I'm enormously proud that we have retained so many of the crown jewels of sport for the BBC - and our rights team have done a brilliant job in securing Wimbledon, the Six Nations, Match Of The Day, Test Match Special and the rest well into the next decade. This month we add Formula 1, and this autumn we introduce Football League and the Carling Cup.

Our rights portfolio, underpinned by the London Olympics and the next two World Cups, is in remarkably good health - despite vigorous competition over the years from terrestrial rivals and from pay TV. And let me be clear that we welcome competition: the pay TV market has massively expanded choice, and standards of coverage are high. Plurality is good for viewers and listeners. Pay TV can hardly claim it's starved of good content by the current framework.

But looking to the future, we believe it's vital that the biggest sports events remain available to the maximum number of people in the UK. The 2012 Olympics would be diminished if they weren't available free-to-air to everybody and our whole philosophy is about making the London Games widely available whenever and wherever people want it - allowing everyone to share the experience, rather than driving revenue.

Our research confirms there are millions of people who are committed sports fans and who go to, or would pay to view, the events they're passionate about. But there are millions more we call "main eventers" - people who tune in for the big international matches or the major tournaments or the water-cooler moments like the Grand National. And many of them would be lost to sport if they had to pay a specific fee for the privilege. We want sport to expand its boundaries, not pull up the drawbridge.

So you wouldn't have had 42 million people watching the events in Beijing if they'd had to go to a pay TV channel. Neither would Wimbledon have had more than 13 million watching the climax of Federer v Nadal, and nor would the Six Nations be peak Saturday night viewing beating all other channels. Even in football, where live matches are a major driver, many more people see the Premier League on Match of the Day than live on any satellite or cable channel. It's important to recognise this isn't an argument about analogue TV against digital, and it's not a debate that becomes redundant when we're all in a digital world. The faultline is a straightforward one: free to air on one side, paying an extra fee for an event or a channel on the other.

I saw a report the other day that Sky were going to argue that rightsholders should be able to do what they wanted with their events. We differ. We value our relationships with rightsholders and the listed events legislation still requires that they receive a fair and reasonable price for their products; but we put audiences first. We want to maintain access to sport for people who don't want to pay subscriptions; and, even more crucially, we see it as a public service commitment to win over light or casual viewers to the events they come across on our mass-audience channels.

There's still a massive virtue in the UK being able to come together for the biggest sporting moments, and if we lose that we will lose an important part of our national life.

The good news is that you will be able to see every wheel turn, from practice on Friday right through to the race on Sunday and even a red button special after the race for all the analysis, stories and views from the whole paddock.

As you have already seen, we have put together what I think is a fantastic line-up to deliver the coverage.

Jake Humphrey will present the programmes from each of the races. There won't be a studio (we are not allowed to put one anywhere decent, or with a view of the track, for example) so we will present from the paddock, the pit lane or anywhere that is interesting and makes sense.

We will try to avoid competing with the engines, but we do need to be in the heart of the action, so occasionally you will have to bear with us as the teams try to drown out what we are saying.

Friday practice will be on the red button with Radio 5 Live Sports Extra commentary. The commentary team will be answering texts and e-mails during the quieter parts of these sessions, so this is a good time to get those questions in to the team. Saturday practice will be on the red button too.

We will be on BBC One for all the qualifying sessions (except Brazil on BBC Two) and all the races. And this is where the BBC has shown how excited it is at getting F1 back, because we will be on-air for an hour before qualifying starts.

In this hour we have time to look back at the previous race, take on any stories that have emerged in the last couple of weeks and we will also give the drivers a chance to tell us who they are. We will obviously be following Lewis Hamilton, and you will be getting plenty of stories about him, but we will also bring you all the other personalities in the paddock.

We have lots of other feature ideas - from explanations of general F1 terms to examining the rule changes, the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems, the efforts at making overtaking easier and what the drivers think of going back to slicks.

The teams have all told us that they are keen to work with us to de-mystify the sport and we are looking forward to their cooperation with the filming of these pieces.

Race day, too, will see one hour's build up on BBC One. The first part of this will be a chance to see more feature material; team profiles; what the drivers get up to away from the track; a track guide from Martin Brundle and/or David Coulthard; the story of qualifying and who to watch in the race.

Once we get to 30 minutes prior to the race, we will stay live in the pit lane as the cars go out to the grid and then on the grid as they sort out the last minute changes or problems.

