Back then we had just two events to work on - Wimbledon Tennis and Open Golf. Now there is rarely a day in the week when we don't have something to show via the red button.

This goes a long way in explaining my rapid hair-loss, but our increased output has also caused us a headache for the Freeview platform. Monday mornings now regularly bring a host of e-mails from unhappy Freeview viewers who had expected to see their favoured sport via the red button, only to find that someone else's favoured sport is there instead.

Freeview, however, does not have the luxury of such bandwidth. In fact, we only have two extra streams on top of whatever BBC ONE and BBC TWO are showing.

In many instances, that means we have to make an editorial call on which sports to show and which sports to drop. Sometimes, this can be a no-brainer; at other times, fierce arguments will erupt in the BBC Sport offices.

Either way, we can be sure that some viewers will be pleased with our choice, others will be outraged. On top of that, these two streams are for use by all of the BBC interactive services, not just BBC Sport's, so I will regularly be sent into battle with my peers in other departments. I take no prisoners, I'll have you know.

So what of the future? We're often asked if, and when, Freeview will gain extra streams for interactivity.

Well, these decisions are made by higher mortals, but there is currently a pretty big bun-fight going on for Freeview bandwidth - extra channels, HD, interactivity, you name it - but the picture should be come clear in the next few months.

Freeview take-up has grown hugely in the last two years; it may not have the sexy-looking multiscreen, but rest assured that it remains a huge priority for BBC Sport.

My colleague Paul Davies has already written about our complete Open coverage, but I’m just going to go into a little more detail about the services which will be available via the red button. We will be returning to our roots somewhat and offering exclusive live coverage from holes 16, 17 and 18 - a service we initially offered back in 2001 and 2002 - rather than offering the player group option of more recent years.

The decision to revert back to coverage of the final holes from Carnoustie - the infamous “sting in the tail” - means that we can show shots from every player as they approach the most crucial part of their round. This is a luxury that the BBC ONE / TWO coverage could never be able to stretch to.

I should stress, however, that unfortunately we have to end transmission at around 1930 BST on Thursday and Friday, so we will miss the final groups on these days (although Thursday's late starters will of course be shown on Friday, and vice versa). We hope that viewers will make use of our leaderboard to track where there favourite players are, then use the holes 16,17, 18 stream to watch our commentated finish to their rounds.

I appreciate that this decision will disappoint those viewers who enjoyed our player group coverage but our big problem with this service was that it became devalued over the Saturday and Sunday.

It was clear we had to offer the top groups at this stage of the championship, yet a big proportion of the shots from these groups were already being offered on BBC ONE / TWO. For such a resource-heavy project, we came to the conclusion that we simply weren't getting the value from this aspect of the service that we had anticipated.

Finally, we will be offering a highlights service under the red button for those of you who missed the day's action. This will be available from around 2000 BST until action starts the following day. Anyway, I'd be delighted if you could join us and let me know your thoughts on our output.

I should clarify that not all courts offer televised coverage. We start the tournament with nine of the 19 courts offering broadcast-quality pictures, and by this time of the event this number comes down to seven.

That said, we have been offering doubles matches on the satellite and cable platforms since the first Thursday, and on Freeview since yesterday (the second Tuesday).

By today (Wednesday) we have been able to offer two doubles matches at all times via our Multiscreen service. From now on, we should be able to keep this up and more than likely increase our doubles coverage - weather permitting!

Firstly, we think it is important to offer all the best choices within the Multiscreen, and that invariably means including the match that our network colleagues are showing. We want to offer a complete service, so viewers who have pressed the red button can choose from all the available options. If we were to omit the matches available on network then viewers would either be unaware of the network match option, or would back out of the service to find out.

Secondly, we have a finite number of commentary teams, all of whom are racing around to different courts to ensure we have five available matches. It is a rare moment indeed when we have commentary from more than five courts at any given time.

As for Freeview, interactive viewers on this platform will be aware that we encompass our two extra streams alongside the offerings on BBC ONE and TWO - which means we always have at least three options, and for much of the afternoon we have four.

On occasion, we end up showing the same match on both BBC ONE or TWO and one of our interactive streams and I can see why this infuriates viewers. We always aim to not to duplicate but sometimes it is unavoidable.

As an example, BBC ONE may be showing coverage from Centre Court, while we are offering Court One and Court Two on our interactive streams. If the Centre Court match ends, BBC ONE might opt to show ten minutes from Court One before rejoining Centre Court for the next match there, thus resulting in duplication.

Now, in this instance it would be impractical for us to suddenly switch our Court One interactive coverage to a different court when we would have to jump back to it ten minutes later once BBC ONE had returned to Centre Court.

