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Color commentator

 

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Color commentator



 
 
A color commentator, sometimes known as a color analyst, is a member of the broadcasting
Broadcasting

Broadcasting is distribution of Sound and/or video Signalling s which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults....
 team for a sporting event who assists the play-by-play
Play-by-play

Play-by-play, in broadcasting, is a North American term that means the reporting of a sporting event with a voiceover describing the details of the game in progress....
 announcer
Announcer

An announcer is a voice actor who works in television, radio or film, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in television commercials or a guest on a talk show....
 by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The term is of North American
North American English

North American English is a collective term used for the varieties of the English language that are spoken in North America, namely in the United States and Canada....
 origin. The color commentator provides expert analysis and background information, such as statistics
Statistics

Statistics is a Mathematics pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It also provides tools for prediction and forecasting based on data....
, strategy and injury reports on the team
Team

A team comprises a groups of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks....
s and athletes, and occasionally light humor. Color commentators are often former athletes or coaches of the sport being broadcast.

he United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 the term “co-commentator" or, more commonly, "summariser" is used to denote the role.

n North America, commentary teams typically feature one professional commentator
Sportscaster

A sportscaster is a type of journalist on radio and/or television who specializes in reporting or commentating on sporting events. Sportscasting is often done live television, "in real-time"....
 describing the passage of play, and another, usually an ex-player or manager, providing supplementary input as the game progresses.






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A color commentator, sometimes known as a color analyst, is a member of the broadcasting
Broadcasting

Broadcasting is distribution of Sound and/or video Signalling s which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults....
 team for a sporting event who assists the play-by-play
Play-by-play

Play-by-play, in broadcasting, is a North American term that means the reporting of a sporting event with a voiceover describing the details of the game in progress....
 announcer
Announcer

An announcer is a voice actor who works in television, radio or film, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in television commercials or a guest on a talk show....
 by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The term is of North American
North American English

North American English is a collective term used for the varieties of the English language that are spoken in North America, namely in the United States and Canada....
 origin. The color commentator provides expert analysis and background information, such as statistics
Statistics

Statistics is a Mathematics pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It also provides tools for prediction and forecasting based on data....
, strategy and injury reports on the team
Team

A team comprises a groups of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks....
s and athletes, and occasionally light humor. Color commentators are often former athletes or coaches of the sport being broadcast.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 the term “co-commentator" or, more commonly, "summariser" is used to denote the role.

North America

As in North America, commentary teams typically feature one professional commentator
Sportscaster

A sportscaster is a type of journalist on radio and/or television who specializes in reporting or commentating on sporting events. Sportscasting is often done live television, "in real-time"....
 describing the passage of play, and another, usually an ex-player or manager, providing supplementary input as the game progresses. The co-commentator will usually restrict his input to periods when the ball or puck is out of play or there is no significant action on the pitch and will defer to the main commentator whenever there is a shot on goal or other significant event, sometimes resulting in their being talked-over or cut short by the primary commentator. Additionally, former players and managers appear as pundits
Pundit (politics)

A pundit is someone who offers to mass-media their opinion or commentary on a particular subject area on which they are knowledgeable. The term has been increasingly applied to popular media personalities....
, carrying out a similar role to the co-commentator during the build-up to the match, at half-time and at full-time.

Australia

In Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, the term is not used; rather, those giving the analysis alongside the commentator are said to be giving "special comments."

Europe

In Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
, Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
 and Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 the term expertkommentator is used for a knowledgeable sidekick to the play-by-play announcer. In Spanish
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
-speaking countries, the position is known as a comentarista, in opposition to the relator who describes the action.

In some countries, the two-person commentating team is not used. In Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, most broadcast soccer matches feature a single play-by-play announcer, who is expected to provide background information and statistics by himself.

Brazil

For soccer broadcasts, Brazilian television channels usually also use a specialized referee commentator in addition to the normal color commentator (almost always a former player or coach), who are called comentaristas.

Wrestling

Though not always the case, in professional wrestling
Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling, or pro wrestling, is a non-competitive professional sport, where matches are prearranged by the Professional wrestling promotion List of professional wrestling terms#B, and is also considered an athletic performing art, containing strong elements of catch wrestling, mock combat and theatre....
, the color commentator is usually a "heel sympathizer
Heel (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in pro wrestling List of professional wrestling terms#A....
" (or a supporter of the "bad guys") as opposed to the play-by-play announcer, who is more or less the "voice of the fans" as well as supporters of the "good guys" (or babyfaces
Face (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a face or babyface is a character who is portrayed as heroic relative to the Heel s, who are analogous to villains....
). Though both are supposed to show neutral stance while announcing, the color commentator (especially when they support heels) are usually more blatant about their stance than the play-by-play announcer. Jesse "The Body" Ventura
Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura , also known as "The Body", "The Star", and "The Governing Body", is an American politician of Slovakia descent, retired professional wrestling, Underwater Demolition Team veteran, actor, and former radio and television talk show host....
 and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
Bobby Heenan

Raymond Louis Heenan better known as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, is a former United States professional wrestling Manager and color commentator, best known for his time with the World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling....
 pioneered the "heel sympathizer" for color commentary in wrestling. Both Jerry "The King" Lawler
Jerry Lawler

Jerry O'Neil Lawler is an United States Professional wrestling, wrestling announcer, musician, film actor, and politician, known throughout the wrestling world as Jerry "The King" Lawler....
 and John "Bradshaw" Layfield
John Layfield

John Charles Layfield known by his current ring name John "Bradshaw" Layfield or JBL, is an American professional wrestling. He is currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment , wrestling on its WWE Raw brand where he is the current WWE Intercontinental Championship in his first reign....
 (JBL) later made successful transitions into those roles, though Lawler has since shown more sympathy for faces (partially due to being over with fans after nearly forty years in wrestling) while JBL has since returned to active wrestling. The former ECW
Extreme Championship Wrestling (WWE)

ECW on Sci Fi is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment , based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001, that airs on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States....
 commentators, Tazz
Tazz

Peter Senerchia is an United States retired Professional wrestling and current color commentator best known by his ring name Tazz, . He is currently under contract to World Wrestling Entertainment, where he does commentary for the WWE Friday Night Smackdown WWE Brand Extension....
 and Joey Styles
Joey Styles

Joseph Carmine Bonsignore better known by his ring name Joey Styles, is a former United States professional wrestling play-by-play commentator and former professional in the field of advertising sales....
 tend to be completely neutral; in addition, combine both aspects of play-by-play with color commentary.