Martin will do his grid walks (not necessarily every race - it will depend who is around) and we will hear from all the main players in these crucial last few minutes before the race is off.

During the race we have a number of analysis tools to enable us to work out race strategy for each of the cars. This will include the changing strategies if unexpected events occur.

All the teams prepare a number of scenarios and switch to these in the event of an early pit stop for a new nose, for example. We will need to be across what is going on and what the teams are planning.

Also new this year are the open team radios, which will mean that we will hear from the Ferrari and McLaren teams and drivers. This has always been encrypted in the past and we have never heard from either Lewis or Felipe Massa.

After the race we will gather the presentation team around a big monitor and discuss the race.

From the start to all the moves, overtakes, spins, crashes and pit stops, we will look at the replays, point out where drivers have gone wrong or done well and go through the race strategies of the teams.

Lee McKenzie and Ted Kravitz will be running around the paddock getting interviews with the drivers who finished outside the top three (we will already have heard from them in the post race press conference) so we should be able to bring you a comprehensive review of what went on. Once again, we will be inviting your comments through e-mail and texts, so we want to hear what you think.

On the red button during the race you will have a wide choice.

There will be a composite stream with the main race picture and an on-board camera (that we will switch to keep it relevant to the race action) together with a leaderboard and some other statistical information. We are not allowed to give you the timing pages incidentally, but you can see these on www.formula1.com.

For the first few races, where the time difference means that we can have more red button streams, there will also be the chance to have the on-board camera feed full screen and a choice of television commentary, Radio 5 Live commentary or even a new CBBC commentary that is especially aimed at our younger audience. Details of this new commentary are not yet finalised, but we'll be able to tell you the details soon.

The website, as you will already have gathered, has undergone a complete make-over. I think it looks great and there is lots of fantastic content already.

During the races, we will be streaming live video as well as the red button streams and I reckon quite a few of you will watch the TV with a laptop or computer open as well. We have tried to design it all so you can tailor your choices to show exactly what you want.

We will be feeding back lots of content for the website before it is transmitted on TV. So, an interview recorded on Thursday afternoon, for example, may well provide a short clip for a feature that you will see before the race on Sunday. We know that the rest of the interview is of interest as well, though, so we will put that up on the web for you to look at when you want.

So this is just a brief overview of how we are all planning to work together across all the BBC media platforms to bring the most comprehensive, in-depth, informative and entertaining coverage of F1 ever seen. We are excited by the prospect of the new season here in the F1 office and we are looking forward to hearing what you think of it all.

The reason for these changes is that in three weeks time Formula One returns to BBC screens for the first time in 12 years.

It's a fantastic opportunity to do something different and take our coverage to new heights. There will be more to say on this in the coming days when we'll return to this blog to run through our editorial plans for the up-coming F1 season on TV, radio and online.

The main thing to point out is that we have created a new F1 section.

It fits within the overall BBC Sport website - although you may have spotted that it now has a new slot on the navigation on the left-hand side of the front page, where it sits below Football to reflect how much of a priority sport it has become for the BBC.

And if you click on the Formula One link you will see that the F1 homepage looks different. In short, it's black.

Apart from the black background, there's the countdown clock at the top of the page, the stripes of colour behind our headings, and the F1 logo at the bottom of the page: all of these are new to the BBC Sport site.

Our web designers have been working to a brief to create a new look-and-feel for F1 which would both reflect our TV coverage, while also remaining a core component of the wider website.

I think they've done a great job and have come up with an approach that takes on this key sport while at the same time keeping it rooted within the rest of our web offering. So the homepage and other elements of the F1 output will have this trademark black look, but the main content will have the normal white background.

It's worth a short word on why we've chosen to do it this way.

Our approach to the development of BBC Sport online has always been one of evolution.

The feedback we get is that the website generally works and that people can find their way around it - so we try not to suddenly switch everything around for the sake of it. But at the same time we have to avoid complacency.

The whole point about 'new media' is that it changes all the time, so we need to keep pushing the boundaries we what we do.

In essence we need to find the balance between retaining the best of the old while responding to new challenges as they come along.

The last time we did this was around a year ago when we widened the pages of the BBC Sport website and gave more prominence to our audio-video content.

It's fair to say there was a fair amount of feedback at the time on this blog. Hopefully, 12 months on, the dust has settled from that particular transformation and I am convinced the site is in a much better state than it was then.