If, however, we know that BBC ONE intend to stick with a court that we have on an interactive stream, then we will bring in our faithful presenter Rob Curling on board to redirect viewers and allows us to offer an alternative match. We did this around six times on the opening day. Apologies if all that has given you a headache - it certainly gives us plenty.

Now, having said all that, I have to admit we were caught short with the end of the Roger Federer match on the opening day, so please accept our apologies. It is normally our intention to always have the Centre Court option available.

I also see that a few eagle-eyed (eared?) viewers have noticed that we have lost the ability to listen to the audios of each stream while still in the Multiscreen. I agree that this was a nice feature but we have gained a number of advantages by losing this feature. Most importantly we can redesign the look and feel of the service very quickly now, whereas before we required a lot of technical resource every time we wanted to make a change.

Towards the end of the tournament, for instance, we will be required to reduce the number of streams to make way for other interactive services. We can now do this very easily - without impacting on our resources, while at the same time maintaining a viewer-friendly design.

Our friends still stuck in the analogue world, bless them, may be forgiven for thinking that our Roland Garros coverage is limited to the final weekend, but we have of course been offering live matches to digital viewers via the red button since the opening day on 27 May.

So what has been the early response?

Well, probably the most frequent query we've received is to ask why we can't offer a choice of matches, as we do for Wimbledon (our five-court offering from SW19 is presumably raising expectations). As is often the case, though, it all comes down to cost. A choice of matches from Paris would incur live satellite charges for each court - these do not come cheap and take up a fair chunk of our budget.

If we were to maintain production standards, we would also need to take out two commentators plus a producer for each court, which raises the total cost to prohibitive levels. Fortunately for our Wimbledon service, the BBC is host broadcaster and already offers a daily feast on both BBC ONE and TWO, so we are able to piggy-back off our network colleagues and keep costs down.

We've also had a few emails unhappy that our French Open coverage has been biased towards the men's game. We've had an equal number saying we show too much of the women, too, so I like to think that suggests we've got the balance just about right.

I can already tell you that the subject of match-choice will remain the number one grouse during Wimbledon. I did have one viewer a couple of years ago who would dutifully mail me everyday, offering her preferred daily viewing schedule.

What next, then? The French Open finishes on Sunday (live coverage of the men's final will be available via interactive from 1400 BST, with highlights on BBC TWO from 1600 BST).

After that we're straight off to Queen's Club for the start of The Artois Championships, one of my favourites (free bar in the Press tent), for live coverage every day. We're limited to two days from the women’s tournament at Eastbourne (21-22 June) for the quarter-finals and semi-finals, with BBC One showing the final.

And then it's all hands to the pump for Wimbledon fortnight. We'll be employing a new-look service this year, so let me know what you think…but try to be nice.

All the best,

Matt

This format allows us to offer a number of live sports, including any BBC ONE/TWO output, in one place and without the need for the viewer to exit the service in order to view another sport.

This weekend, for instance, satellite and cable viewers will be able to select from two live World Championship snooker tables, our Score programme, the Cricket World Cup final service and the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships from Amsterdam.

These restrictions also mean that on busy weekends we may have to drop a sport that is available on other platforms. This inevitably results in yours truly coming in to an unhappy inbox on Monday mornings with viewers wanting to know why their favourite sport was not made available to them.

The truth is we have to make a call on which services will add the most value, and whatever we opt for we are always going to upset someone! For example, on Saturday afternoon we have Five Live sport streams on offer but only room for two on Freeview. In this instance, we have opted for one of the matches from the World Snooker (which remains one of our most popular services), and our regular Score programme, which is attracting more and more viewers and is sure to be well-used, as the football season comes to a climax.

Anybody wanting to plan ahead for interactive viewing can see our programme guide and our online and interactive schedule.

As for the gymnastics itself, all the action from Amsterdam can be seen live on interactive via the red button, with highlights on BBC TWO at 1355 BST on Sunday.

Britain will have nine gymnasts (three women and six men) at these European Championships. They were be competing against 41 countries for 12 medals in front of over 6,000 fans at the Amsterdam Exhibition Centre.

Mitch Fenner and Christine Still will talk you through the event in the company of Matt Baker, although with the imminent arrival of his first baby, Matt`s presence in the commentary box is not guaranteed!

At the time of writing all the finalists are still unknown, with qualification taking place over the next couple of days. But the British teams have their sights firmly set on medals - with Beth Tweddle and Louis Smith perhaps the most likely to finish on the podium.

