Opening Sequence Sunday: Glastonbury 2007

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While the Big Weekend is certainly big, its the Glastonbury music festival that you hear about around the world. And at £145 a ticket you’d probably expect no less than a line up that includes: The Killers, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, Kaiser Chiefs, The Who, Björk, Maximo Park, Editors and heaps more.

As with the Big Weekend, the BBC’s coverage is hard to escape, with the Red button brining you four extra channels, along with sets on BBC Two, BBC Three, and BBC Four. On the wireless Radio 1, 6 Music, Radio 3, Radio 4 and Asian Network are all broadcasting from the event along with on-demand video streams online. Even Radio 4’s half century old Today Programme is broadcasting from there.

The national broadcasters commitment to relaying these festivals to the rest of the country is pretty incredible, it would be like the ABC televising the Big Day Out, which I don’t see happening anytime soon. Its also an excellent example of the power of digital television… and a well funded public broadcaster.