As you'll see our new F1 website will house a number of new content features, including a blog providing an in-depth look at the sport and regular video updates from the great Murray Walker.

We'll be back here to explain more about what's on offer in due course...

"Putting your 2012 hat on, I notice there's a three-part special starting on BBC Two. Any details?"

- so here they are for him and for everyone else.

This was commissioned before we'd moved into the new phase of the BBC Olympic project but it fits neatly with our aims: telling the story of 2012 not just through sport but in documentary, news and culture - and harnessing the BBC's resources at local, national and global level across all our platforms.

The first film is about the London handover ceremony in Beijing: the London bus, David Beckham and Leona Lewis. It follows the early planning meetings, the massive organisational challenges the London team faced in Beijing - and then the moment of truth with billions of people watching worldwide. The later films concentrate more on the physical building of the Olympics and the construction site in Stratford.

In my current job I'd known only that this programme was being made but I wasn't across any of the detail, so when I saw the DVD a few weeks back I came to it fresh. One big thing leapt out. It has astonishing access for filming: our crews were there in many of the key meetings - and full marks to the participants from LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) and the ODA (the Olympic Delivery Authority) for being so open and for seeing this project as part of the public record of the Games.

Now, you may recall that the London segment of the closing ceremony didn't draw a rapturous reception from most commentators. Few of those handover moments do, and the film shows with complete clarity just how difficult it was to insert London's eight minutes into the Chinese party. One of the strengths of the programme is it allows viewers to make their own judgements - just as in the next two episodes you can decide how much you sympathise with the local residents facing disruption because of the Olympic project.

So it's recommended viewing - and we'd welcome comments after you've watched, either on BBC Two at 9pm on Wednesday or afterwards on the BBC iPlayer.

F1 returns to BBC television for the first time in 12 years and there will be extensive coverage on network TV, red button, radio, online and mobile.

BBC One will carry live coverage of all 17 Grands Prix and every qualifying session except that in Brazil, which will be shown on BBC Two.

And every single on-track session can be watched on the red button or online.

For the Italians playing in their 10th Championship since five became six back in 2000 the Bergamasco brothers have become almost ever-presents since the younger Mirco joined big bruv Mauro in the side in 2002.

Mauro played at open-side flanker in Italy's 34-20 win over Scoland in their first match and this weekend will rival our own Austin Healey as international rugby's Mr Versatile having been chosen at scrum-half to add to his caps in the back row and on the wing.

Meanwhile for the home side Steffon Armitage will make his debut alongside brother Delon - making them the first brothers to represent England since the Underwood boys Rory and Tony in 1995.

OK here's your starter for 10. Who were the last pair of brothers to play against each other in the Six Nations? (Answer below)

Mention of Mrs U reminds me of the survey back in 2002 which found that she was more well known to the British public than a certain Jonny Wilkinson. At that time of course England's home games were not broadcast on terrestrial TV as they had been through Rory and Tony's career.

BBC TV coverage on Saturday begins at 1.30pm when there is a chance to see a superb documentary made in BBC Wales looking back at the Welsh Grand Slam of 2008. This uses "The Cut" footage that our extra, low cameras have been capturing at Six Nations games since 2003 and which has proved so popular in showing the pace and power of the professional game.

From 2pm John Inverdale will be live at Twickenham for an extensive build-up to the first match. Watch out for Sonja McLaughlan's first interview with Martin Johnson, interviews with the Armitage brothers and Andy Goode, Johno's surprise selection at fly-half. Also Keith Wood has been speaking to Brian O'Driscoll ahead of a huge season for the last Lions captain ahead of the summer's trip to South Africa.

England v Italy kicks off at 3pm and will be followed on BBC1 by Ireland v France live (KO 5pm). Ireland fans will not want to be reminded of the late, late Vincent Clerc try that ultimately cost them a Grand Slam in this corresponding fixture from 2007 - which was the historic first rugby union international at Croke Park.

On Sunday we are on from 2.25pm on BBC1 as Wales begin their defence of the title against Scotland at Murrayfield. Every year it seems Scotland are put forward as the 'dark horses' for the Championship, but it is worth pointing out that Frank Hadden's team have beaten all five of the other nations within the past three years.

Before this game we'll hear from Lee Byrne, arguably the player of the autumn internationals and Scotland's fly-half Phil Godman - who also takes on the crucial place kicking duties, an area that cost his side dearly against South Africa in November.