This is Beth’s return to international action after a hugely successful 2006, during which she became Britain`s first ever artistic world champion in Aarhus (Denmark), won the highly coveted World Cup final in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and claimed third place in BBC Sports Personality of the Year. This weekend’s event marks a new step in her bid for Olympic glory in Beijing next year.

A shoulder operation has ruled her out of defending the European title on the uneven bars (her favourite apparatus), but it is hoped she will compete in the floor final. And there will be an interview with Beth during the BBC TWO transmission.

Apparently, the surgery has gone well, but with the World Championships in September also acting as qualifiers for the Olympics, Beth will not be the only European gymnast taking care not to exacerbate an injury. The Women’s team are missing a few faces, but we wish the two 16 year-olds (Marissa King and Hannah Clowes) well as they join Beth in competition.

British Gymnastics is very excited about some youngsters coming through in the men’s team. Louis Smith (18 last Sunday) is accompanied to Amsterdam by his Huntingdon club-mates Daniel Keatings (17) and Luke Folwell (19). All are coached by Paul Hall, with the remainder of the team made up of Kristian Thomas (18) and the two elder statesmen - Ross Brewer (27) and David Eaton (26). Louis had a 2006 to remember, as he took Commonwealth and Junior European titles. The pommel is his speciality where it is hoped he might win a medal.

The timetable for the competition is as follows:

Saturday, 28 April
Women`s All Around: 1125-1345 BST (Available on Freeview)
Men`s All Around: 1425-1715 BST (Available to digital, satellite and cable viewers only)

Sunday, 29 April
Five Apparatus Finals: 0955-1300 BST (Available on Freeview)
(Men’s Floor, Women’s Vault, Men’s Pommel, Women’s Uneven Bars, Men’s Rings)
Five Apparatus Finals: 1355-1700 BST (Available on Freeview)
(Men’s Vault, Women’s Beam, Men’s Parallel Bars, Women’s Floor, Men’s High Bar)

The old adage that Brits can't cope with weather extremes was clearly in evidence earlier this week as we struggled to set the operation up in baking heat.

However, if there was one group of people who remained unfazed by the conditions it was our incredible team of riggers and engineers, who conjure up miracles as our delicate team of producers and editors - myself included - scream for refreshment and air con units in our portakabin homes. Check out these photos...

Our Player Group content is also fed to broadcasters in the US, Japan and Europe, plus of course the BBC Sport broadband service.

The interactive set-up includes a TV production truck, two mixing desks, a VT operation that packs in pictures into a library of over 500 hours of VT, editing facilities for our rolling highlights service, commentator room, production office and playout desk.

The communications set-up allows us access to the output of 62 cameras around the course (including the blimp!) via 100 miles of cabling, two digital radio cameras that send pictures back remotely to the TV compound, and our two-on course commentators - plus access to new TV developments such as the ball-tracking Trackman and the futuristic Segway (that cameraman bloke on the two-wheel transporter).

This is all just one small part of the full TV operation, which is powered by enough steam to keep a village going in order to satisfy the demands of a potential global audience of some 450 million.

Finally, a word of thanks to our runner Craig - who keeps us charged by day with cups of tea, then entertains us by night with amazing tales. Last night we were told a story of a man with no ears, and before that we learned that "if you didn't blink when you sneeze, your eyes would fall out. Reflexes are great, aren't they?".

Thanks Craig.

We are basically going to be putting out two services - one for matches screened live on the BBC, and a Highlights service that will be available all day, everyday, whenever there is no live match taking place.

The live service will offer a choice of commentaries (we are hoping to include some foreign broadcasters here!), constantly updated highlights and a new "fans' channel" which will allow viewers to send in their messages via text, e-mail and 3G while viewing the live match.

We're still looking for a name for it - all the obvious ones (Your Say, Your Shout, Fan Zone, Fan Scene etc) seem to have been blagged already - suggestions, anyone? Live stats, Results, Group Tables and a News section will also be included.

The BBC will be covering these games live.

The 'Highlights' service will take the form of the Multiscreen we all know and love - this will show an England News stream (for as long as it may last), plus 20-minute edits of the most recent matches. We will also have the chance to show some classic matches from previous World Cups, plus some extra content we are still negotiating for - watch this space.

I should point out that, owing to bandwidth constraints, viewers on the Freeview platform will generally receive one less interactive stream than outlined above, and this may be further restrained when the Wimbledon interactive service is running live. Sorry, but you may at least take some perverse compensation from knowing that Wimbledon tennis fans will be seething that their interactive service has been restricted by those football oiks.

Please feel free to contact me with any suggestions you may have for the World Cup offering - and I promise to write back saying that wonderful though your idea is I can't promise we'll have enough time to or resource to implement it!