Welcome to The Addition, where I cover the crossover between culture, media and sport. Happy Thanksgiving, American subscribers! I hope you’re reading this nice and full of turkey and enjoying the day’s NFL action. UK readers, sorry - you have to go about your business as usual and hold out for a turkey dinner. (I’m personally a fan of chestnut stuffing and roast potatoes…)

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Premium Subscriber Stories

BBC Secures La Liga Highlights

The BBC has added La Liga rights to its sports portfolio. It will be able to show highlights from the Spanish football league. The content will be across the BBC Sport website, app and social channels. The broadcaster recently struck a similar deal with Germany’s Bundesliga (which also gave access to influencers, in a desperate bid to grow its audience). It's an interesting way for the Beeb to get access to these leagues without have to pay the full amount for the live rights. And kids only care about the clips anyway, apparently.

Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport, described himself as “thrilled” at the arrangement. Keegan Pierce, LALIGA’s Director of International Relations, said that “partnering with such a trusted media brand helps us bring the artistry and spectacle of Spanish football to passionate audiences here in the birthplace of our sport.”

The deal comes into effect immediately.

Badenoch Blasts Back

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch appears to have won the media war over this year’s Budget. She’s been all over TV this morning, looking more confident than she ever has since taking leadership of the Tories. Responding ruthlessly to Rachel Reeves in the House of Commons yesterday, the leader of the opposition highlighted two recent newspaper profiles of the chancellor. She dismissed them as “puff pieces in The Times and the FT showing a woman wallowing in self-pity and whining about mansplaining and misogyny.” Ouch. I actually thought both were rather good pieces of work from experienced journalists, and certainly not “puff pieces”. Tom Baldwin’s for The Times gave a somewhat nuanced look at Reeves. Similarly, George Parker and Sam Fleming's work for The FT was illuminating. They were both excellent demonstrations of the genre. I’m sure the criticism was meant to be of Reeves, not the journalists, but for Badenoch’s sake, I hope none of the hacks have taken offence at the description of their work. It could make for some awkward interactions around Westminster…

Working to Improve WSL Viewing Figures, but Not the Subway Cup

There is growing concern about the WSL TV viewing figures. Per Matt Hughes at The Guardian, a meagre 55,900 tuned in to watch Arsenal vs Chelsea on Sky Sports Main Event on Saturday, 8th November. That’s fewer people than were actually in the Emirates Stadium. Viewership on Sky Sports Premier League took the total viewership, monitored by BARB, to 71,000. Sky, it’s worth pointing out, judges viewership over the 90 minutes. The broadcaster put its figure slightly higher, at around 78,000. Either way, it’s a pretty shocking return for one of the league’s flagship fixtures. (732,000 watched the same fixture free-to-air on the BBC last season. Sky is never going to match that)

Most WSL games take place in the 11.55am/12pm Sunday slot. That has been a shift this season and television times are not an easy dilemma to solve. Everything is a clash. Women’s games used to mostly kick off at 2pm on a Sunday. There are Premier League matches at 2pm on Sunday, so the move to that earlier slot made sense. However, as Hughes noted, it clashes with things like kids playing football.

There was previously a 6pm Sunday game, which was popular on TV, but not with those actually going to the matches. I was at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for their match with Man Utd last season. Only around 5,000 people were in attendance at a stadium that can seat 62,000. Any midday Saturday match is also pretty much a guaranteed disaster. It clashes with a Premier League game and lots of EFL matches.

The clubs are not panicking just yet. There is a willingness to work, experiment and grow the women’s game. Let’s be honest, Sky has put a lot of money into the WSL, and so the league and clubs, to a large extent, have to go along with what the broadcaster wants. But with the Lionesses still basking in their Euros win, Arsenal the European champions and a World Cup not that far away, the growth opportunities cannot be missed when a TV slot tweak would solve a number of problems. . Perhaps we will see more discussion about WSL Friday nights, at least for the bigger games.

This all comes amidst controversy about the women’s league cup draw. I explained a bit about what went on on my site following the Spurs Women’s team. A tl/dr version: influencer GK Barry and her footballer girlfriend Ella Rutherford conducted the draw. Whilst doing so, Barry insulted Spurs. A ball was also put back into the bag and taken out again, putting the integrity of the process in jeopardy. Oh, and the whole thing took place live on TikTok. Obviously. I reached out to the WSL for a comment on all of the above, but had had no reply at the time of writing.

The clubs say they take the Subway Cup seriously, but the competition has not received the due care and attention from the footballing authorities. It also gets no media pickup. I suspect the first issue is the cause of the second. Ahead of his side’s 0-1 over Bristol City, which put them into that messy draw, Spurs Head Coach Martin Ho said that “in terms of who’s going to take the rights for the games,” that is a commercial decision. He noted previous broadcasts on YouTube. (Spurs broadcast their matches on in-house streamer, SpursPlay). Ho is correct, and the rights are not currently a tempting commercial opportunity for a broadcaster.

If you don’t take yourself seriously, nobody else is going to.

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Podcast

Host Charlotte Henry is joined by Jamie Angus, a former director of BBC World and now a trustee at the Henry Jackson Society, discuss the recent controversies surrounding the BBC, particularly focusing on the Trump editing scandal and the subsequent resignations of key figures. They delve into the governance issues within the BBC, the structure of the organization, and the challenges faced by the World Service. The discussion also touches on the cultural and editorial challenges in reporting on sensitive topics like the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the impact of budget cuts on the quality of journalism at the BBC.

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Thanks to Clean My Mac for support this show. Get Tidy Today! Try 7 days free and use my code ADDITION for 20% off at clnmy.com/​ADDITION​

What to Watch This Weekend

Premier League

Arsenal vs Chelsea: First plays second in what could be, if not a title-decider, then a crucial match in the fight for the Premier League. Players are returning for the Gunners, although Gabriel is still a significant absentee. It has not stopped them blowing away Spurs and Bayern Munich in the last few days. The Blues have gone a bit under the radar, but suddenly find themselves right at the top, as other challengers slip away. The game kicks-off at 4.30pm GMT/11.30am ET on Sunday, 30th November. Watch it on Sky Sports/Now in the UK or on USA Network in the US.

La Liga

Sevilla vs Real Betis: Is the Seville derby, and it's usually a feisty affair. The hosts are languishing midtable, while their neighbours are pushing for the Champions League places. Neither can really afford to mess up. The game kicks-off at 3.15pm GMT/10.15am ET on Sunday, 30th November. Watch it on Premier Sports or via the Bet365 website in the UK, and on ESPN Select or Fubo in the US.

Women's International Friendly

England vs China: The Lionesses return to Wembley, a few months after their victory at the Euros. They face China, who are somewhat tricky opponents. England boss Sarina Wiegman has given a first call-up to Freya Godfrey, who has impressed for London City Lionesses. The game kicks-off at 5.30pm on Saturday, 29th November. It is available to watch for FREE in the UK on ITV/ITVX.

Not Sport

Saturday Kitchen Live

These cooking shows are always enjoyable on the weekend. This week, Bob Mortimer is one of the guests, so that's sure to get your Saturday off to a good start. The programme starts at 10am GMT/5am ET on Saturday, 29th November and is available for FREE on BBC One and iPlayer.