As ever there are lots of ways to enjoy the Six Nations experience with the BBC. All of the England, Wales and Scotland home matches are available in High Definition on the HD channel while Radio 5 will have all the team news and discussion in the days ahead of each match. Watch out too for Matt Dawson's preview programme ahead of every weekend of the Championship.

On the Red Button there will be highlights of every match as well as commentary alternatives for all the different nations. Our popular forums will also be back every weekend starting after the Ireland v France match with Gabby Logan on Saturday. Also hit your red button now and go to the sport multiscreen where there are two streams of preview material plus an entertaining historical review entitled the 'Ruck n Roll Years'.

On the BBC Sport website too there will be extended versions of this preview material, match highlights and your chance to select your Lions squad for the summer and see how it compares with our panel of experts - Jonathan Davies, Jeremy Guscott, Andy Nicol and Keith Wood.

Finally if you want to relive any match in full they are available on the BBC iPlayer for up to seven days afterwads.

It promises to be a fascinating seven weeks with the six teams more equally matched than at any time in recent years. Wales are the bookies favourites at about 2-1 and would probably carry my fiver too if pushed.

Let's hope the weather clears up around our three venues for this weekend. And I recommend you stay indoors for what should be a cracking start to the tournament.

*The last time brothers played against each other in the Six Nations was actually only two years ago when Rory and Simon Best of Ireland came up against the Lamont brothers of Scotland - Rory and Sean.

But when those fighters are asked to come back and do it again to make sure the timing with the end of the National Anthem is absolutely perfect - it can only be the Super Bowl.

The aerial fun and games caused a commotion in the muddy little compound set aside for International broadcasters yesterday, but everyone was soon back to work. There are a dozen or so pre-fab huts here - we're sharing one with the Italians, next to us are the Germans, then the Japanese, then oddly enough, Disney.

Having said all that, it's clear that the Super Bowl isn't immune to the global downturn. It was a major talking point at NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's 'State of the League' press conference yesterday. The NFL has been forced to lay off employees, there's been a struggle to fill those once-precious half-time advertising slots in the US, and for the first time ever the number of media accreditations for the big game has gone down this year.

It's had an effect on our plans too - the massive difference in exchange rates between last year and this means that something like a video feed cable which costs $1,000 is a lot more in pounds this year than it was last year.

That's one of the reasons we've kept things relatively simple with our coverage. We'd love to be broadcasting the game in HD for example, but financially it was never a realistic option.

Despite all the financial issues surrounding the event, it still promises to be a typical Super Bowl extravaganza. The game itself should provide another fascinating encounter, with the underdog Arizona Cardinals hoping to stop the Pittsburgh Steelers from winning the Vince Lombardi trophy a record sixth time.

Once again Jake Humphrey and Mike Carlson will be joined in our studio by Rod Woodson, which is great news for us, not just because he's a Steelers legend, or because he's back at the scene of his own Super Bowl win with the Baltimore Ravens, but also because he's among the candidates for induction for the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the weekend - and he'll be in a great mood if he gets in. Fingers crossed.

The one major change we've made is that we're going to take the NBC network coverage this year rather than the World Feed commentary offered by the NFL that we used last time. Quite simply, we just couldn't pass on John Madden. Being a bit of an old sentimentalist, it's just nice to add his name to the list of commentary legends that have appeared on the BBC down the years.

And for those once-a-year viewers who like their coverage a little more inclusive, we'll also have Radio 5 Live's pairing of Arlo White and Greg Brady on the Red Button.

I'll finish as I started with one of those 'only at the Super Bowl' moments. I've seen plenty of press conferences in my time, the vast majority of them pretty dull, but nothing compared to the pandemonium surrounding the Bruce Springsteen briefing on Thursday.

While there's much anticipation surrounding his half-time show on Sunday night, I understand it was also the first time in around 22 years that Bruce and the E-Street Band had agreed to do a presser. As a result, there were hundreds of journalists jumping over each other to get a decent seat, and when it came to TV crews, I lost count at 50.

Fortunately, Bruce was honest enough to bring his legendary working man's touch to proceedings. When asked why he'd finally agreed to perform at the Super Bowl this year rather than any other year, he simply replied: "Because I got an album out, dummy."

I guess even the Boss ain't recession-proof.

We've been getting a lot of feedback both here and on other bike forums about a couple of key points. One has been our commentary line-up for this season and the other about not being able to record red button coverage. Both of these issues have been exacerbated by Eurosport losing the rights to show MotoGP for the forthcoming season leaving the BBC as the exclusive broadcaster for the sport.

