport has the power to bring all communities together and, as we have experienced through the growth and camaraderie of the British basketball community, social media has the power that allows us to reach and connect with our supporters – as it does for all sports – in immediate and vital ways.
“But with that power comes responsibility and the current inaction by social media companies in the face of relentless hateful and abusive attacks by cowards protected by this very inaction is inexcusable.
“No one should be subject to the kind of harassment and abuse that we have seen people experience. It goes against every tenet of basic human decency and we join the calls for social media companies to do more and for the UK government to ensure the Online Safety Bill gives sufficient powers to Ofcom to ensure social media companies can be held to account should they continue to fail in their responsibilities.”
The first leg of the BBL Playoff quarter-finals will still be shown as planned on Tuesday on Sky’s YouTube as well as BBL Player.
Do you like our work?
We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.
We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.
We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.
If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.
We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.
0 comments