BBC's World Cup sofa looks great, but is miles away from the action

Ian Evans12 April 2012

It was a tough call, but someone had to make it.

Faced with a choice between polluted, crime-ridden Johannesburg and vibrant Cape Town as the BBC's main TV base for its coverage of this summer's World Cup, the corporation chose the latter.

On the face of it, Johannesburg made more sense as six of the 10 venues are in or around South Africa's biggest city.

Cape Town, where England play Algeria on 18 June, is almost 500 miles from the next nearest other stadium.

But BBC bosses decided that views of Table Mountain were more important to viewers.

The Standard has learned that the World Cup sofas from which Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson will broadcast will be inside a glass box studio on top of a Cape Town hospital.

The plot will give its panel, and millions watching on TV, vistas over the city's new Green Point stadium and the Victoria & Alfred waterfront shopping mecca — as well as Table Mountain.

The budgets for the coverage have not been finalised but will be under pressure after a National Audit Office report yesterday criticised the BBC for its "casual approach" to spending on major sporting events.

Engineers will have to lay lightweight panels across the concrete corrugated roof and rid the area of seagull nests.

A temporary lift will be built next to the building to give access to the studio.

The short-term lease is expected to be for five to six months.

The studio will be dismantled at the end. Engineers also needed assurance that the BBC would enjoy their own independent telecommunications line.

An insider said the BBC will pay a rent of around R40,000 (£3,280) with plans to leave non-essential broadcast equipment such as cabling as part of a so-called "legacy" deal when they leave.

The decision has not gone down well with Fifa officials who had been urging the corporation to base itself in Johannesburg at the specially built International Broadcast Centre.

But international broadcasters are known to have been unhappy with the location.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Viewers want to feel they are embedded in the tournament so an iconic location makes more sense. Also the rents in Johannesburg were very expensive."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in