First and foremost I want to point out that any decision about rights is made by Dorna, the rights holder, and not by the BBC. We are in the last year of a pre-existing contract and are delighted to have signed a new deal starting in 2010 which will take us through to the end of the 2013 season.

To give the situation some context our coverage attracts average audiences of 1.1 million with an approval rating that has been the highest for any terrestrial programme in a given week. We believe the BBC team is key to that success and we are looking forward to another exciting season in 2009. In terms of presentation, Suzi Perry has a wealth of experience from years of fronting motorbike racing and our pitlane reporter Matthew Roberts has worked as a journalist within the MotoGP paddock for eight years before joining the BBC and has excellent connections with the teams enabling us to break key stories last year.

Charlie Cox and Steve Parrish will once again be in the commentary box. Charlie is an experienced lead commentator with a great passion for and extensive knowledge of motorbikes whilst Steve raced at the very highest level finishing fifth in the world championship.

We have taken on board feedback about the non-recordable nature of the red button when viewed on certain platforms and as a result we will be looping the qualifying on Saturday afternoon and evening and will do the same with the races on Sunday into the following week. A timetable for this will appear on the website at the start of the season and will be updated race by race.

The inability to record via the red button is a Sky box issue rather than a specifically BBC one but we are doing all we can to enable you to watch the sessions you may have missed live. We will also be supplying additional Freeview details so you will be able to record our coverage when viewing the red button. There have also been questions about why we can't use our other channels to show the 125 and 250 classes. Under the terms of the licence we can't turn BBC Three or Four into a sports channel although we can use them occasionally and they are unavailable during the day as the bandwidth is used by CBeebies and CBBC.

One final point to answer is whether the BBC signing F1 will affect the MotoGP coverage and the answer is yes, but only in a positive way. We will be working with the F1 team to maximize opportunities to promote MotoGP. David Coulthard is part of the F1 team and a bike fan too who has come to the race in Brno for the last few years. The races don't clash as the rights holders are keen to avoid this and the start times are offset on dates where both series are racing. The British MotoGP will follow the Hungarian F1 meaning we get to put the Donington race on BBC One, which is fantastic.

Coverage of any sport is hugely subjective. We always review our coverage at the end of the season and I frequently read the comments posted on a variety of websites including this one. We are very proud of our coverage and in being able to bring top-class bike racing to a wider audience, we believe we have the best team to lead our programme. I am always keen to get feedback and to find out what you'd like to see in the show so please let me know below.

Well, we've just been through the rights process for Premier League highlights - and I'm delighted to report that the BBC has been successful. Match Of The Day will stay on BBC screens until at least the summer of 2013 in the current format: the main show on Saturday night, the repeat on Sunday morning, MOTD2 on Sunday evening - and then the occasional special, like tonight, when we catch up with a midweek fixture list.

Just listing that volume of coverage points to one reason why Match Of The Day is so important to us; and it also underpins our other football shows like Football Focus and Final Score. Every Premier League week we have all the goals from all ten matches, and Match Of The Day remains the place where most people in the UK see top league action.

A total of around 30 million watch at some point during the season, but weekly audiences for the main shows are rising too. In the last full season, 2007-8, the Saturday programme averaged 3.8m viewers - the highest since 2002-3 when the coverage was on ITV and partially in peaktime. Sunday night has had an even sharper rise: in 2004-5 it was watched by an average 1.5m, while so far in 2008-9 it's registering 2.5m. Not much evidence for the glum folk who claimed demand for highlights would fall.

The new contract from Autumn 2010 will allow us to put more of the content online too. For the last 18 months Match Of The Day has been simulcast live on this website, but the new deal lets us put MOTD2 on the BBC iPlayer. That means all the weekend goals will be on offer in the one show, and it will supplement our SPL online goals and the Football League service that starts this coming August.

As for the price: it's level with our current contract. But more people are watching; it has a richer mix of rights; and it's still below what ITV paid for Premier League highlights in 2000.

Now, I know some people will have another bash at us for not having enough live football on television. But later this year we introduce live Championship matches, live semi-finals and the finals of the Carling Cup - and the biggest tournament of all, the FIFA World Cup, will be just around the corner. Our live and online radio commentaries are still extremely popular too. We emphatically didn't want to lose the FA properties on TV, but we spent some of that money on the Football League and some on the return of F1 to the BBC.

That fits into a portfolio that's seen other major renewals in the past couple of years: most noticeably Wimbledon and the Six Nations, which are both guaranteed well into the next decade along now with MOTD.

So we'll continue to tell the story of the Premier League for millions of fans - and for everyone who just sees Match Of The Day as part of the British weekend. Love it or hate it, you have to admit Saturday night on BBC One wouldn't be the same without that theme tune...

The Australian Open starts in the early hours of Monday morning and Andy Murray is favourite to win according to many bookiesafter a fantastic finish to the end of last season and claiming the first ATP title of the year in Doha.

In doing so he beat former World number one and three-time Australian Open Champion, Roger Federer, for the fourth time in their last five matches. Perhaps crucially, Murray`s last defeat to Roger came in his first Grand Slam Final - the US Open 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.

Murray is in great form - as he was at this stage last year - but it is hoped he learned a lot from last year's surprise first round defeat to Tsonga, who then made it all the way to the final. He should be prepared for an "in form" outsider this year, but I am confident he should do better than his performance in 2007 too - an epic, marathon defeat in the fourth round to Rafael Nadal.

The great news is that BBC One and BBC Two have bought in to the great buzz and the real possibility that Andy Murray could go all the way in 2009, by announcing that all of his matches will be shown live on terrestrial TV.

The time and channel for these programmes is dependent on the order of play which is drawn up at the end of each day's play in Australia. This will then be publicised through all BBC outlets - online/radio/television - as soon as the information is available, so we will do our best to make sure you know when he is playing.

There will be live simultaneous streaming of the Murray matches on the red button and web or you can listen to the action via Radio Five Live or Radio 5 Live Sports Xtra.

Beyond the Murray factor, there will be extensive coverage of the rest of the championship across the BBC. TV coverage will be available every morning from 0830 on the red button as well as online.

Radio 5 Live Sports Xtra will also carry live coverage from 0830, and both Radio 5 Live and the web will keep you informed of all the stories. Chris Bailey, John Lloyd and Sam Smith will lead the TV team with Jonathan Overend, Alastair Eykyn and David Law delivering radio commentary live from Australia.

The men's final will be shown live on Sunday 1 February from 0830 on BBC Two, and will be live on Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

Andy Murray will be the sole British representative in the men's draw after Alex Bogdanovic's defeat in his second round qualifying match but two British women have gained direct entry - Anne Keothavong and Melanie South - so good luck to them.

Qualification for the women is still in progress so at the time of writing it is hoped Elena Baltacha, Katie O`Brien and Georgie Stoop might make it to the main draw too.

The women's final will be live on the red button, and on Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, from 0830 on Saturday 31 January, and highlights will also be shown from 1300-1400 on BBC One.

I hope you enjoy the tournament, and our coverage, and of course do tell us what you think about both!

Here's some background: last year we extended Ski Sunday to include longer features - from snowboarding in the Himalayas to ice diving in New Zealand, the show's presenters, Ed Leigh and Graham Bell, explored some of the most spectacular places on earth.

Ski Sunday also continued to cover ski racing, we had one of the most exciting Hahnenkamm races I've ever seen. I'll never forget Bode Miller skiing up the side of the netting, on the advertising banners and still managing to finish second - just amazing!

But I have to admit we didn't get things quite right last year. Ski racing fans wanted more of the action and our new viewers wanted more adventure.

Thanks to your comments (on the Sport Editors' blog and on Graham Bell's 606 site) we realised what was wrong. We were trying to make a programme for two different audiences and the answer was to split the show in half. And that's exactly what we've done, we now have a dedicated ski racing programme, Ski Sunday, and a new mountain adventure show called High Altitude - the best of both worlds.

We had all the right ingredients last year but it just didn't feel right mixed up in the same bowl. We've simplified things without losing any of the originality.

Ski Sunday will continue its inventive coverage of ski racing. Viewers will have a unique insight thanks to Graham's downhill camera runs and on-site analysis. We'll feature some of the biggest and best races, plus, for the first time we'll show live ski racing on the red button.

In High Altitude, Graham and Ed will undertake some spectacular challenges - speed skiing, ice climbing, bob skeleton - and explore some the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world.

Let me know what you think of both shows and please keep the feedback coming. Help us get things right and make the programmes you want to see.

So Ski Sunday returns at 1710 GMT on 18 January and High Altitude starts a week later at 2200 GMT on 25 January.

Before then, to whet your appetite, we will be showing the Wengen downhill live on the red button on 17 January at 1130 GMT and the World Cup slalom at the Swiss resort at 1215 GMT on 18 January.

But we're going to do our best to cheer up the nation in 2009 - however gloomy the news agenda. And almost all the stars from our Sports Personality Top 10 will be in top-quality live action on the BBC.

The people's choice - Chris Hoy - will be with his fellow British cyclists in Poland in March for the World Track Championships. Rebecca Adlington will feature in the World Swimming Championships in Rome in the summer, and we'll be giving extensive coverage to the World Athletics Championships with Christine Ohuruogu from Berlin.

Andy Murray showed he's near to greatness in 2008, and we'll see if he can deliver in 2009 - at Wimbledon, of course, and at the Australian and French Opens. The action in Melbourne gets underway in January so we'll witness whether the predictions of a Murray Grand Slam victory in '09 can be speedily realised.

There's also, of course, Formula 1 - which comes roaring back onto BBC screens in March. We'll be following Lewis Hamilton every kilometre of every circuit as he defends his world championship, and there'll be a fantastic range of online and interactive services to support our tv and radio F1 programming.

Another year of MotoGP - which remains one of the most highly-appreciated events we cover - means we'll be the home of great motorsport on two wheels as well as four.

New in August on BBC Television will be Football League: a weekly highlights programme with all the goals, and the best live matches from the Championship. Our coverage of the Carling Cup also begins in autumn 2009. That's in addition to Match Of The Day and MOTD2.

Other big events will be there too. The Six Nations looks gloriously unpredictable, and we'll be in position for every match. International Rugby League returns to the BBC in the autumn with two live matches from the Four Nations tournament to supplement our exclusive live coverage of the Challenge Cup.

We'll have our traditional golf menu including The Masters and The Open; the biggest events in racing including The Grand National, the Derby and Royal Ascot; and great days out with the London Marathon and The Great North Run.

Plus: Super Bowl,World Snooker, BDO World Darts and - we hope - one or two extra events currently under contractual discussion.

Finally, no doubt about the highlight on BBC Radio: settle back with Test Match Special for every ball of The Ashes.

But top of the agenda: thank you, Liverpool. The city did us proud last night in hosting Sports Personality of the Year. It was a wonderful arena with great facilities, and every impression I got was that the audience there - and the sports stars - had a ball. Liverpool's papers liked it too.

So, it appears, did most viewers at home. On the provisional figures the show performed in line with last year's - averaging 6.7m viewers and therefore way ahead of the figures when we were last in a London studio. The audience built from 4.7m at 7pm to 8.4m by 8.45pm, when we were ahead of all other channels.

In the BBC we are, of course, as neutral and fair as possible ahead of the main vote. But almost all the people I've talked to so far have been thrilled by Chris Hoy's victory and they think he's a brilliant addition to the list of winners. He won by a mile, too, with 40 per cent of the vote. The winning margin was 120,000. It's a popular choice north of the border and it's making headlines in India, Canada, and right around the world.

No show is perfect, of course, and we welcome the feedback already on message boards and from our colleagues in the press - who've generally been kind:
The Daily Mail
The Guardian
The Telegraph

But I've no hesitation in saying from the BBC's point-of-view that we thought overall last night was a major success. It felt like the right winners were chosen by the public and by the experts; the venue was sensational: and audiences in the arena and at home seem well-pleased. The lifetime achievement award for Sir Bobby Charlton was a great TV moment shared by millions.

Planning for next year will start almost immediately. The question asked repeatedly last night was "where?" and at the moment we've no idea. I've personally always been attracted to the idea of moving outside England, and with a Welsh winner in 2007 and a Scottish winner this year that may be an idea whose time has come. But equally we've had incredible support from Liverpool and previously from Birmingham, and the competition for hosting duties from English cities will be fierce.

We'll let you know how our thinking develops, but in the meantime - thanks to everyone who watched and came along, and particular appreciation to our guests from British sport who've been so inspirational in 2008.

They take place from 12 to 28 February and, with less than 14 months to go, it's been a busy few days visiting venues, scouting for live locations, securing accommodation and meeting a lot of the people we'll be working with when the Games come around.

With the different sports split between Vancouver, which is the largest city ever to host the Winter Olympics, and the ski resort of Whistler, we want to make sure that our live presentation represents both locations.

In an ideal scenario we would capture that as our studio backdrop, but that's easier said than done.

Our main operation will be in the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) which is housed in the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre. It's a spectacular new building complete with a living roof of grass which affords views across water to the mountains.

It would suit us to have a studio in the IBC, being much closer to our operations centre, and on a sunny day the view would be great. However it becomes much more limited at night and during poor weather.

To get around this, we've been looking at alternative locations which provide some foreground and a view of the city as well. However, the further away from the IBC we go, the more complicated it becomes - so there isn't an ideal solution, yet.

The resort of Whistler will play an important part in the Games, playing host to Alpine, Nordic and sliding (bob, luge and skeleton) events. Two hours drive from downtown Vancouver along the scenic Sea-to-Sky Highway, it's a summer and winter playground for adventure seekers and is Canada's most popular year-round destination.

Once again, we want to present from a location there which reflects the beauty of the mountains but also captures the bustling village atmosphere. We have seen plenty of options this week - but finding one location which serves all purposes has not been easy, and there's still some way to go before we finalise our location here.

In Whistler we were lucky enough to be some of the first people to experience the new Peak 2 Peak gondola which stretches between Whistler Mountain and its neighbour Blackcomb.

It's an amazing feat of construction, and has broken a host of world records: longest lift (4.4 km), longest unsupported span (3km) and highest point above the ground (436 metres).

Whilst not directly linked with Olympic venues, this new lift will open up new possibilities in the resort, providing spectators with stunning views. Stuart Rempel, Senior VP of Marketing and Sales, Whistler Blackcomb said: "It wasn't built with world records in mind, that's just a happy coincidence - it's really all about the guest experience".

The lift system, which took 18 months to build, will enable skiers and boarders to cross directly from one ski area to the other in 11 minutes - a journey which would previously have taken closer to an hour. The trip itself is incredibly smooth despite the speed of 7.5 metres per second - and if you want to heighten the sensation of floating in the air, two of the gondolas even have glass bottoms.

Without doubt the Peak 2 Peak will provide some of the most spectacular views at the Winter Olympics - and you can be sure that BBC Sport will be showing them to you in 2010.

The set is being installed; rehearsals in the Echo Arena will soon be under way; and then the giants of the sporting world will be converging on Merseyside ready for Sunday night's programme.

As ever, there's plenty of press comment - mainly around the incredibly competitive shortlist for this year's main awards, though there's the usual mixture of wit, wisdom and acid comments about the show itself.

I have no problem with commentators commenting - and people like Marina Hyde always make me laugh in the most positive sense - but it's worth explaining why Sports Personality has changed over the years.

That was partly why we changed the format and took the show on the road with the public invited for the first time - with considerable success. We bucked the terrestrial TV trend - almost all programmes have declined in the multichannel era - by increasing the average to 5.9m in 2006 for our first year in Birmingham, and then 6.8m last year. Almost 9m saw Joe Calzaghe pick up his award.

Now, before anyone says it is: it's not just about ratings. It's about celebrating a sporting year and showcasing the big national moments. But equally we'd have been negligent if we allowed SPOTY to go into further decline and end up marginalised on the fringes of the schedule. This is a programme that has to work for a mass audience on BBC One on a Sunday night.

No Sports Personality is ever without controversy so let me pick up on some issues ahead of the show.

First, there are occasional comments about the fairness of the voting. To be clear, we publish the details about how this works and all the voting is overseen by an independent verification process. We ourselves have no idea who will win on the night, and no votes have been cast until the moment the phone lines open on the show.

Second, there was some debate last year about the fact the event was supported by Robinsons. The BBC Trust upheld some complaints against the programme, but they also gave permission for this year's event once more to be supported by Robinsons as long as it was within the revised guidelines they'd laid down.

We in BBC management have decided that we will not in future have commercial sponsorship of these kind of events - but Robinsons' participation is part of a two-year agreement, and we're grateful to them for their support of the 2008 Sports Personality Event.

Finally, all of us in the team have read and enjoyed the comments made in Carl Doran's blog and in an earlier one from me. We realise that Sports Personality is a major part of the BBC's heritage and it's a show we all want to succeed. It can't do it by standing still, and this year's challenge includes our biggest ever live audience at the venue - getting on for 9000 - and the task of telling the story of an amazing year of sport in just two hours.

We won't be able to include every moment, but we're going to do our best to capture the spirit of 2008 and to provide a little cheer amid the gloom of the daily news agenda. We really hope you enjoy it.